Stripers

[warmfishernc]

Gonna try to catch some stripers during their annual spawning run up the Roanoke River here in North Carolina next weekend. From what I understand these are primarily saltwater fish that come in to spawn and/or chase/eat the shad that run up the same river the 2-3 weeks prior.

So I'm tying a bunch of Clousers, mostly chartreuse over white with just a little crystal flash. I have seen many comercially available saltwater Clouser patterns that have a lot more/bigger flash than what I have tied mine with. Is more flash always better when it comes to stripers? Or is the excess flash thrown in just to sell more flies?

I don't know if this makes much difference but the water clarity is typically pretty poor and we're catching these in water < 20' deep.

Thanks in advance..

[Dave E]

Hello warmfishernc,

The answer I'd give you based on fishing them here is Flash those Stripers. One cool thing about linear synthetic materials in flies, they can usually be reduced in length and mass while on the water, but the addition of flash to an existing fly while your fishing is pretty tough.

Your box of Chartreuse over White Clouser's would be solid producers out here as well. Mine are fairly well dressed along the laterals with silver flash-a-bou and a bit of rainbow crystal flash. Sometimes topping the Chartreuse wing with a touch of light pearl blue crystal flash works well to. When the shad are in our rivers, one of my favorite color combo's is Grey over White, with lot's of silver on the lateral's and a tinge of pearl crystal flash over the back. Another version of that same theme is Gray over Pink over White ( just use half as much of each, the Grey & Pink )
Also you might want to add a couple of solid black Clouser's to your line up.

If the fish really get on the spawning Shad you might want to experiment a little more with broad profile patterns that more accurately replicate the shape of a Shad. More along the line of the Howe's F.P.F flies, E.P's flies or Hi-Ties, they work well for me when the Shad enter the river.

What type of delivery system did you have in mind for targeting them at those depths, in moving water?

Best, Dave

[warmfishernc]

Thanks for the response Dave. Your suggestions give me several other things to try instead of running out of options after a slowdown with only two patterns.

We're going to try them at night as well so the black idea is spot on. The broader profile flies is a good idea as well, I have already tied a few decievers hoping to achieve a more realistic profile.

I'm using an 8wt and a 350 grain sinking line. A lot of chucking and ducking. We fish three out of my boat...I need to bring a helmet and flack jacket this year!

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share...

[kjgallaher]

The stripers have arrived big time in the Weldon area. Early morning and late evening there is often a topwater bite. Fast sinking line is the ticket otherwise. Many of us use 20-30 ft of LC13 or T14 line as a shooting head. There are a lot of snags up there and I have heard of people losing their flylines. I would rather lose a few bucks of shooting head compared to a whole $60 plus flyline!

Blue over white is another good color. The stripers forage a lot on the blueback herring (though these are currently threatened on that river and can no longer be caught or used for bait!). The bigger fish are caught on bigger flies but you may not catch as many. If you wait until May, the stripers will still be there but the meat fisherman will be gone because it is strictly a C&R fishery then. That means less boats on the water.

Good luck,
Keith

[lee s]

warmfishernc,

"the water clarity is typically pretty poor "

The water I fish is often quite similar. This is the very reason we tweaked a Lefty's Deceiver into an "Embellished Lefty's Deceiver" It is concocted to push water....a very important function in dirty water, for us, more so than optical stimulus....or at least as much so. You can find one in the FOTW (Fly Of The WEEK) section here at FAOL.
....lee s.

[Jed]

I tie my Clousers as did you. More is not always better. The Clouser is a fly tied with a minimum of Bucktail. It is by nature a sparse fly. Too much flash would detract from what you are trying to imitate i.e. a thin small fish.

jed

[jeffsod]

I like those old 8wt Phillipsons for casting bass bugs. They do that well but a graphite rod is usually a better choice for striper fishing. Though you don't need to get a new graphite stick. One of my favorites is an old entry level Orvis 8wt that was a former school rod I picked up cheap at the tent sale they have in the summer at the stores.