I had Michael and Kimberly purchase a thumper from me recently. They had built their own thumper but had not experienced much success and wanted to get a more robust model. Additionally, they wanted to learn some effective ways to catch striper in the wintertime on Lake Texoma. Ed and I decided to show them how to use Umbrella Rigs as well as show them techniques for deadsticking and live bait fishing. Since this was a teaching trip, we weren’t focused on limits but instead focused on the how and why of fishing. We were able to catch more than our limit of overs and ended up tossing back some nice fish! Hopefully this video will help you catch more fish in the wintertime as well!
Key tips from the video:
1. Fish had been deeper. The water warmed and the fish and bait moved shallower. We caught bait in coves in the morning.
2. First we started with umbrella rigs. We caught fish trolling A rigs in 20’ of water. We looked for humps on the bottom then trolled over them. We ran our rigs 3mph 140-150’ back and hooked up 10 seconds after we passed over the fish usually on both rods.
3. We had bait and deadstick so went to show them how to use those techniques…. We used a thumper to create several schools. If no bites in 10 min we moved.
4. We tried drifting .3 since we had bait but no luck. We had to use the trolling motor to drift about .7 to get bites and when we did it was fast and furious.
5. The 2oz jighead got the most bites and bubblegum and shad were the hot colors.
6. We tandem rigged smaller jig heads and dropped them further back to get bites.
7. We caught 8 overs on deadstick and 2 on bait…
Winter deadsticking on Texoma is epic this year based on the number and size of the fish that we are seeing! Get your boats ready and get your thumpers ordered and take a kid fishing when you can!
Want to get your own thumper, check out www.thumpemupfishing.com
Want to book a guided trip on Texoma with one of the great guides from my videos? Go to www.striper-guides.com
To make it easy for you to find the products that I use in my videos, I have become an Amazon affiliate so that I can add links to the products that I use. I do make a commission from each sale, but have hopefully created a one stop shop for you to find everything that you need!
Boat electronics:
Garmin - amzn.to/3KM99Ku
Livescope - amzn.to/3Yejuls
Trolling Motor - amzn.to/3kLgAqG
Rod Holders - amzn.to/3kE9vbC
Striper Casting Combos - catchthefever.com/p/5da8ec6d13be44372561933d Medium
Piscifun Flame Reels: amzn.to/3kuZTzU
Line- amzn.to/3KNxe3x
Baitcasting Combos:
catchthefever.com/p/5da8ec6d13be44372561933d Medium
Piscifun Chaos 50 Reels amzn.to/3KEhr76
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Kids Rods- amzn.to/3SCmhny
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Line- amzn.to/3y3xdB9
Trolling Combo
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www.captmacks.com/store/product/striped-bass-umbrella-rig/ 4 arm 3oz 9 jig model
Cast Nets- check your local regulations to find the legal size!
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Bait Tanks- graylinebaittanks.com/products/slimline-tanks/
Recommended Striper Tackle:
Whopper plopper- amzn.to/3maMm0F Munkey Butt
Cordell Pencil popper- amzn.to/41zprMT
P Line Slabs, RSR Lure Slabs, Bomber Slabs
Sinkers- 2 oz egg sinkers
Glass beads
Spro Swivels- amzn.to/41FNHx4
Hooks- amzn.to/3J558Qc
Flurocarbon- amzn.to/3J401Q6