10-31-2011

[Feathers and Fins]

Snuck out before work for a bit and got bit

Then I got out after work Yes a carp grabbing the San Juan

Obviously didnt like what he just ate

But I was nice and let him go after he smiled the freshwater bonefish are fun to sight cast at.

[wc1063]

What a fish! (the striper not the carp)

[Feathers and Fins]

Actually got more of a kick out of the Carp then the striper, Sight casting to a single fish, presenting the cast so as not to spook it and then having it come on. The beauty of fall on the hills a couple eagles flying around brisk wind and a little chill in the air. Good way to end a day.

[J-Doc]

I'm not a striper angler and prefer to stick with bass fishing but........

Just once, maybe twice would I like to catch a great big ole striper that size. Fishing Beaver many times knowing there are trophy sized striper in the lake, it's a shame I don't take advantage of the population of striper in Beaver Lake.

Maybe one day.

[jeb]

Yeah, I'm the same way. I've caught a few stripers by accident, mostly in the dead of winter. Biggest was 19lb on a hard jerkbait, and was fun to catch. But I'm a dedicated black bass fisherman at this point.

[Stump bumper]

Yeah, I'm the same way. I've caught a few stripers by accident, mostly in the dead of winter. Biggest was 19lb on a hard jerkbait, and was fun to catch. But I'm a dedicated black bass fisherman at this point.

My biggest black bass and bags of blacks have been when I have been targeting whites and stripers. Last sping my fishing partner pulled a zero on a tournament he fished alone so we went out the next day to catch some whites and maybe stipers and caught nothing but blacks with a culled out 5 bass bag of 27lbs. I have never culled a 4lb bass during a bass tournament but that day I culled 5 bass over 4lbs. To add insult to injury we didn't get the boat on plane from the launch site all day.

Last week I was jigging whites in 3o-40ft of water under shad balls where I saw two stripers caught and I caught 2 16in plus large mouths and saw 4 caught in another boat and that was in about 2 hours of jiging. We also caught two keeper walleyes, but if we were "bass fishing" we would have moved off that spot thinking there were nothing but whites and probally beat the shore with disapointing results.

My point is if you are a dedicated black bass fisherman then you should try to target stripers and whites once in a while, you may be surprised how many large blacks act like stripers.Most striper fisherman I talk to catch 7 and 8lb largemouth on a regular basis and I never see those fish weighed in at bass tournaments and I certainly have never weighed one that big in a tournament.

[J-Doc]

Now that is interesting. I have never fished for stripers so I wouldn't think about it that way but what you say makes since. The bigger fish are smarter and older. They also would eat more like a striper and probaboy bigger bait. They probably live in deep water all of their lives and do not get a lot of fishing preasure whereas the bank bass get beat up like crazy.

So are you trolling for stripers or jigging? What techiques work best?

[Stump bumper]

When I am looking for stripers I am in open water looking for shad and jigging below the shad or throwing jerk baits and top waters to swirls when I can find them. Sometime I will catch shad, but I am not much of a live bait fisherman.

I remember seeing a pic at HL&S where a 21 pound bag was caught on one umbrella rig trolled about 30ft deep over 100 ft of water.

I think the difference in my mindset when chasing stripers and whites vs bass fishing that I look deeper and look for fish. When I am bass fishing I look for structure like brush piles and ledges because that were bass live, they aren't supposed to be in open water suspended below shad with whites and stripers. After all when you are bass fishing it is a depth finder you not supposed to look for schools of fish.

Also I will stay on whites and hybrids when looking for stripers and catch more blacks then stripers but I am thinking the stripers hang with whites but in a bass tournament if I hit whites then I think it is time to get away from them and find some money fish.

I am not claiming to have figured out either, I am just surprised how similar the two fish feed and how dissimilar the fisherman are.

The day we hit a 26lb bag I showed a boat in a tournament what we were using and where the fish were at, they then tied on different baits and started beating the shore and docks near where we had just hit two six pound bass and 5 four pound bass about 3 cast out from where they comfortable bass fishing. The shad were so thick on the depth finder the fish were hard to see and we were throwing jerk baits that only dove 4ft but those "bass" anglers would not even look at that water even when I held up a 6lb largemouth and shouted out here.

[J-Doc]

Hahaha!! That's a funny tale. I think I have done things like that. You fish what you are comfortable fishing. If you enjoy crankbaits, you throw them all the time, etc.

Thanks for the info. I have stopped on balls of shad in open water looking for whites. Sounds like I need to look at doing this more often and even give trolling a try.

[Feathers and Fins]

I cant tell you how many Giant Bass I have caught while targeting stripers. Growing up in SoCal it was common to catch Both in the same spot. Cal FISH and Game likes to stock 'catchable size" rainbow trout 9inchers in the lakes. They did it dam near every week on the same day and time depending on the lake. I made it a Habit to be there and throw big swim baits. It wasnt uncommon to catch LMB to 12 pounds and stripers to 40 The day they did it. You could actually walk to the end of the boat ramp and look down and see monster large mouths just stacked and waiting for one of those high protein snicker bars to swim to far off shore.

I catch good 3 to 6 pound LMB at beaver when im striper fishing the funny thing is most of them are not on the shad but on Bucktails or topwaters or jigging below shad balls. Im suprised more tournament anglers dont find the striper fleet and target around them. Those guys are on the big bait and big bait =big fish.