hey everyone! im mainly a panfish angler and im kind of new to striper fishing. I was heading out to Eisenhower skatepark this Sunday (Original plan was trinity river, but the flow is too high to be feasible). Im relatively set on smallie fishing, but I was wondering what lures, patterns and time I should be heading out to target some stripers? Im on a kayak so i don't have a fish finder or depth finder onboard, so how should I approach this?

Thanks, everyone

Ok, You will be a little disadvantaged without a fish finder but you can still do it. If you want to catch both stripers and Smallmouth I recommend you go late in the evening and troll crankbaits like the one below on the points where the Eisenhower cove meets the main lake. I've caught both stripers and smallmouth there in numbers.

Notice the bent treble hooks. Changing to premium hooks is a good idea, as those stripers will pull very hard.


If you do not want to troll I would catch or buy some Perch and fish those a foot or two off the bottom. Since you don't have a fish finder you are better off moving around.

Nice Smallmouth caught trolling at Eisenhower at night


Got this one late in the evening on the east end of the Eisenhower cove where it enters the main lake. He jumped several feet out of the water when first hooked


This 26 inch Drum made me think I was hung up at first


Nice stripers there at night too.


Good luck. PM me if you have any questions.

1. Download the Navionics App on your phone so that you will have a map of the lake.
2. Get a decent set of Binos
3. Launch at the dam and look for fish feeding on top
4. Look for structure and try to position at the ledges between the flats or in some of the creekbeds or ditches and either drop your slabs or throw crankbaits
5. Splash the water with your rod tip a bunch of times if fish are on top or tap the bottom of the kayak with your rod butt for a few minutes to try to draw fish into your boat

Good luck!