The 5 Best Lakes for Hot Weather Striped Bass

I AM NOT A STRIPED BASS JUNKIE, but I have tangled with enough of the brawny sport fish to know they are rough customers. They’re truly a blast to catch, especially on bait casting tackle.

Known for their nasty attitudes, voracious appetites and hard, line-stripping runs, a striped bass might be described as a silvery stick of dynamite with fins and a really short fuse. These fish rank as the fourth most popular fish among Texas’s freshwater fishing crowds behind largemouth bass, catfish and crappie.

Fisheries biologists say most freshwater reservoirs lack the long stretches of stream flow necessary for stripers to spawn successfully and maintain self-sustaining populations. Likewise, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department takes an aggressive approach toward making sure lakes with favorable open water habitat and bountiful forage are well stocked with fish for anglers to catch.

The number of striped bass produced by TPWD hatcheries varies from one year to the next. However, district fisheries biologists typically request around 1.8 million fingerlings annually for stocking in select impoundments.

The lone exception is Lake Texoma. This 75,000-acre lake on the Red and Washita rivers is one of a handful of freshwater reservoirs in the US where stripers enjoy prolific spawning runs far upstream each spring when the conditions are right. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation jump started the fishery by stocking in the late 1960s and early 70s. It’s been going strong ever since without much help.

Known for its big numbers of “box fish” and an occasional 20 pounder, Texoma is undeniably Texas’s heaviest hitting striper lake. Surveys show that about 50 percent of the anglers who visit the lake go there for the stripers, and they dump millions of dollars annually into local economies.

Good as it is, Texoma isn’t the only reservoir in these parts where anglers can get their line stretched by the saltwater transplants.

I reached out to several TPWD inland fisheries biologists and asked them to rank the state’s Top Five striper fisheries, and to share some advice to help anglers score during the summer months. Here’s what they, along with some noted fishing guides, had to offer:

No. 1: Texoma

Size: 75,000 acres

Location: North Texas along the Texas/Oklahoma border.

Summer Plan: TPWD fisheries biologist Greg Cummings says fishing live bait (shad) vertically in the water column is the preferred method. Many guides rely on chumming, splasher props, and thumpers to attract and keep fish under the boat.

If you really want to have some fun, dump the live bait and grab a topwater such as a Whopper Plopper, Zara Spook, Chug Bug or Pencil Popper. Strikes can be downright vicious at times. The topwater bite is generally best during early morning. The sun is low then, and the fish are actively herding shad to the surface around the dam, the state park and the mouth of Little Mineral dam, Cummins said. Keep a watchful eye for birds or splashes and have a good pair of binoculars on hand.

Another popular method is trolling, Cummings said. “Some choose to use downriggers to keep baits down. However, Texoma usually stratifies in the summer, so extremely deep trolling is not necessary because there is little oxygen available below the thermocline.

“Stripers can be found in water one to thirty feet deep depending on where the thermocline is in summer,” he said.” Popular baits to troll include umbrella rigs, swimbaits, bucktail jigs, deep diving crankbaits, Storm Thundersticks or Rapala Shad Raps.”

Soft plastic shad swim baits matched with a jig head also work well when cast, jigged or trolled where stripers are present. “Choose colors according to water clarity,” Cummings said. “White, glow, and natural colors excel in clear water. Chartreuse or other brightly colors may do better in stained or muddy water.”

No. 2: Whitney

Size: 23,500-acres

Location: Northwest of Waco.

Summer Plan: Texas’s No. 2 striper fishery has been salted with nearly 865,000 fingerlings since 2017. The lake is now full of fish in the 18- to 22-inch range, according to TPWD fisheries biologist John Tibbs of Waco. Although March through May is the best time to go after them, Tibbs says the summertime bite isn’t half bad, either.

He said most guides use live shad to fill limits, but swim baits and umbrella rigs work well at times. Tibbs says anglers should pay close attention to the summer thermocline in 20 to 25 feet of water.

Try to fish above the thermocline when fishing with shad, swim baits, spoons or other sub-surface artificials. He also recommends keeping an eye peeled for active birds. This can often indicate a blood bath is in progress.

No. 3: Tawakoni

Size: 38,000 acres

Location: East of Dallas.

Summer Plan: TPWD fisheries biologist Jake Norman says Lake Tawakoni is a fixture on his hit list for striper stockings each year. It has received close to 750,000 fingerlings from state hatcheries since 2018.

Norman says the summer action isn’t as reliable as it is during cooler seasons. However, a few guides have found ways to catch them with some degree of consistency.

Michael Littlejohn is among them. Littlejohn says good electronics play a key role in his summertime game plan. He relies heavily on side imaging to locate schools of stripers suspended in big, open water or old timber stands in water 35 to 50 feet deep.

“It’s mostly a live bait game,” Littlejohn said. “Spend some time looking with your electronics. The stripers bunch up in open water, away from structure, often in schools as large as 500 to 800 fish. Once we find the fish, we set up and drop live shad on them — big gizzard shad, six to eight inches long.”

Littlejohn’s preferred live bait rig is a Carolina rig matched with a one- to one and a half-ounce weight and a 3/0 or 4/0 Kahle live bait hook. He said you can also score on big eight-inch flutter spoons.

No. 4: Possum Kingdom

Size: 15,600 acres

Location: West of Fort Worth.

Summer Plan: Deep and clear, PK is a summertime hotspot for pleasure boaters. Likewise, fisheries biologist Robert Mauk recommends being on water at first light or at night to get in on the best bite, when recreational traffic is the lightest.

Mauk says live bait is the order of the day for most anglers this time of year. However, trolling with deep diving cranks also can be effective in areas where electronics have pinpointed fish. Big spoons and swim baits also can be effective.

Another good tactic is casting a topwater in areas where birds are actively working the shad. 

Something else to keep in mind during the summer months on PK, or any other lake, is the thermocline. This is the where warmer more oxygenated water near the surface meets with cooler, less oxygenated water in deeper depths. “The best summer action is usually right around or above the thermocline, which will be about 25 feet deep on PK,” Mauk said.

No. 5: Buchanan

Size: 22,200 acres

Location: On the Colorado River west of Burnet.

Summer Plan: Stripers are king on this scenic Hill Country impoundment. Fisheries biologist Patrick Ireland called it a very productive system with a great population of threadfin and gizzard shad that keeps them well fed and growing fast.”

Ireland says area guides have the best luck using live shad or trolling an artificial around schools of stripers they mark with their electronics. The fish are generally suspended in water 30- to 50-feet deep around the thermocline, often on long points or humps near bends in the Colorado River channel.

Ireland says some of the best action occurs during the early morning hours and at night, especially during full moon periods.

• • •

 

—story by MATT WILLIAMS

 

< PREV Return to CONTENTS Page NEXT >