Jet Boat on the North Fork or Big Piney

[jdmidwest]

Wow, so much trash on a workday after a 3 day weekend.

Water is low on NFOW but stripers are running up it because of the high flows??

I can stop at Spring River on the way and pick up some dink trout and use them for Striper bait as long as I say I am OK?

Koolaid hands is still PO'd that Trump is getting a second term.

Trip is laid in stone now.  Yaks on first day, unknown river in SE Mo.  Then Tecumseh and over to Taney.  Anything that bites a hook fair game.  Goofy weather pattern, big cold front up north and lots of moisture down south.  Looks like the best route for time alloted.  Subject to change with some revisions.

[fishinwrench]

17 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

Water is low on NFOW but stripers are running up it because of the high flows??

Nooo, these clowns think the stripers are boycotting a lake full of shad and running up the river just so they can feast on a few wild rainbows. 🙄

[Gavin]

They eat lots of crawfish. Those I’ve seen cleaned usually have lots of crawfish in there stomach. Probably 100lbs of crawfish for every pound trout in that river.

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Gavin said:

They eat lots of crawfish. Those I’ve seen cleaned usually have lots of crawfish in there stomach. Probably 100lbs of crawfish for every pound trout in that river.

I'm surprised by that.  A big striper grubbing for craws just doesn't seem likely.  I haven't caught many over 22" though (19-22" is the average size where I fish).  My biggest striper ever was only 14 lbs.  

I've heard/read that Whites will gorge on craws too, but from all the ones I've either knifed or had puke on me, I've never seen a piece of a crawdad in the belly of one.  Their digestive system is without a doubt among the fastest working of all gamefish, and I think they choose to eat easily digested critters.  Crawdads would certainly slow it down a bit.  

I've also never caught a white/hybrid/or striper by working a bait along the bottom.....And I have tried.

[snagged in outlet 3]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I think they choose to eat easily digested critters.

Wow, those whites down there are far more advanced than any fish I've ever heard of.😁   Probably why I can't catch them....

[bfishn]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

....I've also never caught a white/hybrid/or striper by working a bait along the bottom.....And I have tried.

I've caught several dozen stripers from 10-25lbs fishing cut shad on the bottom with a std slip sinker catfish rig (from the bank), so I know they will eat off the bottom. (One caveat, the shad must be uber-fresh, day old or frozen won't even get a tap). At the particular time and place I do it, the cut shad outfishes live shad several times over. I've been called numerous names when telling this story, so I understand if you don't believe it, but I did it 10 years in a row, so it's not a fluke.

[nomolites]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I'm surprised by that.  A big striper grubbing for craws just doesn't seem likely.  I haven't caught many over 22" though (19-22" is the average size where I fish).  My biggest striper ever was only 14 lbs.  

I've heard/read that Whites will gorge on craws too, but from all the ones I've either knifed or had puke on me, I've never seen a piece of a crawdad in the belly of one.  Their digestive system is without a doubt among the fastest working of all gamefish, and I think they choose to eat easily digested critters.  Crawdads would certainly slow it down a bit.  

I've also never caught a white/hybrid/or striper by working a bait along the bottom.....And I have tried.

I catch hundreds every year on LOZ bouncing spoons.  Expand your horizons.

Mike

[Flysmallie]

36 minutes ago, bfishn said:

I've caught several dozen stripers from 10-25lbs fishing cut shad on the bottom with a std slip sinker catfish rig (from the bank), so I know they will eat off the bottom. (One caveat, the shad must be uber-fresh, day old or frozen won't even get a tap). At the particular time and place I do it, the cut shad outfishes live shad several times over. I've been called numerous names when telling this story, so I understand if you don't believe it, but I did it 10 years in a row, so it's not a fluke.

Same. We used to catch them like that on Tecoma drift fishing for catfish. We always used the red meat from striper fillets. Also caught them below Keystone dam on fresh cut shad right on the bottom. Lots of people did. 

[Johnsfolly]

49 minutes ago, bfishn said:

At the particular time and place I do it, the cut shad outfishes live shad several times over. I've been called numerous names when telling this story, so I understand if you don't believe it, but I did it 10 years in a row, so it's not a fluke.

Cut bait (shad, alewife, mendhaden, white perch, etc.) is used regularly for Chesapeake stripers as well as clams, bloodworms, and crabs - especially peeler crabs (those that are starting to molt). All of these baits catch stripers. I see no reason not to believe that they would also be eating crayfish if they were abundant.

[gotmuddy]

16 hours ago, Gavin said:

Stipers are definetly in the NFoW. Hooked a big one right below Kelly Ford a month ago. Saw several schools of striper in a few other spots on the way down to Sunburst. Schools of 10-30 fish. They are there for sure.

Here is a NFoW striper from earlier this summer: