Preston Bend

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invites you to visit Lake Texoma, the largest lake in capacity in the Tulsa District and the twelfth largest in the United States. It is also one of the most popular Federal recreation facilities in the country, with almost 6 million visitors annually. In 1999 Texoma ranked first among Corps of Engineers lake projects nationwide, with visitors spending over 90 million hours at the lake. Texoma is known as the ?Striper Capital of the World.? This lake is one of the few reservoirs in the nation where striped bass reproduce naturally. Other popular species include largemouth and smallmouth bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass, white crappie, black crappie, channel catfish and blue catfish. Lake Texoma is also thought to be the ?Playground of the Southwest.? The lake offers a multitude of amenities for most anyone who enjoys the great outdoors. The Corps of Engineers alone offers 15 different campgrounds with the total number of individual campsites reaching well over 800. Also available are 40 miles of equestrian trails that are enjoyed by hundreds each year and the scenic Cross Timbers hiking trail, a very popular trail that winds for 14 miles above the lake on rocky ledges and through blackjack woodland. Overnight accommodations, boat rental, slip rental and supplies are available at many of the 23 commercial concessions located adjacent to the lake. For more information on private resorts and concessions, please contact the Lake Texoma Association at 580/564-2334. Wildlife enthusiasts will enjoy the two national wildlife refuges that have locations in both Oklahoma and Texas. Each year thousands of Canada and snow geese, various shorebirds, several species of ducks and bald eagles migrate to both the Hagerman and Tishomingo refuges. While deer, wild turkey and other native animals make their home year round on the some 30,000 acres that make up these two areas. For further information, please contact Hagerman refuge at 903/786-2826 and Tishomingo refuge at 580/371-2402. Employees with the Corps of Engineers believe strongly in water safety and have developed a program at Lake Texoma that has educated in excess of 10,000 school children and continues to educate 2,000 or more annually. The Hal D. Malone Memorial Water Safety Complex was developed in 1993 and built by the staff at Lake Texoma. Each year 4th grade students are bused to the complex from the surrounding schools to learn hypothermia survival, buoy identification, different types of PFD and how to get a perfect fit, coping with crisis on the water and the handling of a two person battery operated boat through a supervised obstacle course.