Stripers On The Fly

[jay bird]

I try to do a little each year, but with limited success. I have managed to get 3-4 in the boat in the last couple of years, but nothing to big just yet. Here is one I had last year a fairly nice hybrid, and the biggest true striper I have ever had on a fly was only about 6#s. Biggest fish we put in the boat with a fly rod was a really nice hybrid I would have guessed between 8-9#s, may have been bigger no scale in the boat that day.

[BlueWave]

I try to do a little each year, but with limited success. I have managed to get 3-4 in the boat in the last couple of years, but nothing to big just yet. Here is one I had last year a fairly nice hybrid, and the biggest true striper I have ever had on a fly was only about 6#s. Biggest fish we put in the boat with a fly rod was a really nice hybrid I would have guessed between 8-9#s, may have been bigger no scale in the boat that day.

JB, that pic looks like night fishing".........would you mind telling me time of year ? And what flies have worked for you? Thanks!,,,,

[jay bird]

That fish was caught at dusk, but took me a while to get it in. We where in deep water and my friend was in the front of the boat still chasing fish on the trolling motor, took awhile to get that one in, it was a great fight. I was a little worried about letting it go, but she/he went back with not problems. I have had all my luck on clousers, have tried other type of flies including poppers, etc, but the clouser seems to be the go to fly with either gray or white or blue and white being the colors I like best. I have also tried sinking line, but me and my buddy now just use floating line because the sinking line is so hard to pick up for quick cast when they are busting/moving around the boat. I also think that when you are chasing surfacing fish there is no real need to go any deeper that 4-5 ft. I fish spring from mid april through May looking for the top water action, I also have not had much luck blind casting. We have also tried using a zara spook or red find without hooks as a teaser bait to try to get the fish in closer, but usally have some type of malfunction with line getting hooked on a cleat happens and we do not get the fly in front of the fish, but I really think that this would work to get thoes fish so excited that anything that looks like a shad is going to get hit. Good luck this year post if you hook up.

[BlueWave]

That fish was caught at dusk, but took me a while to get it in. We where in deep water and my friend was in the front of the boat still chasing fish on the trolling motor, took awhile to get that one in, it was a great fight. I was a little worried about letting it go, but she/he went back with not problems. I have had all my luck on clousers, have tried other type of flies including poppers, etc, but the clouser seems to be the go to fly with either gray or white or blue and white being the colors I like best. I have also tried sinking line, but me and my buddy now just use floating line because the sinking line is so hard to pick up for quick cast when they are busting/moving around the boat. I also think that when you are chasing surfacing fish there is no real need to go any deeper that 4-5 ft. I fish spring from mid april through May looking for the top water action, I also have not had much luck blind casting. We have also tried using a zara spook or red find without hooks as a teaser bait to try to get the fish in closer, but usally have some type of malfunction with line getting hooked on a cleat happens and we do not get the fly in front of the fish, but I really think that this would work to get thoes fish so excited that anything that looks like a shad is going to get hit. Good luck this year post if you hook up.

Thanks JB for the info. When in doubt I always fish clousers and have caught redfish,northerns, and my biggest brown to date on them. will be sure to post anything I can figure out this year.

[West Fork Jason]

Bluewave-

I went out on beaver around new years and tried casting my fly rod with 2 other guys that were live bait fishing. The graph showed the bait down about 40' and stripers all over it, but not near the surface. I did have one random fish blow up on me near the surface before any of the live bait got a sniff, but did not hook up. It almost made my heart stop to see it though, it was a huge fish. If my friends weren't there fishing bait and trolling, i would have put a little more effort into it and probably hooked one eventually. I was using a 4/0 gizzard shad clouser that i tied up, with YELLOW eye's. I think the yellow is important.

A good graph is a must so you can locate the thread fin shad schools with the distinctive arc's of the stripers around it. You can't just have bait on the graph, must have both... attached photo is a picture of a graph from the year before. It was colder that day and they were deeper, but you get the idea b/c it shows the thread fin shad as a blob from 60'-80' and all the arcs are the stripers. Both the bait and the stripers are schooling fish.

As far as rod and line, i happened to have my musky rig with me. It's a 10# Pikesaber. For line i swear by Airflo's 40+ extreme distance. They have it in cold saltwater sinking, it's AWESOME for casting big flies and putting them deep. The new version of it is called "sniper" and i think there's a 490 grain cut to your desired length sinking head that's going to be the next line i get. If they are closer to the surface, i would have an 8# with airflo's 40+ full floating (my musky top water rig) with a big noisy popper, or that new Pole Dancer fly by Charlie Bisharat that "walks the dog". I think it was designed specifically for salty stripers. a good double haul is mandatory with these shooting head lines, put the payoff is huge. You minimize false casting and maximize distance.

Don't screw around with too light of leader and hook, that lake is full of trees at the bottom and they always run for 'em after getting hooked. Gotta put the brakes on if you're around the wood!!!!

Good luck, I'm with you and really want to get these things on the fly. My timing has been off, need to come down there around the end of april or so some time. Fall is out of the question as that's prime time for the musky's up here. They don't peel the line off like a striper, but the initial bite is just insanely frightening and they tend to get a little upset around the boat.

j