Night Fishing for Stripers

[Samkam1]

Wondering if anyone has any tips on gear/bait/techniques to bring night fishing for stripers? Have live shad, downriggers, diamond shad and rattle traps...any info would be beneficial! I know that with is getting so hot lately that night fishing is supposed to be good...just havent dont it much for stripers.

Heading down this weekend..putting in close to the darn -- points 3, 4, and the Lost Bridge park area. I hope we find some big dogs!

thanks,

SK

[stone9-7=2]

We used to fish the darn area a lot at night for Stripers,hybirds & white bass.

One of the most important things you need is two or three of these.

A good stout pole for the Stripers w/ at least 25 pound line for the big boys.

Shad will be kinda deep as the water temp is pretty warm.

Find a big bluff with a tree line in the water tie to a tree & chuck out the anchor. You will probably be boats on lots of bluffs cause a lot of people night lite fish for stripers on that lake.

If you get on a bluff with other boats you got to have the brightest lites to get the shad, thats where the two or three starfirell's come in they will do the trick.

Hang on & enjoy the ride.

Hope that helps. Any more ? just ask. Don't know if i will be on or not but i do check the fourm everyday.

Good luck to you.

Ps this all depends on if your night fishing with lights.

[wily]

i think i'd keep moving, and troll the live bait. i'd concentrate my efforts around point 5. fish all around and across from point 5, and also go up into big clifty.

troll the live shad under a balloon, or with your downriggers at a couple different depths.

have one guy watch the bait, and the other cast redfins, or big shallow-diving crankbaits.

i'd look for gravel w/ deep water close-by, rather than the bluffs during the night.

please let us know how you do, and what you find to be successful because i plan to go down on the 28th.

thanks

[Samkam1]

Been down there a few times this summer...fish seem to be pretty scattered and moving fast. Weve caught a few but nothing over 12 or so. It seems like with the water getting up into the mid 90s that the fish are biting when its dark.

Thanks for the tips! We will most likely be moving around a lot and trying to locate the fish...most likely not fishing under the lights. Put in last weekend at lost bridge park and there were the guide boats....seems like most of the fish being caught from like 2am-7am or so. We shall give it a try...hope the shad stay alive and frisky!!

[stone9-7=2]

Best of luck to you, hope you catch some big boy's.

I just got to say this.

Shad in a ball under the lights in one spot all night or troll a shad all over the place.

Me think if i was a game fish i would go where the shad are in on spot & feed like crazy.

IMHO.

[Samkam1]

Well we ended up doing decently...hit the right moon pattern and had frisky bait.

It was slow and only caught one Friday night but they turned on in between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m Sat morning during the moon transition. We had our limit by 8:00 am right around point 3, lost bridge area, and honey creek in 80 ft water with the fish suspended at around 30 ft.

Caught them all on shad and big golden shiners 6-8 inches long. We had double 10 lb fish on at one time!!!! Stripers are by far the most fun freshwater fish to catch....and such good eating you would think it was halibut. Concentrate on beaver and norfork and learn to catch them and you will have a blast! Why catch white bass or crappie when these fish will pull out 200 yards of line and are such good eating...and you always have that chance of a 30-60 lb fish.

Sam

[drew03cmc]

Nice fish! I'll bet they would be fun on a fly rod!

[stone9-7=2]

Very nice pic's.