Stormy start
Strong weather system will hinder first day of Stren Series event on Lake Texoma
DENISON, Texas – Mother Nature will have a hissy fit today, but once she gets all the attitude out of her system, anglers should be fine for the remainder of the Sten Series Texas Division tournament on Lake Texoma.
Notoriously windy, Texoma will likely see strong thunderstorms, lightning and possibly hail. The rough stuff comes complements of a fierce storm system moving eastward across the southern U.S.
By daybreak, steady winds were rustling trees and whipping flags, as sporadic rain drops dotted 
windshields. National Weather Service forecasts call for the worst weather to roll through north Texas around midday, but rain and scattered thunderstorms will likely persist through the evening. Once the storms clear, the rest of the tournament should see mild conditions.
Before checkout, Oklahoma pro Harmon Davis held up a motorcycle helmet that he uses for long runs and joked: “I might have to fish in this.”
Although he’s game for a run-and-gun strategy, Davis said he’s hoping that his early plan yields sufficient productivity to render long rides unnecessary. “As long as it’s not too awful bad, I’ll still run all over the place, but I’m going to start out not a long ways away and if things go well then I’ll probably stick pretty close.”
David Mullins of Coppell, Texas said that anglers will just have to grit their teeth and tough it out through one rough day and then regroup when the weather stabilizes. Playing a conservative game, he said, is not only a safety concern, but one of logistics.
“Today is just survival mode,” Mullins said. “You don’t want to get caught out there with a bag of fish that you can’t get (to the scales). I don’t think most people are going to get too fare away, and if they do they’ll be back by lunchtime. We’ll just keep our eye on the weather, because if (the storm) comes through that bad around 1 or 2 o’clock, you don’t want to get stuck out there in it.”
Fortunately, plenty of fishable areas sit within easy runs of the Highport Marina launch site. Mullins said: “You can definitely catch fish close. You may not be able to go to your best fish, but that’s okay because no one’s going to be able to go get them from you.”
Anglers seeking weather shelter will find it in the lake’s many creeks; and in this fishery so noticeably lean on natural structure, docks will offer a high level of opportunity.
Wacky rigged Senko style baits, drop shots, jigs, shaky heads and Carolina rigs will likely see plenty of 
action today. As he sat at the shores of Highport Marina, Davis dipped a plastic lizard’s tail into a bottle of chartreuse dye. He hopes that a little zap of eye candy will help him attract the attention of local largemouths.
“The water’s a little stained right now, so this is just something to brighten up (the bait) a little bit,” Davis said. “Some of the fish are still spawning, so this is just something to aggravate them.”
Tournament logistics
The Stren Series event, which runs May 7-10, represents the third of four regular-season Texas 
Division tournaments. The total purse for the Lake Texoma event is $275,225. The winning pro could earn as much as $65,000 in cash and prizes if various contingencies are met, and the winning co-angler could earn as much as $35,000.
Action continues at today’s weigh-in, scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. (Central Time) at Highport Marina, located at 120 Texoma Harbor Drive in Pottsboro, Texas.
Wednesday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 6:30 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 69 degrees
Expected high temperature: 73 degrees
Water temperature: 72 degrees
Wind: from the south at 15-20 mph
Humidity: 74 percent
Day’s outlook: Windy, with strong midday storms, then scattered thunderstorms