How to Catch Striper by Lake Texoma Guide Steve Buckley
Let’s chat about how to catch striper on Texoma, and what makes a good Lake Texoma Striper Guide! We love to share our knowledge of Lake Texoma Striper Fishing with our customers and blog readers! So tip number one, a quality Lake Texoma Striper Guide will share information and post in detail on his website blog. We will discuss the best striped bass fishing lures and where to find the best striper fishing spots on Lake Texoma! We will also discuss the fish species in Lake Texoma and the best Lake Texoma fishing spots!
What Makes a Good lake Texoma Striper Guide?
A good Lake Texoma Striper Guide will share information, help you catch striper, and educate anglers on how to catch striper! Some guides will fill up a bait tank, fun customers out to a spot, catch a limit, then run back to the marina! We do not do the run and gun trips! We will explain where we are striper fishing on Lake Texoma, and tell customers why we are using live bait or artificial lures!
Best Month for Striper Fishing Lake Texoma
Lake Texoma Striper Fishing is very good all year long, but here is the break down our Striper Fishing Season!
| Month | Live Bait | Artificial Lures | Striper Fish | White Bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January to March | Average | Very Good: DeadSticking | Very Good | Good |
| April to June | Good | Very Good: Swimbaits Slab Spoons | Very Good | Good |
| July to September | Very Good | Excellent: Topwater Plugs Swimbaits Slab Spoons | Excellent | Excellent |
| October to December | Good | Good: Swimbaits Slab Spoons | Excellent | Average |
Lake Texoma History
The history of Lake Texoma is very cool! Denison Dam and Lake Texoma were authorized for construction by the Flood Control Act approved June 28, 1938, (Public Law 75-791) for flood control and generation of hydroelectric power. The dam, spillway, and outlet works were started in August 1939 and completed in February 1944.Frequently Asked Questions Lake TexomaWhat is the size of Lake Texoma? Lake Texoma is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States, the 12th largest US Army Corps of Engineers impoundment! Lake Texoma has 89,000 acres of surface area and a water volume of 2,525,568 acre ft. Is Lake Texoma a man made lake? Yes Lake Texoma is a man made lake that was completed in 1944!
Map of Lake Texoma
Lake Texoma Striper Guides
How to Catch Striper
Learn How to Catch Striper with Captain Steve Buckley! We Striper Fish Lake Texoma year-round and would love to show you, your family, and your friends how to catch striper! We can handle large Corporate Fishing Trips on Lake Texoma! Bring your corporate group to unwind, relax, and learn how to catch Striper!
Fish Species in Lake Texoma
Predominant Fish Species in Texoma
- Blue catfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish
- White bass, striped bass
- Largemouth bass
- Spotted bass
- Smallmouth bass
- Black crappie, white crappie
- Bluegill
Tips and Tactics for Fish Species in Lake Texoma
Lake Texoma Catfish
Channel catfish are taken near the mouths of creeks after a rain, especially in spring and fall. In late spring and early summer, they are found around rocky shores and areas of rip-rap. Best baits are shrimp, blood bait, cut bait, dough bait, and shad gizzards. In summer, try drift-fishing shrimp across flats. Sunfish and large minnows also pay off here. Blue catfish are caught on many of the same baits; however, these fish migrate downstream or into the main pool area in winter and upstream in the spring. Try juglining with live gizzard shad for bait. A rod and reel baited with live shad on windless winter days works well, too. Flathead catfish are infrequently caught by rod and reel anglers, but most often by trotlining with live sunfish for bait.Lake Texoma Crappie
Crappie fishing is best in fall and winter, when fish tend to school in large numbers and concentrate around boat houses, submerged trees, creek channels, and brush piles. While minnows are the bait of choice, crappie are caught on a variety of jigs. The spring spawning season, when they move in shallow, is also an excellent time to fill your creel.Lake Texoma White Bass
White bass are vulnerable to angling when they migrate upstream on the Red and Washita Rivers or the many tributary streams around Lake Texoma. Two to three weeks prior to the migration, they concentrate around the mouths of the tributary streams and become easy prey. At other times of the year they can be found surfacing around the lake and feeding on threadfin shad. Effective baits include small surface baits in silver, white, yellow or chartreuse; silver spoons; slabs; and minnows.Lake Texoma Striped Bass
Striped bass migrate up both major river arms in February, and can usually be located in or near the river channel in the vicinity of the Willis or Roosevelt Bridges. They may take surface lures, but most often they are caught on heavy jigs, slabs, plastic shad, and live gizzard shad. After the spring spawning run, stripers can be caught with shad over flats near the river channel in the main part of the lake. Trolling with deep running lures can also be productive. Stripers surface frequently in summer, fall, and winter, attracting diving sea gulls, who also like to feed on threadfin shad. Surface baits can produce some mighty tackle busting strikes, and so can plastic shad retrieved rapidly just under the water’s surface.Lake Texoma Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, and Spotted Bass
Largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth bass can be caught pretty much year round, but they are caught closer to the shoreline and around structure. While largemouth and spotted bass are found lakewide, smallmouths are mostly limited to the bluffs around Eisenhower State Park, Denison Dam and up the Washita River arm to the Willow Springs area. Since all three species spawn in the shallows, that’s the best place to fish for them in the spring. Fish around grass and brush with crank baits, surface lures, spinners, and Carolina rigged worms. As the water warms and bass move offshore, switch to Texas rigged worms, deep diving crankbaits, and surface baits early in the morning. Concentrate on submerged structure such as rocks, boulders, stumps, logs, channels, and secondary points.Lake Texoma Fall Bass Fishing
Fall bass fishing can be very exciting on Lake Texoma. Work crank baits around brush and off rocky shorelines for largemouth and spotted bass. Try free-line, live threadfin shad off the rip-rap at the dam for smallmouths, or fish at night by the bluffs near Eisenhower State Park.Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife | Article: Lake Texoma
| Lake Texoma Fish Species | Poor | Fair | Good | Excellent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth Bass Spotted Bass | YES | |||
| Smallmouth Bass | YES | |||
| Blue Catfish | YES | |||
| Channel Catfish | YES | |||
| Flathead Catfish | YES | |||
| Striped Bass | YES | |||
| White Bass | YES | |||
| Black Crappie White Crappie | YES |
Pictures of Striped Bass
How to Catch Striper
We love to make our customers famous on social media! Pictures of Striped Bass from Lake Texoma will make you and yours SMILE!
How to Catch Striper
How do we catch striper on Lake Texoma? We fish Lake Texoma year round and target striped bass! We will tailor a trip to your need unless it simply does not make sense! There are times of the year that live bait catches more fish than artificial lures! If it’s artificial lure time on Lake Texoma, we will not fish live bait. It’s Striper Time, let’s dive into live bait!Live Bait
The best live bait for stripers on Lake Texoma are Shad! You will need some equipment to be a successful live bait striper angler on Lake Texoma!Use the right equipment
The proper equipment will hold true for artifical lure fishing as well! We operate a big Falcon boat to handle the tough Texoma weather. We have state of the art Sonar and Fish finders to locate bait and Striper. We run a Sunshine Bait tank to keeep our alive and kicking! Quality rods, reels, line, lures, and hooks will round out the proper equipment list!Quality Sonar and Fish Finder
Having a firm understanding of how to operate your fish-finder will aid you in locating a productive area in which striped bass have gathered. Therefore it is recommended that you read the owner’s manual thoroughly before using. Striped bass can be unpredictable — they can be found at different locations and different depths depending on the weather, time of year and even the time of day. Using your fish-finder will help you to determine the depth at which the bass are holding, which will allow you to present the bait at that exact depth and give you the best chance of actually catching a striped bass.Buy a Quality Bait Tank
After locating Shad and getting them in your cast-net, a quality bait tank is very important. Make sure you have a fully charged battery to run the filter system and a bonded polyester filter. The filter should be washed out two to three times per trip. We have used Sunshine Baittanks for years!
Best Cast Net
A quality cast net is a must for Lake Texoma Striper Fishing! Why will I need at least two cast nets? At some point in time you will get a cast net hung up on a tree stump or boat dock and lose it. Two cast nets is the best Lake Texoma Fishing Tip! Here is a great article on cast nets!Striper Rods, Striper Reels
Your rods, reels, line, hooks, and lures are very important to catching Striper on Lake Texoma. This section is more angler preference, but here is what we like! Live Bait rods should have a soft tip and strong lower back bone! Reels should be level wind style with a fish clicker or alarm. Live bait fishing line should be 20 pound monofilament. You should change your line out two to three times a year. You will also need egg sinkers, barrel swivels, and quality circle hooks! This how to catch striper section on live bait is complete, let look at artifical lure fishing!
How to Catch Striper
This section of how to catch striper will break down lure fishing for striper on Lake Texoma! The million dollar questions from our customer, “What is the Lake Texoma Striper Guides favorite lures?” There are millions of fishing lure manufacturers and several on Lake Texoma! Let’s dig into the three types of Lake Texoma Fishing Lures!Lake Texoma Striper Guides Favorite Lures
You will have three categories of Lake Texoma Striper Lures; number one are Slab Spoon Lures, number two are Striper Swimbaits, and number three are Striper Plugs! We also need to take a look at the Alabama Rig and Umbrella Rig. These multiple armed Striper Rigs will hold five swimbaits and flat out catch Lake Texoma Striper!Striper Plugs
The best striper plugs on Lake Texoma are the the Pencil Popper and the Super Spook! These striper topwater plugs will dominate from mid September until early November! In September the bigger the better, so don’t be afraid to throw six inch Striper Plugs! If you downsize your striper plugs to three inches and use a spinning rod, you can fill up a cooler with quality white bass all summer!
Best Striper Plugs for Lake Texoma
Slab Spoon Lures
Slab Spoon Lures have been used on Lake Texoma for many years, and they catch Striper. What is a Slab Spoon? A slab spoon lure is usually made of lead and shaped like a small baitfish! Slab Spoon Lures can be fishing vertically over and through striped bass, or cast out and bounced back to the boat! There are many shapes and sizes of slab spoons, but the popular colors are chartreuse and glow white. Popular weights range from one ounce to three ounces depending on wind and water depth of the Striped Bass! Slab Spoons are fished year round on Lake Texoma and flat our catch Striper!Striper Swimabits
We love to catch Lake Texoma Striper on swimbaits! The Sassy Shad is the most popular striper swimbait on Lake Texoma! Match the hatch when throwing swimabits and make sure you are at the proper depth! Jig Head sizes will run from 1/2oz, 3/4oz, 1oz, 1.5oz, and 2oz. Your swimbait size depends on the size of shad Striper are feeding on! Popular sizes and colors are; three inch, four inch, and five inch. You can never go wrong with chartreuse and or glow!
Swimbaits for Lake Texoma Striper Fishing
Umbrella Rigs for Stripers
Umbrella rigs are used to troll from Striper on Lake Texoma! If you like to troll, these striper rigs are deadly! Striped bass umbrella rigs are perfect for catching fish, both shallow and deep, especially when game fish are focused on bait fish schools. These rigs can be trolled super deep or very shallow giving you total coverage of the entire water column by using different weight rigs, weights, and jigs. These rigs also come with a depth chart explaining how to achieve different depths with your rigs by adjusting boat speed and distance behind the boat.Alabama Rig
Don’t tell black bass anglers, but the Alabama Rig is simply a lighter version on and Umbrella Rig! The umbrella rig is heavy and trolled, the Alabama rig is light weight and is cast and retrieved! They both resemble a school of bait fish and catch lots of Striper on Texoma! Please read this article from ScalzFishing.com!
Hotels Near Lake Texoma
Now that we know How To Catch Striper, we need a place to stay on or near Lake Texoma! Lake Texoma will stay very busy and booked up starting May and ending their season in September. Please book your trip weeks in advance, and if you are wanting to sty for Memorial Day, 4th of July, or Labor Day, book 6 months out! Your best bet for a nice hotel on Lake Texoma is Tanglewood Resort! There are many overnight accommodations on Lake Texoma, lets check out some more!
Marinas on Lake Texoma
Most of the marinas on Lake Texoma have cabins for rent. Lake Texoma Cabins are a great way to relax and stay close to the Striper Fishing Action! You can find all the Marinas on Lake Texoma and all the Lake Texoma Cabins for rent from this link!Camping at Lake Texoma
RV parks, Resorts, State Parks, are everywhere on the lake, and all camping at Lake Texoma. Here are the top five camping spots on Lake Texoma! 1) Lake Texoma State Park 2) Eisenhower State Park 3) Grandpappy Point 4) Alberta Creek 5) Big MineralMilitary Campgrounds
If you are serving our great country or have retired, Lake Texoma has Military Campgrounds! Check out Sheppard AFB Recreation Annex at Lake Texoma, and thanks for serving our country!
How to Cook Striper Fish
This is our favorite part about Striper Fishing Lake Texoma, How to Cook Fish! You will find our three favorite Striper Recipes below! Thanks for choosing the best Lake Texoma Striper Guide! We love to show anglers how to catch striper, and look forward to you joining us again for another Lake Texoma Striper Trip! When its Striper Time, think Buckley Striper Guide Service!
Baked Striper Fish Recipes
This is our favorite baked striper fish recipes! Lake texoma striper are great baked in the oven! Try it today!
Ingredients
- 4 (6-ounce) striped bass fillets
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
How to cook Baked Striper
Preheat oven to 425°. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place fish on pan. Grate lemon rind to measure 1 teaspoon; juice lemon to measure 1 tablespoon. Combine rind, juice, oil, thyme, oregano, salt, and black pepper; drizzle mixture over fish. Bake at 425° for 13 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
Fried Striper Recipes
This is our favorite Pan-Fried Striped Bass! Lake texoma striper are great fried in a pan! Try it today!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 large egg white
- 1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 4 (6-ounce) striped bass fillets, skinned
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 4 lemon wedges
How to Fry Striper
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Combine water and egg white in a shallow dish, stirring with a whisk. Combine breadcrumbs and cornmeal in another shallow dish, stirring with a whisk. Working with 1 fillet at a time, place fish in bag; seal and shake to coat. Dip in egg white mixture, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining fillets, flour mixture, egg white mixture, and breadcrumb mixture.
Grilled Striper Recipes
This is our favorite grilled striper fish recipes! Lake texoma striper are great on the grill! Try it today!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 bunch (about 1 lb.) asparagus, bottom halves trimmed and saved for another use
- 3/4 pound Striped bass, or other firm white fish, cut into six 2-oz. portions
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Do you ever take guys out that want to catch stripers on a fly rod? If so when is typically the best time for that?
thanks
715-557-1461
Nebraska
Yes we have several fly fishing clients. Call me to book a trip. 972-345-8516
Chances of getting info back in time is unlikely. I was wondering about the striker action below the Dennison dam in middle to end of July. Figured they released water due to heavy consumption of electricity trying to stay cool. Thanks Steve any info helpful text best way of comm 817-368-1142
There will be Striper below the Denison Dam year-round and yes your chances are better when water is released. This link will have the schedule
https://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/DENI.lakepage.html
Tail-water Striper fishing below Denison is too crowded for us. We stick to the big lake. Thanks for the question, hope that helps a little.