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Striper Fishing on Lake Texoma......Bring The Kids With You             By Wayne McCullough

I have spent the past fifteen years living about a mile from what I think is a great fishery, Lake Texoma. I started out Black Bass fishing before concentrating on stripers about 10 years ago and began Wayne’s Striper Guide Service in 2004.

This 89,000 acre U.S. Corps of Engineers reservoir straddles the Oklahoma/Texas border and was formed when water from the Red & Washita Rivers were impounded during the 1940’s by the building of the Denison Dam.

While those days abundant 20 and 30 pound stripers being caught in the main lake are history, lots of 6-10 lb. fish are still caught with an occasional fish over 20 pounds caught. A rare fisherman friendly limit of 10 stripers with only 2 over 20 inches helps to fill a ice chest with tasty striped bass fillies & make Lake Texoma the "Striper Capital of the World.

Stripers were first introduced into Lake Texoma in the 1960’s and thrived on the threadfin and gizzard forage. The salinity provided by the Red River is one of the reasons they naturally spawn in Texoma by heading up both the Red & Washita River arms every spring as water temperatures climb into the lower 60’s. The smaller males return to the main lake first, followed shortly by the big girls.

When the water warms to about 70 degrees in April, the shad spawn in very shallow water along the rocky shorelines at daylight in a noisy frenzy that attracts hungry stripers. For a short time, this is fantastic topwater fishing at it’s best. Whether I’m guiding or just fishing, Pencil Poppers, Chug-bugs and Spooks are my lures of choice. Nothing beats a big striper on a topwater.

As summer approaches and the waters warm, the stripers head towards cooler water by the dam or mid-lake. Bait fishing using shad usually produce my best results though I always carry a couple rods rigged with topwater lures. On calm days I will drift bait up on the shallower flats before moving on to deeper waters. Windy days call for setting the anchor, usually off a ledge or point, in a channel or along a creek.

For the fishing enthusiast, Lake Texoma has besides stripers, an abundance of other fish species including a record blue catfish of over 120 pounds plus nice flathead and channel cats. Though not nearly as abundant as they once were, sand or white bass are often caught and boat slips throughout Texoma are home to both white and black crappie as well as some fat largemouth bass. The rocky lake shorelines are known to be prime locations for spotted & smallmouth bass, allowing Texoma to hold the Oklahoma smallmouth bass record of over 7 pounds up until several years ago.”

Texoma also has two national wildlife refuges which are visited throughout the year by migrating birds including bald eagles easily spotted flying overhead searching for a meal. In addition, other wildlife are often seen along the many miles of scenic shoreline with an occasional deer or two spotted swimming out to the islands. There are also many acres along Lake Texoma that are open for Public Hunting.

The lake is a super water playground. Thousands of boats are moored in the various marinas and during the summer the lake is filled with fishing, house, pontoon and ski boats as well as cruisers, yachts and sail boats.

A host of amenities for most anyone can be found nearby from horseback trails to boat, jet-ski or even houseboat rentals. Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course, one of the nation’s best public courses, is among those in the area. Many private campgrounds and motels offer convenient places to stay and there are about a dozen Corps of Engineer facilities that offer places to camp as well as locations to launch and beach your boat.