i did a little searching but didnt come up really with what i was looking for...

backstory: grew up in south Texas and did quite a bit of saltwater fishing down there for redfish/flounder/speckled trout ect ect.

recently my dad got a boat and weve been trying to get used to freshwater fishing, mostly weve been fishing for sandbass using smaller rattle traps, which has worked great but were looking to catch something a little...bigger. we usually fish around the island near clear lake park and around the railroad bridge to the north east. we always notice people sitting just off to the south east of the island, and last time out we found quite a bit of larger fish hitting the top. some of which was gar/carp, but others we were sure were feeding. unfortunately we couldnt get them to hit anything, but we were fairly sure they were stripers. i was throwing a topwater, and my dad was using a larger rattletrap..

i know people like to keep their places/techniques secret, but could anyone help a newb out in where to fish/what to fish with to catch some stripers?

Try a different lake for stripers. Lavon has been stocked with them, but it is not an established striper fishery yet. Plenty of sand bass though. Texoma is only an hour away and has excellent striper populations. If looking for a quick trip try Ray Hubbard for hybrids. If you must fish Lavon try going after blue catfish. They get big on that lake and it is full of them. Go to the lavon fishing website for tons of info about blue catting and fishing in general. I have learned a lot from that forum. Good luck!

ya my dad ended up hearing from someone that lavon isnt all that great for stripers...i actually live right next to hubbard, we just like lavon better. we went out saturday morning to lavon, caught some shad first thing in the morning then went out to the railroad bridge where i cought a few sandbass, unfortunately the trolling motor stopped working for a while, and we really didnt see anything working like we usually do. made our way over to the island and cought a few more, my dad picked up ~13-14 inch sandie. then we did a little drifting for cats(for about 45 minutes) but didnt come up with anything...

my dads heading to texoma the first week in october for some guided striper fishing, if its as good as we hear we may end up making a trip up there...

With less than 2 years fishing experience in the area, I won't fish lavon anymore except for blue catfish in late Dec-Jan- early Feb. switching back out when the water temp starts moving up from the Jan. lows. I am by no means the area or species expert, but Lavon is my last area lake fishing choice for anything else. White bass outside of the spawn run which concentrates them, to me is like riding a moped- I'll take it if nothing else is available, and it sounds like you would rather seek either striper or hybrid since both will get over 10 lbs. if not havested early in their life cycle. Tip - striper, hybrid and whites are in the same family but are not the same fish. My observation is that Lavon has the warmest water in the area yet has stocked striper, which has the lowest high-end water temp tolerance. I am sure that I will be debated by someone on here, but to me, learning hybrid movements, temp, feeding habits, etc. on Hubbard or over on Tawakoni, is a much better Rockwall area bet for big striped bass family fish unless you want to drive to Texoma for pure stipers.