06/13/2026
Today Chums switched things up a bit! I took three ladies out to fish the annual Striper Babes Tournament on Lake Texoma.
These girls fished the tournament two years ago with a guide and didn’t catch a single fish. They skipped last year because the lake was flooded, but they were back this year ready to give it another shot. The only problem? Every available guide was already booked! With nearly 800 women fishing and close to 200 boats in the tournament, it’s a huge event.
They reached out and asked if I’d be willing to take them for a little extra fee and if I thought I could put them on some stripers. I told them, “If it’s wet, I can find the honey hole!” 😎
Well, it was an adventure to say the least.
At 3:30 a.m. I was launching in the pitch black on a lake I’d never guided before. Texoma is so big it feels like an ocean, and I had no idea which direction to go to catch bait. But somehow we managed to put 150 perfect shad in the tank and then made the run across the lake to pick up the ladies at 5:30 a.m.
I knew I wanted to focus around a group of islands, but beyond that I was starting from scratch. Several guides had told me the fishing had been tough and hit-or-miss the last few days. So I did what guides do best—I started graphing, trusted my instincts, and went to work.
In the end, these ladies put 22 stripers in the boat, including one over 20 inches and another over 23 inches! More importantly, they caught a bunch of fish, made some great memories, and had an absolute blast.
The best part? Before we loaded up, they asked if I’d take them again for next year’s tournament. Looks like Chums may have just started a new annual Texoma tradition!
