The second week of October 2003 found my brother-in-law Tommy and I well into our fall fishing trip. The second leg of our trip took us to Lake Texoma on the Texas - Oklahoma border. The first leg of our trip was to Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee to try our luck for crappie. Neither the weather or the crappie cooperated so we were hoping for better luck in Oklahoma. October is prime striper catching time on Texoma and we were ready for some action. Having talked to Steve "Doc" Walker of Southern Oklahoma Guide Service he helped set us up at Soldier Creek Resort outside of Kingston, Oklahoma. Soldier Creek Resort has a full service marina complete with convenience store and restaurant and that is where we met Doc early in the morning. Doc told us he had been on the lake since 2:00am catching the bait, threadfin and gizzard shad, we were going to use that day.

 Setting out from the marina at 7:00am, we were one of many boats loaded with eager fishermen hoping to catch that twenty pound trophy. Doc had told us to bring our rain gear, not for fear of rain but to keep us dry and warm on the ride across the lake. The wind was out of the south and was kicking up the water pretty good. It made the ride a bit rough. The wind didn't matter to us, we were full of pumped up and anxious to catch our first striper.

 We followed a line of boats across and up the lake for a while. Upon arriving at "the spot", we trolled around a bit while the boats starting tieing onto each other, bow to stern, creating a line of five boats. We had the fourth spot in line. Doc got the poles out, baited them up and down we went. I asked Doc why we were at this particular spot. He answered that we were on the edge of a dropoff where the bottom dropped off at a steep rate. The top of the dropoff was about thirty two to thirty three feet deep and the stripers would come up from the deeper water to chase and eat the baitfish that were in the area.

 We were fishing with open faced baitcaster reels and the fishing techinque called for putting the reel in free spool and watching the "line spooler" go across the reel three times. Each time in it went across, it let out about ten feet of line, therefore we were about thirty feet deep. Neat tip.

 It didn't take long for the fish to start biting. I had never experienced anything quite like that. The fish would literally hit your bait, stunning it and then return to take the bite. Doc instructed us to wait until you felt the weight of the fish on the line before setting the hook. If not you would miss them. If after getting hit and you got no bite you had to reel in and rebait. Seems the fish didn't like their meals dead. It took a few missed fish but we finally got the feel and started "pulling" them in. The guides around there calling it "pulling" rather than "catching". Tommy struck first and caught several before I did. At times like this, all sorts of things start going through your mind. "He must be in a hot spot." "Why can't I fish from the back of the boat." And my favorite, "Here I am paying for all of this, and I'm not going to catch anything." Well I finally connected and starting "pulling" my share.

 Everyone in the line of boats were busy "pulling" in fish. It was something to see, people reeling in fish faster than the guides could rebait the lines. Most of the fish were in the three to six pound range with a few going over seven. If you didn't hook one to deep, you could release it unharmed. Everyone was filling their limits when suddenly the rope connecting boats one and two together snapped. It took less then a minute for the rest of us to drift from the spot. The captains reacted quickly and soon everyone was going their separate ways. Doc fired up the engine and away we went in pursuit of larger fish. See there is a ten fish limit with only one fish being larger then twenty inches in length. We were close to limiting out and Doc wanted us to catch something bigger.

 We ended up in a spot that was flat bottomed except for one key feature. There was an old railroad bed running across the bottom that rose three or four feet off the bottom. The fish would hang on the sides of the railroad bed much like they did in our earlier spot, though the water wasn't as deep.

 The techinque here was simple. Drop the bait to the bottom and drift. Starting out from the "hump", we let the wind drift us in towards the bank taking us over the hump and a little beyond. Doc would then motor us back out past the hump and then repeat the process. We kept working our way down catching some real nice fish. We finally got our two keepers and headed for the dock.

 The dock was busy with activity. Fishermen taking pictures of their catches while the guides busied themselves filleting fish. We took our turn at the liars board and watched Doc expertly fillet our catch. Bidding farewell until tomorrow, we headed back to camp. It wasn't even noon yet. So we ate lunch and headed to town to find a phone so we could call home.

 The next morning we arrived at the dock to hook up with Charlie Stowe of Mr. Clean Striper Guide Service. Doc had already booked that day with another client so he hooked us up with Charlie. Charlie was laidback and easy going when we weren't fishing but he was strickly business when the lines were in the water. We tried our best to follow his instuctions while he did his best to keep his patiences with us.

 We thought we had had a rough ride the previous morning but we were in for a surprise. During the night the wind had switched around and was now blowing out of the north. Not only was it colder, but the water was a lot rougher. After an exciting ride, we arrived at a different spot to try our luck. Everyone followed the same routine as the morning before and we were fishing in no time. The fish that morning were a bit smaller then the day before, but it was a lot of fun. We released every fish that we could but we had close to our limit in less than an hour. With all the boats approaching their limits we once again broke up to pursue bigger game.

 We found ourselves back at the railroad bed, only we this time we drifted the opposite direction, from the bank side out to deep water. We missed several nice fish and Charlie starting getting worked up. We did our best to follow his repeated instructions while trying not to get unraveled. We kept up the drifting routine for awhile, catching some real nice fish. We finally hooked up a double and reeled them in. They were the biggest two we had caught. After Charlie released them back into the water he informed us that we had reached our limit and couldn't keep them. If we had known that, we would have taken some pictures of the big ones before they were set free. Oh well. We headed for the dock.

 Again the dock was crowded with fishermen and guides. After we took our turn snapping pictures, Charlie started the job of filleting up the catch. Doc was there, having gotten in before us, he was already done filleting his catch and cleaning his boat. He thanked me for the homemade deer brats and summer sausage I had given him the previous day. He had cooked up a few of the brats for supper that night and enjoyed them immensily. I presented Charlie with some of the same and after shooting the breeze for a few minutes, we said our goodbyes.

 Looking at my watch on the way back to the motorhome it was going on noon. We decided to eat some lunch and head for home. Twelve hours later at 2:00 am, we rolled into Tommy's driveway. We had drove straight through from southern Oklahoma to southern Illinois. What a ride that was. It was highlighted by Tommy fixing us a snack of stick bologna and crackers while I drove. He handed me a big slug between two crackers and me being hungry, I took a huge bite and immediately said "Did you take the plastic skin off of this?". His reply "There's a skin on it?". So there I was trying to suck the pieces of cracker off my fingers without eating the plastic encased bologna, all while doing sixty five miles an hour down the highway.

 If you want to try your hand at catching stripers on Lake Texoma give these guys a call. Doc and Charlie both know their stuff and I recommend either one their guide services. Not only do they fish for stripers, but right now during February and March they are chasing giant catfish in the lake. It looks as if Lake Texoma is the place to be anytime of the year. For more information or to book a trip, visit Doc Walker at his web site www.southernoklaguides.com or email him at southernokguide@brightok.net or call 1-877-664-2208. You can contact Charlie Stowe owner of Mr. Cleans Striper Guide Service at 1-888-567-4054. Be sure to tell them you heard about them from Backwoods Bound. Until the next adventure - James.

 Looking for something to do besides watch the snow fall or go ice fishing? How about getting your boat ready for that magical time when the ice melts and the fish start biting. Of course it helps if you have your boat in a garage or building, but a couple of warm days works too. Following is a short check list of things to check out. I know each one of us has a different set-up so the list contains some general things to do.

 * One of the most important things to check is the motor. If it was running poor last fall, now is the time to get it to the repair shop. As the weather warms these guys get real busy so get yours tuned up now.

 * Check the batteries. Fill with distilled water and charge. If they won't keep a charge, change them out. They may take a charge but be sure and load test them because batteries may charge but go dead real fast when you hit them with the load of your trolling motor.

 * Speaking of the trolling motor. Remove the prop and clean off all the gunk from around the shaft. Check the electrical connections to make sure they are clean and making good contact.

 * Check all hatch locks and lube if necessary. Also check and lube the hinges.

 * Check to see if the bilge pump and livewell aerators run. Most of these will come apart so you can clean the gunk off the impellers.

 * Check the hoses to the bilge and the livewells for cracks and splits. We don't want to fill the boat with water the first time we fill the livewell.

  * Check and lube the steering and throttle cables. Make sure they work smooth and don't bind. Adjust if necessary.

 * If you didn't use fuel stabilizer in your fuel tank, drain it and clean the tank. If you have a mounted tank just drain or siphon out the gas. Use caution while doing this. Dispose of the old gasoline properly. Drain the fuel lines and the bowl on the carburetor. Install a new fuel filter.

 * Change the oil in your motor's lower unit if you didn't drain it in the fall. If you drained it, refill per the engine manufactures specs.

 * Lube all the places on your motor according to the manufacturer.

 * Check the lights and instrumentation.

 * Give the boat a good cleaning. Empty the storage compartments and vacuum them out. You will probably find some stuff you don't need to carry (ie, dead crickets, dried minnows, etc) or find some things you need to replace. (ie, sun block, WD-40, etc.) Don't forget to vacuum out the live well.

 * Check your life jackets and replace them if they are dried out or cracked and split.

 * Check your fire extinguisher and emergency equipment. (ie, whistle or horn, hand bailer, etc.)

 * Restock your first aid kit. If you don't have one, get one.   * Give the boat a good going over. Fix or replace anything you don't like.

 Nothing ruins a trip more than a problem you could have prevented in the first place. But there are always going to be unforseen things that can happen. So just relax and go with it. Remember a bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work!

 Remember that Bass Pro Shops has everything you need to get your boat ready for spring. Go to our home page of our fishing section at www.backwoodsbound.com/homefishing.html and click on the Bass Pro Shops banner.

 Last summer Hunter's Edge, Inc. of Bainbridge, Georgia sent us some samples of their new product called Max 44 Doe-N-Heat Pellets to try out and see what we thought them. Well we are here to say that we loved it! To get an accurate test of their performance, we placed them in two different locations about a half a mile apart. At area number one, there was a scrape line along the edge of a hay field but there wasn't a scrape close to our stand. So we followed the simple instructions on the package and created one about forty five yards from our stand, taking care to minimize our scent. In less then a week the buck had found our scrape and began using it. We were never able to get a look at the buck even though we would arrive extra early and stay extra late. (Maybe a trail cam is in our future.) We could tell he visited the scrape line at night. The Max 44 Doe-N-Heat Pellets worked so well that he paid more attention to our scrape than the ones he had made.

 In area number two, there is a spot that a buck has been making a scrape in for several years in a row. It is on the edge of another hay field under a tree limb about five feet off the ground. About forty yards further up the edge of the field and closer to our stand, he had made another scrape this year. It was smaller in size and about forty yards from the stand. Perfect! Onto this smaller scrape we poured a vial of the pellets and left the other one untouched. It wasn't long and the buck started really going nuts over our doctored scrape. We were able to get a look at this buck early in the mornings as he made his run. The bad news is that he always showed up in the wee morning light and left well before legal shooting time. The good news is he wasn't taken by anyone and will be around this fall. The big buck kept working that scrape well into December while showing little attention to his other scrape.

 In both instances the scrapes that we kept doctored with the Max 44 Doe-N-Heat Pellets were kept fresher and cleaner, (leaves and debris removed), than the all "natural" scrapes the bucks had made themselves. We have used lots of products over the years to attract deer, some with great success and others not worth mentioning. We want to say that the Max 44 Doe-N-Heat Pellets from Hunter's Edge is one of the successes. There is no doubt we will be using the Max 44 Doe-N-Heat Pellets again this fall. For more information on the Max 44 Doe-N-Heat Pellets or Hunter's Edge's other products, visit Hunter's Edge at WWW.HUNTERS-EDGE.COM . Be sure to let them know you heard about them from Backwoods Bound.

 Hi folks! Backwoods Bound editor and owner James Burns asked me to write an article for the newsletter this month and I told him I would. So here goes.

 As you all know we have once again come to the end of another deer hunting season. In years past I always got grumpy at this time because I have such a passion for the adventure that we call deer hunting. This year, however, is different. I do not know why, maybe because I am getting older, but I have come to the conclusion that the ending of deer season is not such a bad thing. Before you jerk back in horror and disbelief at this statement, hear me out.

 Let’s say you could deer hunt all year long. Would there be any excitement for you? How about that feeling you get in the fall, the first time you climb into your tree stand? What about all the preparation and anticipation you feel for the start of the season? These feelings would all be lost and deer hunting would become just something else to do.

 My friends, the end of deer season is a time for reflection. It is a time to remember your triumphs and learn from your mistakes. Deer hunting is an emotional sport full of ups and downs. I bow hunted hard this year without ever taking a shot and then took my first deer ever with a muzzleloader. I hunted out of a ground blind this year with great success, taking an eight pointer in Kentucky and a nice doe in Illinois. I saw a bobcat in the wild for the first time, not more then ten feet away from my blind. I got to hear the excitement and pride in James' voice as he told me about his two bow kills this year. I hunted with my nephew Josh and watched the anguish look on his face turn into a great big smile after he finally got his deer on the last day of the season with only hours to spare. Last but not least, as was announced in the last newsletter, Country Bob Burns a man who taught me so much about hunting and about life passed away. I will miss him very much. His teachings and his spirit will help guide me every time I step into the woods.

 No, my friends the ending of deer season is not a bad thing at all. It is a time to rest and a time to remember. I am sure that all of you out there reading this article have your own stories and memories about the 2003 deer season. I would also bet that some of you are grumpy like I used to be when the season would end. All I can say is cheer up! October will come around before you know it and we will get to do it all over again. I’m Kenny and I hope all of you are in my corner.