Public boat ramps on Lake Texoma: the Texas and Oklahoma guide

Lake Texoma sits half in Texas, half in Oklahoma, but its public boat ramps don't split anywhere near evenly. Of the 16 agency-verified public launches on the lake, only 5 are on the Texas side. Drive up from Dallas and nearly everything you pass on the Texas shore is a private marina with its own launch fee. The public ramps, the $5-a-day Corps of Engineers kind, are mostly across the state line.

Nobody publishes a complete two-state list. Texas Parks and Wildlife documents its side, Oklahoma covers its state park, and the Corps scatters the rest across recreation.gov. This guide pulls all of it together: who runs each ramp, what it costs, and which ones close in winter or go underwater in a wet spring.

Two states, one lake: how the border actually works

The Texas-Oklahoma line follows the old Red River channel, which now runs invisibly along the lake bottom. Cross it mid-lake and you have changed states, fishing regulations and all. The fix is the Lake Texoma fishing license: $12, sold by either state, good for the whole lake through December 31. If you hold only a Texas license, you fish Texas water; only an Oklahoma license, Oklahoma water. Most anglers who run the lake seriously just buy the $12 license and stop thinking about where the channel used to be. One catch: it isn't valid below Denison Dam, so the Red River tailwater needs a regular state license.

Launching is a different question from fishing, and this is where Texoma confuses first-timers. There is no lake-wide launch permit. Each ramp belongs to an agency with its own fee system, and the lake has three of them.

What launching costs here

• Corps of Engineers ramps (most of the public ramps on the lake): $5 per vehicle per day, paid at the ramp or on recreation.gov. A $40 USACE annual day-use pass covers Corps ramps nationwide. Camping at the adjacent campground? The launch is included.
• Eisenhower State Park (Texas): $5 per person park entry for ages 13 and up. No separate launch fee once inside.
• Lake Texoma State Park (Oklahoma): the statewide parking-pass system applies, $10 per vehicle per day. Oklahoma residents 62 and up and Oklahoma veterans park free.

There is no verified free public ramp on this lake. We checked every one. Each documented public launch sits behind a day-use fee, a park entry, or a parking pass. The cheapest path for a frequent visitor is the $40 Corps annual pass, which pays for itself in eight launches.

The Texas side: five public launches and a lot of marinas

Grayson County's shoreline is marina country. Highport, Grandpappy Point, Cedar Mills, Flowing Wells, Big Mineral Camp: all private, all charging their own ramp fees, none in our table below. The true public options:

Eisenhower State Park (TPWD, year-round)

The most dependable public launch on the Texas side. Boats up to 26 feet, open year-round, $5-a-head entry. The Texas State Parks annual pass ($70) waives entry if Texoma is your home water.

Dam Site Park (Corps, closed Dec 1–Mar 31)

A multi-lane Corps ramp tucked just upstream of Denison Dam, with wheelchair-accessible bank fishing nearby. It closes every winter, December through March. Ramp status can also change with lake levels, so check the Corps' current-conditions page before towing out here in a wet year.

Juniper Point West and Juniper Point East (Corps, Hwy 377)

Twin Corps areas flanking Highway 377 near Gordonville, on the western end of the Texas shore. West is the year-round unit, including winter launching. East shuts down for the cold months. Two ramps and two docks between them.

Preston Bend (Corps, Apr–Sep, call ahead)

The asterisk on the Texas list. The Corps sells a day-use boat ramp pass for Preston Bend on recreation.gov, but TPWD's access directory lists the area as campers-only with no day use. The park is open April through September either way. If you aren't camping there, call the Lake Texoma Project Office at (903) 465-4990 before making the drive.

One more Texas note: Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, on the Big Mineral arm, allows boating but lists no developed ramp on its own pages, so plan to hand-launch. Motors are allowed March 15 to October 1, kayaks year-round, and the refuge's stretch of Big Mineral Creek is no-wake for everyone.

The dam that built the lake

Denison Dam was the largest rolled earth-fill dam in the United States when it closed off the Red River in 1944. The Corps packed 18.8 million cubic yards of fill into it under the Flood Control Act of 1938, and it still runs the lake today, which is why most of Texoma's ramps follow federal day-use rules rather than either state's park system.

The Oklahoma side: where the public ramps actually are

Oklahoma holds about two-thirds of the water and a much bigger share of the public launches. Corps campgrounds ring the Oklahoma shoreline, each with a ramp on the $5 day-pass system.

Burns Run, the dam-side cluster

Immediately northwest of Denison Dam, Burns Run East and Burns Run West sit on the same cove. West is the bigger campground, 117 sites with a ramp, beach, and playground, but it closes October through March. East runs all year: some campsites shut for the off season, and winter launchers pay the ramp fee at a vault by the entrance. These are the closest public Oklahoma launches to the dam and the deep water of the lower lake.

The Bryan County shore

Working north from the dam: Platter Flats, Lakeside, and Johnson Creek, all Corps campground ramps. Johnson Creek, west of Durant on Highway 70, is the workhorse for the lake's northeast corner.

The Marshall County shore

Buncombe Creek covers the southwest corner of the Oklahoma side near Willis, and Caney Creek sits north of it near Kingston. Both are Corps campgrounds with ramps; don't confuse the Corps' Caney Creek with the private yacht club of the same name nearby.

Lake Texoma State Park and Catfish Bay

Oklahoma's park at Catfish Bay has a strange recent history: the state sold the park land to a private developer in 2008 for a resort that never got built, the old lodge is long closed, and what remains is the campground side of the park. The launching still works. Two public ramps sit on Catfish Bay (ramp 1, ramp 2) under the state's $10 parking pass, next to the privately run Catfish Bay Marina.

The Washita arm

The quiet third of the lake. Washita Point marks the mouth of the arm, a primitive Corps access point: a place to put in and not much else. A dozen-plus miles up, Butcher Pen is the same idea, bare-bones Corps shoreline access. Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge caps the arm's upper end, and its waters run on refuge rules: boating March 1 through September 30 on most of it, no jet skis, no skiing, no swimming. The areas south of the Washita River and the wildlife management unit stay open to boats year-round.

Two state parks, two states

Texoma has a state park on each side, and people mix them up constantly. Eisenhower State Park is the Texas one, near Denison, run by TPWD with per-person entry. Lake Texoma State Park is the Oklahoma one, across the lake near Kingston, run by Oklahoma with per-vehicle parking. If someone says “meet at the state park,” ask which one.

Why everyone is here: the stripers

Texoma is one of the few reservoirs in the country where striped bass reproduce on their own, no stocking required. The fish went in starting in 1965; by 1974 biologists had documented natural spawning runs up the Red and Washita arms, and the lake has sustained itself since. That self-renewing fishery is what the lake's big guide fleet sells, and it's the best argument for the $12 two-state license: a boat that can't cross the channel line is fishing half a lake.

If you're trailering up from the DFW metro for it, the tow on US-75 or 377 is an hour-plus of highway each way, the kind of mileage that cooks trailer bearings. Bearing protectors run about $29 and outlast a season of weekly Texoma runs.

What to know before you trailer down

• Buy the $12 Texoma license if you fish. It covers both states' water and removes the only complicated thing about the border.
• Spring high water closes ramps. The lake crested a record 645.72 feet in 2015 and sent water over the uncontrolled spillway. In 2019, high water kept Buncombe Creek, Johnson Creek, Preston Bend, and Burns Run West closed into late June. Wet springs are normal here; check the Corps status page in May and June.
• Winter thins both sides. Dam Site and Buncombe Creek close December through March, Burns Run West goes earlier (October), and Juniper Point East sits out the cold months too. Juniper Point West and Eisenhower carry the Texas winter load; the other Oklahoma Corps ramps stay launchable with fee vaults at the entrance.
• Clean, drain, dry. Texoma has zebra mussels, and Texas law requires draining all water from your boat before leaving the lake.
• The $40 Corps annual pass beats day fees fast. It's good at every Corps lake in the country, not just Texoma.

Every public ramp on Lake Texoma

The 16 agency-verified public launches are mapped and listed below. 53 additional access points from USGS and OpenStreetMap records (mostly unnamed coordinates without verified operators) appear on the map but aren't in the table. Click any ramp for GPS coordinates, directions, and full details.

Plus 53 additional access points across both shores. They appear on the map above; for the full record set, see the Lake Texoma waterbody page.

Methodology and sources

Ramp inventory comes from our database of 46,900+ public ramps, filtered to records on Lake Texoma across the five counties that touch the lake. We exclude private marinas, resorts, member clubs, and restricted facilities; the table lists only launches whose operator and access terms we verified against an agency source. One database record (a “Washita Point” placed 20 km east of the dam, off the lake) was dropped as mistagged, and Burns Run West appears in prose but not the table because our dataset carries it only as an unnamed coordinate.

Texas-side facts were checked against TPWD's Lake Texoma access directory and Eisenhower State Park pages. Corps ramp fees and seasons come from the per-ramp boat ramp pass listings on recreation.gov and the Corps operational status page. Oklahoma state park access comes from TravelOK and the Oklahoma State Parks parking program. Refuge rules from USFWS Tishomingo and Hagerman pages. The $12 two-state license price was confirmed on both TPWD's lake page and ODWC's fee schedule. Lake statistics cross-checked against the Texas Water Development Board, TPWD, the Texas Almanac, and Wikipedia. Last verified June 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a Texas or Oklahoma fishing license on Lake Texoma?

Either works on its own state's side of the old Red River channel. The $12 Lake Texoma license covers the entire lake and is the practical answer for anyone fishing from a boat.

Are there any free boat ramps on Lake Texoma?

We couldn't verify a single free public launch on the lake. Corps ramps charge $5 a day, Eisenhower State Park charges $5 a person, and Oklahoma's park requires a $10 parking pass. The cheapest options for regulars are the $40 Corps annual pass or, for Oklahoma residents 62 and up, the free state parking pass. Compare free ramps in Texas and free ramps in Oklahoma if fee-free launching matters more than this particular lake.

How many boat ramps does Lake Texoma have?

More than 80 launch points ring the lake if you count private marinas and resort ramps. Strictly public, agency-verified launches: the 16 in our table, 5 on the Texas side and 11 in Oklahoma.

Which Lake Texoma ramps stay open in winter?

On the Texas side, Eisenhower State Park and Juniper Point West. Dam Site closes December through March, Juniper Point East closes for the winter, and Preston Bend runs April through September. Most Oklahoma Corps ramps stay launchable through winter with fee vaults at the park entrances, but Burns Run West closes October through March and Buncombe Creek closes December through March.

What is the difference between Eisenhower State Park and Lake Texoma State Park?

Different parks, different states, same lake. Eisenhower is the Texas park near Denison ($5/person entry, TPWD). Lake Texoma State Park is the Oklahoma park near Kingston ($10/vehicle parking pass, Oklahoma State Parks).

Why is Lake Texoma famous for striped bass?

It's one of the few US reservoirs where stripers reproduce naturally. Introduced in 1965, the population was spawning on its own in the river arms by 1974 and has never needed routine stocking since.

See also: Public boat ramps on Lake of the Ozarks · Every Lake Texoma ramp on the map · All boat ramps in Texas · All boat ramps in Oklahoma