Chickamauga Striper 2-27-07

[EricM]

Sorry for the late post but I just got the photo from a friend. I was out on the Chick catching skipjack for catfish bait (I was almost out and was eyeballing the wife's poodle and wondering if those 4 drumsticks would make good bait emoEnforce) and I decided to put a live 12" skipjack over the side. I was bouncing it at about 42 feet when this 43", 33 lb 12 oz freight train picked it up and decided to run all over the river! I have never caught a striper anywhere near this big and had no idea how strong and fast they are! As you can imagine, I had to take heart pills when I finally got it next to the boat. I weighed, measured, and had a photo taken of it and released it. This is a new personal best and my 11th Tennessee Angler Recognition Program species. What a riot!

 

[Guest]

Nice fish Eric and I know that was fun. It is amazing the size bait those things will attack.
Good report and welcome to the forum.

Cheez

 

[WLG]

emoThumbsup emoThumbsup emoThumbsup

 

[DHaun]

Congrats EricM - Great job!

 

[Jmax]

emoWorthy Good one, congrats.emoThumbsup Jmax

 

[Lone Oak]

Impressive to say the least........nice Striper

 

[Fat Albert]

<font color="#6600ff">Beautiful fish...and I bet it stretched the string real good.

</font>

 

[drumking]

Great fish, Eric. My first big striper also weighed 33+ pounds. What a thrill. I thought that I was hung on a rockpile at first. I wrapped my hand around the line and pulled to break the jig off, and lo and behold, the rock pile moved. Imagine my surprise a few minutes later when that big dude came along side my boat. I know your excitement at catching a fish of this size. Way to go.emoThumbsup emoGeezer

 

[foodsaver]

man thats a pretty fish. Where were you catching the skipjacks this early in the year if you don't mind me asking?

 

[JerDog]

Super fish! Was this below or above the dam? Was the skipjack on or near the bottom in 42 feet of water?

 

[EricM]

Thanks for the pats on the back! To answer some of the questions, the skipjack (and this striper) were in front of Sequoyah. There are still some skipjack there, but they are hard to come by this last week (including today). Obviously, this is where I caught the striper. Yes, the bait was bounced on the bottom down the drop-off from 30' into deep water. I caught another striper the next day 16+ lbs, but have not had another touch since then. The area is solid threadfin shad right now, all of them 5 to 6 inches, so thick in some places that the sonar shows 10 feet instead of 50 like it should. These shad are too big for the skipjack, so they are somewhere else pretty much where they can catch the 2 1/2 and 3 inch ones. Good fishing!

 

[MADD DOG]

Those are truely the funnest fish to catch. Congrats on the personal best.