Anyone fish for freshwater stripers? If so can I get some pointers, please? I have a lake that is not too far from my house that I would like to try for them. Tactics and best seasons would be good starters. I don’t know if anyone knows of it Blue Marsh Lake is the name of the lake that has them.
Thanks
I fish for them regularly.
Best places are: Tail-races below the dam, off of sandy points with a drop-off, edge of channel, anywhere you find schools of shad!
Best times are: Spring-early, up to mid-day, and evenings, especially near river mouths and inlets.
Summer-Early morning, evening and night, near drop-off shelves. Fall Most of the day and night, anywhere there are schools of shad. Look for diving seagulls and fish under them. Winter- All day. Look for schools of shad. Stripers love cold water and are one of the most active winter fish down south. Follow flocks of seagulls, especially when you see them diving. There are shad there, most likely, and almost guaranteed stripers and white bass underneath them!
Equipment: Do not use anything less than an 8 wt rod, preferably with a fighting butt. Have a large fly reel with a disc-drag and LOTS of backing…you’ll need it. I use a shooting taper, but any weight-forward line will work. Use a short, heavy tapered leader-7’ is plenty. I even do some spey casting for them. If you like fishing with it, even a sink tip line works. Pretend you are fishing for tarpon and you’ll be pretty close.
Flies: Anything that resembles a shad, or bluegill, tied on stout streamer hooks, usually size 6 and up, or better yet, use salt-water hooks. I tie several versions of Puglisis-style flies and color them to match shad and bluegills. They hit them with murderous abandon when they are attacking shad schools. Behind the tail-races, another fly that works good for me is a large wooley-bugger in size 6 or 4, with the front 1/3rd red and the rest white. All of your files should be tied weighted.
Cast into any group of jumping baitfish or under any flock of wheeling water birds, and if you get a chance (most of the time, it will get hammered as soon as it hits), twitch it slightly after a few seconds. Strikes will be vicious and sudden. Set the hook HARD, and REPEATEDLY (stripers have a hard mouth). Then, for the first run, just hang on. You won’t stop or turn the fish, trust me. After about 50-100 yards, the striper will usually slow down and maybe turn. Then you can start working the fish in, but be ready, because the fish will take several more runs of shorter length, very suddenly. The last one will be when the fish sees you, about the time your are reaching for it to remove it from the water. You are usually off-balance and not ready, so take that into account. This is fresh-water Big-Game fishing at it’s best.
If you can’t find any shad or birds, and don’t have a fish-finder, then work your fly along the shelf of drop-offs near sandy points, and along rip-raps.
Good Luck,
Semper Fi!
Thank you gigmaster. That was great!
jkilroy;
Thank you for posting.
I know know that I have the rod and reel set up. I got it for steelhead up in Michigan and have never used it.
Gigmaster;
You mention “Heavy Tapered Leader-7’”, for regular trout fishing here I use a 7’ furled leader with about a 12# break strength. Would this be heavy enough?
Jack,
Will that 12 pound furled leader be enough for a 20 pound striper?
Jkilroy,
Out here we use lead core or fast sink striper lines. A minnow pattern, don’t forget Clouser minnows too, and fast strips. The stripers feel the pulses in the water. Fish the edges of the weed beds at drop-offs. Stripers are looking for baitfish. Search the channels. If there is current, swing your fly and strip across.
Greg
Greg;
I edited my post to a 7’ furled leader. I don’t know if 12# is enough but it is very easy to add windings to the process to up the strength.
Thanks for all your posts. The reason I posted this is I like saltwater flyfishing and I live 2.5 hrs away from any ocean. That’s a problem. I read a good article in Fly tyer that pretty well covered this topic, but The more info I have the better. Only problem, the lake I’m looking at is always, always off-colored. Iknow it holds freshwater stripers though. I also have the gear 8wt TFO Ticr, 10 wt st. croix and a 350 grain full sink line. I also have a canoe with a small gas motor. I think if I have time I might try it. I’d like to try it sometime when I can spend the whole day on the lake. It won’t be soon I may have to go back to the Middle east again.
Thanks
I use an 0X leader with a 15 lb test tippet.
And I still lose stripers sometimes.
Greg’s right on. Stripers love clouser minnows, too.
I have never got the hang of the line pick-up technique with sinking line, and usually wind up with it all in my lap, but I’d really like to learn someday.
Hence, I have to ‘jump’ fish, by looking for signs of distressed baitfish such as distrurbed water, wheeling water birds, or actual jumping fish.
Semper Fi!
Gigmaster, to pick up line strip your sinking line in to about 20’ and lift your rod and roll cast the sink tip out. When it hits the water surface begin your back cast. Don’t work out much more than the lead core part false casting, then let it fly.
The annoying part is when a striper hits your fly just as you are about to roll cast and you can’t set the hook.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH! So that’s how you do it!!
Thanks. Now I’m gonna get some sinking line and practice.
Semper Fi!
Gigmaster,
You and I are relatively close to each other. Do you ever fish for striper in Lanier? I have heard there a place called Holly Park where they get close enough to shore for bank fishers in the winter. I have considered taking my one man pontoon and giving it a shot with the long rod. I have never caught a striper but figured it would be a good ride in the little pontoon boat.
An advise on flies other than clouser [what color for it?]
Thanks,
Just a side note with a little humor on this subject…
Here where Jack and I live there is a lake (Tim’s Ford) that has what we call “rockfish” stocked in it. They are a cross between the salt water striper and a frest water white bass. These get to 20+ pounds and are a great fight. I have yet to try them with my fly rod because I sold my bass boat 12+ years ago when I took up the fly rod. Tim’s Ford has over 10,000 acres of water. I do know of one fisherman here who went out with his canoe and bass rod with a sidewinder spool tied on and he did hook one of these “rockfish”. The fish took him and his canoe 1 1/2 miles down the lake to a bridge where the fish went around the bridge pillar and broke his line which left him with paddling back to the marina!! :lol: After that adventure, he sold his canoe and bought a larger boat!! 
Warren,
I fish for stripers in the salt out of my 12’ kayak
I’ve only landed a couple of fish in the 20 pound range that way, but it’s a lot of fun.
A regular Nantucket sleigh ride :lol:
Last season we got in to a large school of fish in the 15 pound range feeding on top during the strongest part to the tide
By the time you landed one it was a long paddle back to the school
I don’t remember how many fish I caught, but I remember doing lots of paddling
Try these colors:
http://www.gurglersonline.com/413MinnowSeries.html
Also check out the monster on his main page:
I’ve fished Lanier many times for striper (I am almost exclusively a fly-fisher). Holly Park is a good place, but if your gonna use a belly boat, be ready for a Nantucket Sleigh Ride. You may be farther out from shore than you really want when it’s over. My boat is a 9’ Kayak. The ultimate fishing vehicle (works for ducks, geese, deer and frog-gigging as well).
Behind the dam and Power Station is another great place for stripers, and you can fish from shore. It’s a whole lot like what I imagine Steelhead and Salmon fishing to be. There are even places you can wade (carefully). Same thing with Carter’s and Allatoona Lakes.
Any fly that resembles a shad or bluegill will work, as well as log perch imitations. Best colors are grey/white, and chartruese/white, or bluegill colors (od green/yellow/orange/red). Sometime blue/white works as well, usually on an overcast day.
Good Luck
Yup. For some reason Tennesseans call stripers ‘rockfish’.
The hybrid between Striped Bass and White Bass is called Wiper round here. They use them stock some lakes since they grow a lot faster and are far more aggresive in taking the lures.
One thing to keep in mind is that there may be a wealth of data on tactics etc. already sitting right there with the hardware/bait guys who fish the lake. Find out where they go, how they fish for the stripers. It will not likely be too hard to adapt fly angling tactics to the situation.
_________________
RRhyne56
http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com
http://robinsrumination.blogspot.com
Just for info. The Tennessee Rockfish record is 68# + but that was not caught on a fly rod. I have caught them in the 20# range using my 7 wt. John
I’ve caught lots of 30 and 40 pounders. 15-20 pounders are about average here.
Semper Fi!