Lake Texoma Striper Fishing Changes with the Seasons

Spring
In the early spring striper move into shallow water on flats, points, and windblown banks and can be caught with live bait, cut bait, jigs, and swim baits fished slow. Around the first of April mature fish swim up the Red River and Washita river toward Lake Texoma Dam to spawn and usually don't return to the main lake till about the second week of May. Lake Texoma striper fishing really heats up about the last week of April when the water temp approaches 70 degrees, live bait is best but some years the top water bite is really good from late April to late May. By mid May most fish are stacked up on ledges and humps and live bait is king but by the end of June young of the year shad are about a inch long and the fish school up every morning and make a run gorging on the small shad, live bait still works but sometimes slab spoons can be the best option with the fish moving so fast.

Summer
August fishing usually slows down some but striper can still be caught, September slows down more and can be up and down one day to the next till the lake turns over in October and striper fishing picks back up.

Fall
Fall striper fishing gets good and fish can be caught just about any way you prefer to catch them, you can catch fish under working birds, ledges, humps, shallow flats, windblown banks and points.

Winter
From about Thanksgiving till sometime in January the striper really go on a feed, especially on cold damp days. You will find big schools of fish under the birds this time of year but they can be a little tough to catch until you find just the right presentation, I usually like to fish a soft plastic with very little action, something like a Bass Assassin on a 3/4 oz jig head. When the water temp gets below 50 the striper bite usually slows down, fish can still be caught and some days are really good but some are really slow, the main thing in the cold water is to slow your lure down -- when you think you are working it slow enough then slow it down even more.

This is just a overview of the striper fishing seasons on Lake Texoma; to learn some of the finer points, please book a trip with me.

Sincerely, Capt. Steve Barnes,
Lake Texoma Stripe Fishing Guide