The Ten Best Fishing Lakes in Oklahoma

If you know, you know. When it comes to fishing, not all lakes are equal. While you can fish and catch fish in just about every body of water in the Sooner State, there are only a handful of lakes Oklahoma anglers get serious about.

As the temperatures warm into what is probably going to be another really hot summer, here are the top fishing lakes in Oklahoma.

Lake Texoma

Texoma is the granddaddy of all Oklahoma fishing lakes. The most well-known, the most visited and traveled to by Okies and non-Okies alike. 19 out of the 23 state fish records have come from Texoma. Not only can you make the day go by quickly picking largemouth bass off the banks and structure, but you can also literally fill your cooler up with delicious striped bass in no time at all.

Grand Lake O' the Cherokees

Northeast Oklahoma may not be known for much, but they do have most of the best fishing in the state thanks to the incredible amount of reservoirs up there. As such, Grand Lake has grown to be included on the list of America's premier bass fisheries, attracting professional fishing tournaments each year for big payouts. While they may not grow very big, you can catch them pretty steadily in this lake.

Lake Eufala

While Texoma may be the most well-known of OK's lakes, Eufala is the biggest. It's a gargantuan body of water along the I-40 corridor toward Arkansas. It's also a great fishing lake regardless of which species you're looking for, even those hard-fighting smallmouth bass.

Tenkiller Ferry Lake

Thought of more as a destination lake for general relaxation, Tenkiller is a pretty killer fishing lake too. The amazingly clear water allows anglers a small advantage when sight-fishing, but it's the deep smallmouth footballs that put up the best fights. It's also (probably) Oklahoma's prettiest lake.

Broken Bow

Another jewel of a lake in the Sooner State, Broken Bow is also ridiculously beautiful. The waters are clear enough with a green stain to them. With tons of islands and rock piles, and lakebeds made up of sand and aggregate, it makes for producing big bass during peak times of the year. Skip the tent at this locale and rent a cabin. You'll need that AC.

Lake of the Arbuckles

While every lake has the potential to produce big bass, Arbuckle Lake produces a bunch of trophy-size big bass on the regular. Past state records have come out of this lake, and if you're brave enough to put a boat into the big wind you'll experience on this long lake, it'll pay off with good pictures to make your angler buds envious.

Canton Lake

The lone wolf Northwestern Oklahoma fishery of Canton Lake might not stir any thoughts of angling action in your mind now, but it's a solid producer of fish when the weather allows it. Most anglers shy away from the shallows where old trees dot the surface, it's understandable. While it has a good population of bass and crappie, Canton has always been an amazing producer of walleye/sauger/saugeye fish--AKA-- the tastiest fish you'll find in Oklahoma. In drought years, the state will usually kill the fish and drain the water to be used in OKC... but in the good weather years, you'll pull limits every day easy/peasy.

Lake Murray

Lake Murray has earned a reputation as one of the best fishing lakes in the Sooner State for good reason. Consistently big fish. It's also almost always mentioned in any conversation where people debate which lake in Oklahoma is the most beautiful.

Lake Lawtonka

The jewel of Southwest Oklahoma is the lake locked within the Wichita Mountains. It's also one of the few lakes in the state that regularly gets stocked with the super-aggressive and fast-growing Florida-strain bass, not to mention the trophy-size smallmouth so many people pull from this lake each year. Bring your gumption, when it's windy the water gets big.

Keystone Lake

You may have heard of Keystone Lake before now, and for good measure. It's a very popular destination for Okies in the Tulsa area. Like most reservoirs, Keystone is big water. Along with that comes really good fishing from just about every species Oklahoma has to offer. Largemouth bass, crappie, stripers, hybrids, sand bass, big catfish, and even an ample supply of panfish for the kiddos to catch.

Honorable Mention

While everything online says otherwise, I think Sooner Lake is a better fishery than Keystone Lake, but can't find anything to back up that claim. Call it anglers-intuition. Of course, the species are somewhat limited in the smaller OG&E discharge lake, mostly bass and hybrids, but if those are the fish you're looking for, it's worth the trip and additional boat ramp fees.