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As titled, i've recently discovered a lake in South Carolina that has hybrids and also true Striped Bass, and i've never targeted those species before. I was hoping to get a little information in regards to how you chaps do it over in your neck of the woods. I typically fish saltwater, and when I fish freshwater, it's usually for trophy sized blue and flathead catfish. So, all new to me.
A little about the body of water (Lake Wateree, SC): It's average depth is around 35-40', and at it's deepest points, like around the dam, it's around 70' deep. There are defined humps and ledges that are easily seen on the sonar around the dam. The lake is full of shad, as I marked some on the sonar and cast netted them to confirm this a couple trips ago. This time of year the water temps are in the 80's, and there is a distinct thermocline about half way down in the deeper sections. I have been marking fish around the dam about 20' down out to about mid depth, but can't get them to chew on anything.
I'm also curious about hybrid and striped bass. For all rights to reason, SC and NC have plenty of typical Striped bass that spawn in fresh water and then venture back out to sea. The striper/ hybrids i'll be targeting in Lake wateree are land locked via dam, and don't have access seaward. Someone told me today that those fish will not successfully spawn if land locked. I can't believe that. I wanted to hear from you guys as to what your thoughts are on this. I can't be convinced that the lakes in the US that have land locked populations of these fish continue to maintain acceptable levels of populations, unless they are spawning.
Thanks in advance guys. Looking forward to the information. I'm not new to fishing, just new to stripers and hybrids. So if I can help with catfish, or you work your way into the ocean for saltwater fishing, i'd be glad to swap info. Also, I build AR's and precision rifles too, if I can help there. [cool]
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I like to use Lucky craft lures, and crank baits..Here we can't use live minnows..
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[quote bassrods]I like to use Lucky craft lures, and crank baits..Here we can't use live minnows..[/quote]
Appreciate the response. I'll have a look into it. I hope to get more infothan this. My fellow moderators seem to think you Utah boys have the most collective knowledge. I'm sure there are tons of threads here, but I hoped to avoid hours of reading. I've gotADD.
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Lots of folks ask that question so often that it gets
old, that is likely why the slow responce but since your a fellow mod, I'll tell you the secret, 3 to 4" bluegill. That is how caught this 27" 9lber.
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Our best wiper lake is a lot shallower than yours and almost devoid of structure.
We love to fish the boils. That's where the wipers are herding the shad and just blowing up on them. I love to run and gun. Watch for birds swooping down, then run to the area and cast small silver spoons or crankbaits for them.
I also troll the areas where they have been boiling.
A boil loks just like bluefish in the salt, when they are chasing bait in a group.
Wipers don't spawn, they are hybred and have a couple of missing DNA links. Stripers do spawn in fresh water when land locked. We wish they didn't as the spawn boom and bust cycle in Lake Powell makes management difficult at best,
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[quote wiperhunter2]Lots of folks ask that question so often that it gets
old, that is likely why the slow responce but since your a fellow mod, I'll tell you the secret, 3 to 4" bluegill. That is how caught this 27" 9lber.[/quote]
I know how it is. Seems like I answer the same questions over an over. But the threads get buried, and it sucks trying to point someone to them.
That's a nice fish man. We have no shortage of panfish here. I have a feeling i'll catch plenty of stripers while i'm catfishing, as a by product.
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[quote Troll]Our best wiper lake is a lot shallower than yours and almost devoid of structure.
We love to fish the boils. That's where the wipers are herding the shad and just blowing up on them. I love to run and gun. Watch for birds swooping down, then run to the area and cast small silver spoons or crankbaits for them.
I also troll the areas where they have been boiling.
A boil loks just like bluefish in the salt, when they are chasing bait in a group.
Wipers don't spawn, they are hybred and have a couple of missing DNA links. Stripers do spawn in fresh water when land locked. We wish they didn't as the spawn boom and bust cycle in Lake Powell makes management difficult at best,[/quote]
That sounds like a good time, chunking metal into schooling fish like that. I bet that's an early morning/ late evening thing though isn't it? Sounds like I have some scouting to do.
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[quote Tarpon4me] Someone told me today that those fish will not successfully spawn if land locked. I can't believe that. I wanted to hear from you guys as to what your thoughts are on this. I can't be convinced that the lakes in the US that have land locked populations of these fish continue to maintain acceptable levels of populations, unless they are spawning. [/quote]
They may actually be correct. There are only a few land locked populations of stripers that do reproduce naturally. Land locked stripers were never thought to be able to successfully spawn. However, when they were introduced to reservoirs here in the West, they did (Powell, Meade, Havasu, etc.). In fact, many believed that the stripers in Lake Powell would never reproduce. I personally know two fisheries biologists that knew better -- they kept saying "yes, they will....".
There is also a pretty good population of stripers in the Pacific Ocean that run the Sacramento River.
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[quote Troll]Our best wiper lake is a lot shallower than yours and almost devoid of structure. [/quote]
I'd argue that Utah has better wiper lakes than Willard!!
Like you mentioned, Willard is shallow, warm, and devoid of structure.
Newcastle, Piute, Minersville, Otter Creek -- they all have better structure, deeper and cooler water, and lots of forage (exception: Newcastle -- the wipers cleaned all the shiners up!). They are much better wiper lakes. Popularity is a whole different deal -- willard is by far the most popular.
But, all your other advice is pretty good. Look for boils. Troll cranks until you find the school.
Early morning, and late evening. They seem to be much more active when the sun isn't blazing down on the water.
Also -- we like to target them on flies. Big zonkers, deceivers, etc.
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[quote PBH][quote Troll]Our best wiper lake is a lot shallower than yours and almost devoid of structure. [/quote]
I'd argue that Utah has better wiper lakes than Willard!!
Like you mentioned, Willard is shallow, warm, and devoid of structure.
Newcastle, Piute, Minersville, Otter Creek -- they all have better structure, deeper and cooler water, and lots of forage (exception: Newcastle -- the wipers cleaned all the shiners up!). They are much better wiper lakes. Popularity is a whole different deal -- willard is by far the most popular.
But, all your other advice is pretty good. Look for boils. Troll cranks until you find the school.
Early morning, and late evening. They seem to be much more active when the sun isn't blazing down on the water.
Also -- we like to target them on flies. Big zonkers, deceivers, etc.[/quote]
The only fly I know how to operate is on my shorts. I tried fly fishing a while back, and I just couldn't get into it.
We have a great resource for true stripers here, as I live just a few hours from Cape Hatteras, NC. But, I typically prefer deep water fishing for grouper and snapper if i'm going to pull a boat that far, rather than hanging around the inshore stuff. I also don't know the inlets there, and they are known as some of the most treacherous in the united states.
In my younger days, I'd be all over navigating Oregon inlet in december for the striper run. but, i've got a family now, my back and knees hurt all the time, and i'm lazy. 
I'm looking forward to trying out some of these tactics in some areas of structure I found. I'm going to get there early and look for surface feeding fish as well. My boat is getting an updated chartplotter installed on it, and i'm ready for round 2.
Thanks for the info guys!
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[#0000FF]Back in your neck of the woods you can use live bait. And you can use live gizzard shad...a striper candy bar. Out here in Utah we would be shot if we used live bait...and burned afterward if we used shad. But stripers will also pick up dead shad or pieces of them being fished for cats.
As you have already been advised, stripers reproduce just fine in fresh water...as long as there is a flowing tributary for them to go up in before they lay their eggs. The eggs have to drift for a couple of days before hatching...or they sink into the bottom mud and suffocate.
Wipers do not reproduce but they develop eggs and milt and go through a "false spawn" in the spring. They have white bass in their genes so they are happy with wind washed rocky shorelines. That is a good place to look for them during that time.
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]
As you have already been advised, stripers reproduce just fine in fresh water...as long as there is a flowing tributary for them to go up in before they lay their eggs. The eggs have to drift for a couple of days before hatching...or they sink into the bottom mud and suffocate.
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Which is EXACTLY the theory that they would NOT reproduce here in the western US in our reservoirs. Lake Powell, for example, was thought to not support reproduction, because any stripers running the Colorado or San Juan would dump their eggs which would quickly be lost in the silt / mud.
guess what?
Stripers started spawning in the main channel, all the way down to the dam! They don't need a tributary all.
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[#0000FF]I had not heard that they were spawning in the main channel. But if the water is clean...and wind-stirred...(What? Powell windy?) the spawn should be mostly successful. I was told by a DWR biologist that the stripers DO run up the Colorado. I suppose there are a variety of different spawning options for them. We know that they are gettin' it done.
As the line from Jurassic Park goes..."Nature will find a way."
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I'm FAR from an expert on Wipers, but I've heard and seen the same - diving Terns, or other birds - hitting the boiling shad schools. If you boogie up to a boil - stop outside, then creep and cast into it. You can kill a boil (and piss off a bunch of wiper-hunters) but blazing guns right into the middle of it.
Sunshine - heard 'em turn on when the clouds roll in, then turn off just as quick. Dusk to dark can be good.
Folks have talked about the live/dead shad. No bluegill as bait these days, perch though... shad patterns, cranks, clackers, crawdads - lots of good patterns, but one day it's one color, then next it all changes.
Kastmasters are commonly pitched - but haven't seen the dog-walkers mentioned - the ZaraSpook types that slurp and splash the surface.
Might check in with the Nevada folks too. Seens some Striper discussions over that-a-way.
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Smaller sexy shad crank baits casting the shoreline is what I've had the most luck with.
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East coast striper fishing is tough in the summer.... Especially once that water gets into the 80's. I fished VA pretty much all of my life for them.
This time of year a good fishfinder is PRICELESS. If you are not marking them you WILL not catch them. They will school up in deep water through the day and sometimes come shallower to feed at dusk, night, and dawn. During these times a broken back rebel (barely being reeled), zara spook, poppers, and the like will produce.
If you cant catch them like that my advice is to go small. Those shad make great baits, but only when they are feeding on them (usually spring and fall). In the summer they seem to feed more on small shad and alewives less than 4 inches. Fish these on downlines and drop them right in there face. Spend time looking for them on the FF, it's crucial. If you want to fish artificial then vertical jig flukes, spoons, bassassins, and other small minnow like baits. Some of my buddies liked pulling umbrellas but I was never into it. You can always check on deep water dock lights at night as well.
When it starts to cool down run planers and those big shad.
You're totally right when you say Hatteras is nasty... I was a Chesapeake man myself but I have seen and heard of its wrath. The striper fishing in the OBX has sucked the past few winters.. I like spring season on the bay much better up in VA. I had a day this spring that was 20 fish, a few hours, smallest was 25".
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That's some good input. So, it sounds like i'm not going to have a great deal of luck on the stripers unless it's early morning or late evening. I might try dropping on them vertically with a jig or bucktail.
I actually did this one time with some spro jigs. I putted around until I marked something, and had the crew drop spros down. Not a nibble. Could be I wasn't holding my mouth right. I didn't give it much time though. Bass Assassins and Saltwater assassins are a very popular lure here in the salty pond for speckled trout, redfish, and weakfish. I might switch up from the bucktail and try that.
I'm definitely going to drag live shad. I've already been wrapping my brain around a modified king mackerel rig for just that purpose. Typically, a king rig is made of single strand steel with a large single hook and a trebble slap hook behind it. I know i'm going to swap the steel for fluorocarbon, and based on the size of a striper mouth and how they feed, I don't think I need a second hook. In theory, I could albright on a strip of 20 lb fluorocarbon to my mainline, tie a live bait hook on the other end, and i've got a nice, clean trolling rig. Only issue would be line twist, which I could just add a swivel. But, with live bait, that should be minimal.
For the planer rig, just add the planer up ahead of the leader, and i'm good. A #1 should get me down to about 15 to 20'. I saw these things at bass pro that looked pretty neat. It was a plastic planer looking device with various different holes. According to the package, it says you can accurately adjust your baits depth by moving the hole your lines are hooked to. I didn't buy it, because i'm skeptical, but have any of you tried it?
So, sound like i'm on track?
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So, you guys can't use live bait, but can you use dead bait? I only ask, because I might be able to toss you guys a few ideas if you can use dead bait. We rig dead bait here quite often, in various ways depending on what it is. I bet the tactics we use here for offshore trolling will work in your area for stripers and wipers if you can legally do it.
Have any of you tried trolling cigar minnows? You can order them offline and I can show you a rig that makes them look like a live fish when done properly. Very simple, and widely used here by savvy anglers.
Website for bait, and they are cheap:
http://www.baitmasters.com/store/shopdis...t=botbaits
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tarpon -- have you ever looked at wayneswords.com?
Not a bad site, especially for targeting stripers.
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[quote PBH]
There are only a few land locked populations of stripers that do reproduce naturally. Land locked stripers were never thought to be able to successfully spawn. However, when they were introduced to reservoirs here in the West, they did (Powell, Meade, Havasu, etc.). In fact, many believed that the stripers in Lake Powell would never reproduce. I personally know two fisheries biologists that knew better -- they kept saying "yes, they will....".
There is also a pretty good population of stripers in the Pacific Ocean that run the Sacramento River.[/quote]
Not sure what you mean by a few, but I know of at least three lakes in California alone that has naturally reproducing stripers: New Hogan, Lake Del Valle, and Millerton.
New Hogan was stocked in the 80s and has been self sustaining ever since (unless they stocked since the last time I fished it). I remember running the shoreline of Hogan tossing spoons and poppers at boiling fish.
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