By Mike Lambeth

As a writer and fishing enthusiast, I've had the privilege of fishing some of the best striper lakes in North America. I've caught all sizes of striped bass and rate them along with their crossbred offspring - the hybrid bass - as the hardest-fighting game fish I've ever had on the end of my line.

Oklahoma has gained a well-deserved reputation for having some of the best striper fishing in the nation. Here, I'll be covering some of the best places in the Sooner State for catching stripers and hybrids - and I'll even throw in a few white-bass hotspots, to boot. (Ironically, striped bass are a member of the white bass family.)

There are other places in Oklahoma that harbor good numbers of stripers and, though they may not get their due respect, still produce some outstanding catches.

I asked Gary Peterson, a fisheries biologist with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, what makes the Lower Illinois so special for stripers.

Clarence Boatman caught this impressive striper at Keystone Lake, one of the first places in the state that stripers were introduced into. Photo by Mike Lambeth

"Stripers like to congregate in these waters" he replied, "due to the water being 20 degrees cooler in the late-summer months. The flowing water triggers their feeding instincts."

According to Peterson, stripers were originally introduced to Oklahoma reservoirs like Texoma, Keystone, Eufaula and Tenkiller in the early 1960s, but most have gone over the dams and through the floodgates since. Those fish now populate Eastern Oklahoma rivers like the Arkansas, the Canadian, and the Lower Illinois. The hearty species tends to populate rapidly and has adapted well to Oklahoma waters. As a result, stripers can be caught virtually anywhere in these river systems.

In the 1980s, Peterson says, some Oklahoma State University graduate students tagged some stripers, caught below the dam at Keystone Reservoir near Tulsa. Six weeks later one of those fish was caught and identified in the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 1,000 miles away.

"Stripers are opportunistic feeders, and will eat virtually anything, including small catfish," he said. "I even received a report one time of a fisherman finding a baby possum in a striper's belly."

Trout are caught and used widely by bait-fishermen, Peterson reports, adding the cautionary note that anyone using or catching trout in the designated trout area, which comprises the stretch below Tenkiller dam to the Highway 64 bridge, must have a $7.75 trout stamp.

David Mitchell, a fishing guide from Oklahoma City, fishes the Lower Illinois often. He agrees with Peterson that the best fishing is found between the Highway 64 bridge and the mouth of the Arkansas River. Both experts say that the river has deep holes - easily located with sonar equipment - in which you'll find some of the biggest stripers around.

When water levels are high at Lake Tenkiller, Mitchell says, and the hydroelectric turbines exploit the conditions by running 24 hours a day, pumping water into the Lower Illinois, he opts to fish the natural mudline that forms at the junction of the Illinois and Arkansas rivers. Large schools of shad and herring congregate in that area, he notes, and attract large schools of stripers.

"I like to catch herring using small crappie jigs fished near the edge of the mud line," Mitchell offered. "They are one of my favorite baits for big stripers"

Mitchell catches several stripers each year that weigh between 20 and 30 pounds; some have approached the 40-pound mark.

If you're fortunate enough to be there when the water is flowing, the fishing can be fast and furious. When the floodgates are closed, the flow stops, but sand bass and hybrid bass can generally be caught there year 'round, with an occasional striper added to the mix.

Anglers fishing along the wall generally make long casts and throw artificial baits into the turbid water below. Some guides, however, use live shad caught with the use of a net. Either bait can offer a chance at the striper of a lifetime. Be prepared to hang up often and to lose lots of hooks and sinkers, as well as costly artificial lures.

David Mitchell often fishes below the Eufaula dam. He in particular likes working the last three or four miles of the Canadian River before it joins the Arkansas River. This stretch of the Canadian receives very little fishing pressure, as finding the scattered deep holes can be discouragingly tough for newcomers.

Mitchell assured me that there are holes in the river system that hold huge stripers. One of his favorite techniques is to pitch shad at brushpiles along the edge of the river and along the rocky banks. Good fishing is also to be had along the riprap areas as shad congregate there to eat the insects feeding on the algae growing on the rocks.

Daily catches of lunkers, on the other hand, do occur less often than they did in the late '70s and early '80s, when they were commonplace - but don't think that they no longer happen. Striper guides Gary Hart and Lloyd Jennings believe that big stripers still swim Texoma, just waiting to be caught by lucky fishermen.

The best baits for Texoma are large, brightly colored jigs and spoons called "slabs." Large deep-diving crankbaits in shad colors work magic when trolled. And for live-bait fishing, 4- to 8-inch shad are unbeatable.

Anglers can receive up-to-the-minute lake reports by logging on to www.sixoldgeezers.com. While you're on the Web site, check out some of the hottest striper baits on Lake Texoma: Prune Picker Slabs made by Ron Ludwig.

Sand Springs' Clarence Boatman, who guides on Keystone, rates the lake as good for striped bass. Having fished the lake for many years, he's learned from experience where the most promising areas for taking big stripers lie.

Boatman recommends that newcomers to the lake hire a guide. However, he was willing to share a few of the hotspots to which his clients go to catch nice limits of striped bass.

"The riprap area near the Highway 64 bridge is one of my favorite spots," Boatman said, "as well as an underwater island that can be located with a depthfinder. I believe the Salt Creek area of the lake has the clearest water and holds stripers year 'round."

The bait of choice for most striper anglers is live shad, but stripers can be caught by jigging spoons and large jigs, and by trolling large deep-diving crankbaits.