Striper Fishing
When it come to Striper fishing, I feel that I am improving every time I go. The key to fishing for the Stripers is your electronics. There is only so much bird watching and bait on the surface you can see or predict. Plus you know the other guys around the corner are watching those same birds. You would think that when the birds start bombing the surface, cash money was floating on the water. Fisherman from everywhere will come a flying in. So if you do not like to fish next to a perfect stranger giving you the evil eye while striper fishing, I suggest you buy a good depth sounder/graph and learn how to use it. I would also recommend spending the extra dollar and get a color display on your depth sounder.
This summer the gentleman I talked about in my post about That is why it’s called Fishing took me striper fishing somewhere that I have never been before. Also fished with a bait much larger than I would have ever used on any type of lake. Now I would have used this size of bait in the ocean, but for Stripers in a lake; OH YEH!!! These fish were in less than 10 ft of water and would bite a 10 to 18" Rainbow Trout. That’s right, Rainbow Trout. We could drag 3 baits at a time on flat lines, 2 on side planners and one on a balloon with a small split shot just above the hook. The rod and reel outfits we 20lb class with 20lb main line tied to a 60lb Barrel Swivel, leader line could be the same size as the main line with a GamakatsuShinerHook #5.
Now the reason I am being so specific about the line, swivel and hook is for the fact that I am striper fishing for a monster. We got the bite about 10:30 am on one of the side planners. Side planners take your line away from your boat so getting tangled is not likely to happen. The fight lasted about 6 minutes since you practically have to chase the fish due to underwater structure cutting you off. We netted the fish and laid him or her on a wet towel until the camera was ready. Took 6 pictures and released this beautiful pig of a fish.
Based on the length and girth of the fish, we estimated the Striper weighed about 40 lbs.
