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Stripers Below the Dam
Here in North Texas the stripers are going nuts below the Denison Dam of Lake Texoma. Reports of bloodied fingers due to lipping so many fish are pouring in. Both conventional and fly anglers are catching lots of fish.
Any other areas of the country reporting striper blitz right now?
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
That's nice fishin'. Is that offshore or in a river?
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We're getting toward the end of fall migration now
Big fish are the last to pass through
The majority are headed to Chesapeake Bay
Others will over-winter in rivers like the Hudson and locally the Thames (Ct.)
This fish was taken off shore
41 pounds
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Robin,
Get out there and get ya some....then post some pics and give us a report!
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Headed out this weekend Carl!
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Good for you....tear um up! :D
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Robin,
The striper fishing has been good in the Arkansas River here, when the water is low enough to fish it.
Steve
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Man I can hardly wait for the screaming drag!
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Quote:
Originally Posted by dudley
That's a BIG FISH!
Doug
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Yikes! Not sure I'd try catching a fish that big unless I was wearing a Depends and had lots of spares handy!
Joe
"Better small than not at all."
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Glad to hear you?re into them. Pods of fish are working their way down the coast off Long Island and boats are doing VERY well. There have been some recent fatalities of striper fishermen though with flipped boats so it?s not all fun and games out there.
Starting to see scattered flocks of Gannets diving off the beach about a mile out, which usually signals the arrival of herring. Hopefully things will get interesting if they swing in a little closer. A mile is just out of my range? even with a shooting head. But it?s always an amazing sight to see.
No fall blitzes yet from shore for me. Just the odd schoolie blind casting off the beach, one edging towards 30? caught under a hovering gull, a few larger on plugs, and a lot of skunks. So far it?s been mostly a night and first light kind of thing, but this time of year it can happen anytime. Usually the snottier the weather, the better the fishing, so it?s time to break out the fingerless wool gloves. If the catching stops by the time it gets to the ?flip top? glacier gloves stage though, it?s usually means it?s a good time to start thinking about tying. Or steelhead.
Good luck!
Peregrines
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Quote:
Originally Posted by dudley
Reckon, that would be a little much for my 3wt?
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
I wouldn't go as far as to say blitzes, but here in Kansas, the white bass, wipers (both little brothers of the striper), and yes, in a few lakes even stipers are still going pretty strong and close enough to the shore on a windy day to reach with a decent cast. Don't know how long it'll last, though. In a normal year it would be mostly over here by now.
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
The blitz has cooled off, the bigger fish are laying up and coming up to play when the gates are open to generate power. Lots of bait coming through the dam and easy pickins.
That being said, if one has a sink line there is some good fishing to be had albeit smaller fish. But they were still a hoot!
I went with Mick, we spent most of the day fishing. I only had WFF line so was not nearly so in the actual catching. (see lessons section below)
Towards the end of the day Mick tied on a gray Cat's Whisker and was catching a fish on every cast for what seemed like half an hour.
Lessons
1. Bring a sink line or at least a sink tip.
2. Bring a stout stick to wade with.
3. Ear plugs for when the air boat guides fire up those uncapped V-8s on their boats.
Humourous note, a guide brought his air boat down to the sandbar, launched, loaded up five clients and then saw one of us fly anglers midstream next to a pile of rocks, rocking and rolling and landing fish after fish. So he idled his air boat fifty yards, pulled up on the rocks not ten feet from Albert, lilmited out his clients and then roared off down the river, apparently to give everyone a hot rod ride.
Fish Pix
A skinny little feller, they came over the dam in the last flood and are eating up all the small shad in the river.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2347/...5af57c74bb.jpg
a nice lil' one Mick landed
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2278/...06e3641b_o.jpg
another one of Mick's (I chickened out after I almost lost my camera!)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2163/...02d1b6d8_o.jpg
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Robin,
Dude, you need to please, please, please start contributing fishing stories to FAOL Warm Water! We all need to know what's goin' on in Texas.
I was out fishing recently with Bluegill (from the site, that is) and mentioned to him that you'd sent me a couple of furled leaders but I hadn't found the courage yet to use them due to fears of ruining them with wind knots?
(Bluegill, I should note, was himself using a furled leader at the time?) He told me I shouldn't worry, just go ahead and start using the furleds.
His advice: "You'll never get to ruin 'em with wind knots if you never use 'em!" -- or some such unassailable fisherman's logic.
You call the fish in your photos "small"? Wow, y'all striped bass and wiper guys are a trip! :D
Joe
"Better small than not at all."
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Joe
Thank you for your encouragement. I know, I know, I need to write. I write a lot but am my own worst critic. I need to get over that huh? Please do use the leaders. They are great for casting. If wind knots are a fear then realize that they can always be picked out carefully after letting the leader dry out. Or, just keep a close eye out. If you catch them right away before they have had a chance to be dogged down by further casting they can be fairly easy to remove.
Now, look out because I have to post this photo of a striper that a bait guy took out on the Oklahoma side of the dam a week or so ago.
http://www.texasflyreport.com/forums...45cba18fa9.jpg
The bigger fish washed over the dam in that flood we had a few months ago. They come up in the tailrace when the generators are running to feast on shad. One would need a twelve inch pattern to have a shot at one of these big boys.
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Hey Robin, FYI, the guide in the airboat chums that area around the rocks before he picks up his clients.
Rex
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Is that right Rex? I would wonder how there would be any fish there long enough to get back with them. We saw him chunk a bunch of shad overboard after they had limited and then blast off downstream WOT There was quite a striper flurry but this was after they quit fishing and were about to leave. Weird
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Robin, I don't know if it was the same guide you saw, but one of them does it.
They chum for shad, to try to get them to hold in a specific area. The stripers will follow the shad.
Rex
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Y'all might end up getting a visit from Dave Micus, if you keep showing pics like that.
Ed
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See Joe, told you you could use the furled leaders! 8)
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Okay, Okay...I'll try one of the furled leaders. Like almost all fly tackle, including flies, those leaders just look too nice to mess up, what with the (bad) luck I often have with snags and wind knots.
That is another HUGE striper! Big enough it could maybe eat the Kansas state record striper (which I think is around 35 lbs.). Unbelievable.
Joe
"Better small than not at all."
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Joe
Those guys were using tuna poppers, saltwater tackle, to entice these big boys. I may have to come up with some massive multi-hook fly to drift downstream like a dead shad.
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Robin, I hope to get over there during the Christmas break, I plan on using my spey rod and a sinking leader.
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Great Mike!
There are a series of small rock islets midstream. The last ones are surrounded by guts and the channel runs through. Good fishing there (dang it now everyone on FAOL will be headed there....wait a sec, that's not a bad idea!)
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
this fly, the Cat's Whisker, in gray, has been killing them. Size 8 or 10 for maximum hookup-age.
Hmm, URL disabled. OK, paste the below link into your browser address field.
http://www.grtu.org/forums/viewtopic...t=cats+whisker
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Robin,
Does the "Cat's Whisker" fly have an actual live, hissing cat incorporated into its design? Looking at the size of the stripers in this thread's photos, they could actually swallow one!
Joe
"Better small than not at all."
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Interestingly, the stripers that we were catching were all on #10 Cat's Whiskers. (gray)
The scene is that these fish were all washed through back in early summer and have eaten up most all the small bait. Now about all that seems to be left are big old 12" shad and the only ones that can eat them are the big boys (reference that whopper in the image) Those monsters were caught on tuna poppers.
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Scott tagged this one under the dam yesterday on a six weight
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/...c9aed8055c.jpg
Kinda serious, kinda kiddin' but Scott is booking trips.
Totally serious, y'all are invited to head this way!
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What a fish! (pant, pant, whine, whine!)
I for one would dearly love to. But right now I'm so poor it's all I can manage just to pay attention.
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Joe
I feel your pain, I truly do. It's funny that this fishery seems to have just popped up. Hoping it lasts a while so you and the rest of the gang can make it.
It's here
http://tinyurl.com/26oywc
Sorry but URL is turned off so no way to embed the link
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Re: Stripers Below the Dam
Quote:
Originally Posted by rrhyne56
Wow, on a six wgt....I would still have to clean up after. He would be pulling my short a$$ around like a 150 horse Johnson
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Stripers are still on. Not sure how long they'll last but folks are still reporting landing large numbers of fish there below the dam.
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Here's one that I caught in the Arkansas River a few weeks ago
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...fishing023.jpg
My buddy Ronnie caught this flathead catfish the same day
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...fishing022.jpg
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Steve, I'd rather catch that flathead than the striper you're holding.
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I would not mind either on the end of the line.
Rick
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Sweet pullin' there with both those fishes.
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I just got back from the Arkansas River. I only got to fish for about 1 1/2 hours before the water started to rise, but managed to catch 5 stripers and 2 hybrids. A nice Christmas gift from the fish gods!
Steve