striper newbie

[hipster dufus]

bass fisher thinking of trying to go after stripers when it cools down. fish out of a 17 ft CC. can anyone point me to a beginners website? what kind of equipment do i need? lanier, oconee, jackson. are they good striper lakes? have had a guide on lanier, cant say i learned much. thanks

 

[Coenen]

Once the flatline bite comes on, it's easy as pie.

My first winter fishing in the kayak on Lanier I did it with regular bass tackle. A couple of 6ft Ugly Sticks, one with a Abu C4, and the other with an old Shimano. An average size fish in the 6-8 pound range is a blast to catch, the above average guys in the the 8-12lb range will give you a test, but you can take them. A really big one will probably beat you, but that's how it goes some times.

Currently, I'm using more specialized gear, Okuma Striper Special rods, and a mixed bag of reels, a couple of Okuma Coldwater line counters, that same Abu C4, and a Daiwa Sealine. I've taken nice fish with every one of them. Main line wise I currently have 20lb test on 3 of them and 15lb on the other. Those certainly aren't the only rods/reels that will work, just what I've got. Any long-ish limber rod, and reel with a good drag that will spool a respectable amount of reasonably heavy line will do the job just fine for your purposes.

A flatline is dead simple to rig, main line, bead, swivel, leader(8-12lb test for starters), circle hook sized for your bait of choice. Add a big split shot if you want to get them down a bit more. Let 'em out a ways(75-100ft more or less), pull them through a likely area about 1-1.5mph, wait for results.

As for finding them, just poke around with your sonar until you find some bait, or keep your eyes up until you see some surface action. You can see and hear a school of stripers crashing bait from a loooooong way off. You may also find schools of fish roaming in an area with your electronics. Once you locate an area with some life, deploy your baits, and pull around for a while, if that doesn't produce, pick up and start hunting again until you find another likely area. You'll get a feel for which areas are most likely to produce pretty quickly.

Bait-wise, try a bit of everything at first. They'll let you know what they want. After that, just keep giving them what they want. I've caught the majority of my fish on small, cheap minnows. If you're going fish herring, make sure it's legal to have them on whatever lake you're fishing that day. I know that DNR is trying to curb their spread.

They can be tough to catch at times, but that method will work. Just haul a lot of water, and you'll run into them. Pretty soon you'll start to see a pattern with where you run into them. After that it's just about duplicating the pattern.

Good luck!

 

[Rabun]

^^^^What Coenen said. Good advice. One thing different from bass fishing is setting your rods in holders for stripers. You'll need to get some good quality rod holders on your boat...rod needs to be horizontal to the water. Another need is a good bait tank if you are using herring or gizzard shad for bait...should have a recirculating system with aeration to keep your baits frisky. Sorry if I'm getting too basic for you...

Other advice I would give is to search the striper threads on this forum. Everything you need to know has been discussed in depth at one time or another.

I have only fished lanier for stripers so really can't comment on the other lakes.

 

[Thegregg95]

How do you keep herring alive on your kayak coenen?

 

[Coenen]

How do you keep herring alive on your kayak coenen?

By fishing minnows instead.

I've got a 5 gallon bucket that I bungee down in the tank well behind my seat. Add a flip-top lid, and a couple of battery powered bubblers, and you're in the live-bait business. That setup will keep minnows and small trout happy and lively. Never fiddled with herring much; honestly, I've never seen the need. The time of year that I spend fishing for stripers they seem to feed predominantly on small threadfins instead of herring anyway.

 

[fishingga]

Oconee you can learn quicker and probably have more success.
They have striper and hybrids and fishing from river bend to hwy 44 is pretty easy to cover. You can use bass minnows with good success but if you can throw a cast net and catch threadfin shad that much better. By late February into June and later fish in sight of the dam. You will know when the bite is on there.

 

[snapdog]

Join the striper soup forum ( there is a cost) and search their archives . That site is full of advice from most of the best striper fishermen in the southeast.