Stripers On The Fly?

[Lancer09]

No back cast room? Sounds like this is a job for the two hander. Seriously though, besides a Clouser, any fly pattern recommendations?

I know a lot of guys throw deceivers and airhead style flies for them. Anything that will look like those shad.

Probably not much current on the lakes though, how are you going to load a spey rod?

[westbranchfly]

They typically load with the tension between the line and water surface.

[Lancer09]

They typically load with the tension between the line and water surface.

I get that.

If you're going to be fishing a lake and stripping flies back towards you. How are you going to get enough rod out of the tip to create enough tension to then throw a cast?

[westbranchfly]

I use short Skagit heads, and Skagit style casts that only require the head to be outed the tip top.

[rFisherk]

When I was fly fishing for them (up in the current of a river), I tied my own streamers, most of them weighted, on 1/0 and 2/0 hooks and all to resemble shad. Pattern I thought looked best had whole, broad mallard breast feathers stacked on each side of the hook, but I surmised stripers weren't too selective, as long as you could put it in front of them, which meant getting it down. Tried using a full sinking 10-weight line, but found it to be too much work, so mostly used floating lines. Usually, I would cast quartering upstream (long cast), mend line a couple of times, then just hang on and let it swing. Strikes were sometimes such a jolt, it yanked the rod from my hand. Used 20-pound mono tippet. If I were doing it today, I'd use a heavier and thinner lines that weren't available back then.

This is not overkill, if you have the chance to hook a 20-pound striper in the current. They are a strong fish to begin, but when hooked in current, they fight sort of broadside to the current, constantly working downstream, which doubles or triples their pull, just like their little cousins, the white bass.

It's different in a lake, but they are still formidable. Never fly fished for them there, but did use heavy bass equipment for them at middle of the night, during January and February, down by the Norfork Dam.

That time of year, they bust big shad on the surface. (Fly fishing, of course, would work too.) We would cast big Bombers, about 8-inches long, and bring them back so slowly, all they did was make a little, wobbling V on the surface. Big stripers would be blowing up all around. Kawhooosh. Kawhoosh. It was unnerving to retrieve that slowly, and even more so when you got the initial hit, because the first hit, a big kawhoosh, was them hitting it to kill or cripple it. Took everything I had not to set the hook. Then we would let it sit for a couple of seconds and twitch it, or start it back even slowwer. When they actually took the bait, it sounded like a bluegill sucking in a popper, except amplified a dozen time. Still you waited until you felt the pressure of the fish before setting the hook--hard. They would strip line on the initial run, and the guy on the trolling motor would follow them on high.

[rFisherk]

I don't mean to make it sound like fly fishing for stripers in the river during spring runs or during winter down by the lights of the dam is easy or a sure thing. Timing is very important. I lived on the North Fork of the White at the time, so could drive down to the lower river/lake mouth, whenever word got out they were running. Down by the dam, I fished with the head of the Water Patrol, who kept constant tabs on them and knew when they were surfacing.

Strangest thing of all: each of the three times I fished for stripers near the dam at night, we caught far more walleye of 4- to 6-pounds. Only time I've ever heard of walleye hitting on the surface.

[westbranchfly]

Thanks for the everybody's thoughts. I'm thinking that my fishing will be limited to the feeders and tributaries of bull shoals for now. Baitfish patterns it is. Heavy sink tips will be in order, I think. I'm certain my equipment will be fine.

[West Fork Jason]

"Pattern I thought looked best had whole, broad mallard breast feathers stacked on each side of the hook"

[rFisherk]

That is very similar to the ones I tied, Jason, and the pattern I caught most of my stipers with.

[Beaverdamstore]

I took my 8wt with Clouser Minnow and I landed a small, about 15" striper yesterday evening. I was fishing the North Cove at Beaver Dam on the lake side. I waded to about waist deep and casted with the bank. Plenty of room for your back cast. Water I was fishing was probably less than 10' deep. No sinking line needed.

Jim