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Oklahoma Distribution – Naturally reproducing populations of striped bass have developed in lakes Texoma and Keystone and in the Arkansas River Navigation System. Foss, Tenkiller, Canton, Great Salt Plains, Grand and Kaw lakes also have been stocked.

Habitat – Stripers are found cruising in large schools in open waters. They do not frequent shorelines.

Natural Food Sources – Insects, shad and minnows.

Spawning – The spawning urge is triggered at water temperatures of 55 to 70 degrees F., reaching a peak at about 65 degrees. Female stripers may produce up to five million eggs. The eggs are semi-buoyant and require a moving, unobstructed river during incubation. When the water is still, eggs sink into the silt and the embryos die of suffocation.

Facts – Stripers were originally a marine or estuarine species. An anadromous spawner (ascends freshwater streams to spawn), striped bass became landlocked in an artificial impoundment near the Atlantic coast. They adapted so well to that environment that many states, including Oklahoma, began transplanting stripers. Striped bass can reach weights of 40 pounds or more.

Steps to Reduce Striped Bass Hooking Mortality From Fish Caught in Deep Water