This next weekend 29th and 30th, my friend and I, are leaving amarillo andmeeting up with another friend of ours in ok city and are going to texoma for 2 solid, straight days of fishing. The problem is we have no idea about fishing this lake, we normally bank fish, but my friend just bought a boat so we are wanting to fish for stripers but none of us really have the experience fishing for that species. I have plenty catching bass, panfish and catfish, I just dont know what to look for when trying to find stripers. Any tips, or help would be greatly appreciated, and thank you!

welcome and good luck.

I would say split the cost of a guide. Best bet to get on them. Texoma is a huge lake.

well, the thing is we're already spending around 200 in fuel and we plan to start fishing more on the lake, so we thought maybe going out ourselves would give us a better chance to learn the lake?

Also, do you know any guides that don't cost an arm and a leg?

Not sure what part of the lake your staying at but the frisco brigde is good at night. Try to get there early and get over the main channel. Soldier creek is close and where we stay when everybody gets together in our family.

Shad and minnows like your crappie fishing just with bigger tackle. I usually have a deep diver a top water and a spinner bait ready to go also. If you find them busting bait on top your in for some serious fun!

If you don't know Texoma it might cost you $1,000 in gas to find a few "good" spots. a guide can show them to you for much less.
Soldier creek has several good guides that know the lske very well.

look up JD Lyle here on the forum... If he's not booked up, the money you spend on him would be well spent.
He can show you where, and more importantly HOW to catch fish on Texoma... Fished with him a few times over the years.. Always catch fish, and good company to boot.

i used to have a weekend place up there, and can tell you that if you are not on them all the time, like the guides are, you will probably have a very frustrating two days. Catching a couple each for an entire day vs hiring a guide the first day (probably am only) then going out that pm and the next day on your own will be much better.

Just look for the birds and groups of boats. That is where the stripers will be.

I fish there a couple times a week and get lucky on occasion but far from staying on top of them on a daily basis. Chasing the guides around won't get you anywhere in my opinion either. They are all using live bait and unless you have some too then you can't compete. All you do is contribute to the boat parade on the water.

Get there early, before first light, and look for some surfacing fish. I would probably start down by the dam. Once the sun gets up, probably going to be slow if you are not fishing live bait.

Live bait around the islands.

Channel swings and burn a slab this time of year...

How did you do?