Is the striper bite over or yet to start here? (TN River)

[SpurHunter]

This past summer and fall I kept reading posts that stated, "when the water gets right the striper bite will be on", "I will be at Watts Barr for stipers when it gets cold".  </p>

Has the bite come-and-gone, or is is just off this year? I have not seen much in the way of striper reports except for Dhaun, DLances, a couple from me, and I think one or two from Dickey. </p>

Is this typical, or what?</p>

I am mostly interested in Watts Barr, Chick, and Nick Dams info. </p>

Serching for stripers.......Spur.</p>

 

[fishinvol]

When the water temps. get below 50 I think the bite slows a bit. With the water temps. coming up now the activity should be picking back up. They rarely bite at all in the summer, unless you fish nice and deep.

 

[SpurHunter]

So is it the change in temps UP from cooler water, or that the temps are over 50 degres that triggers the bite? </p>

 

[fishinvol]

They prefer colder water for sure, but not overly cold . I think Drumking has them pegged pretty good as far as water temps go. I believe he saiys that anything below 45 degrees and they slow way down. Has a lot to do with where the bait fish are too. With the warming water temps, the bait fish move and become more active ( like all fish), therefore the stripe become a little more frisky. I am no expert by any means. Just my theory.

 

[xroadsbasser]

I haven't got to fish for them much but I think 1st week of April is prime time below the Nick!

 

[Guest]

Spur you have the Alabama license. Why don't you go to Weiss? Striper fishing is second to none there and there are very few times of the year that they can't be had. With a 30 fish limit you can be eating blackened striper on a regular basis.

 

[SpurHunter]

I never hear a thing about people catching stripers there Cheez, where are some reports brother?

 

[RocnRebel]

For big numbers on small fish Weiss is very productive. You haven't missed any so called striper bite. They can be caught year around you just have to fish for them. They are the most active near the surface and easiest to target when the water temp is between 55 and 65 - either rising or falling.

 

[mallardecho]

Are we talking about white bass or rockfish and hybrids?

 

[SpurHunter]

Rockfish

 

[DHaun]

cheez - 2/19/2008 6:48 PM

Spur you have the Alabama license. Why don't you go to Weiss? Striper fishing is second to none there and there are very few times of the year that they can't be had. With a 30 fish limit you can be eating blackened striper on a regular basis.

What Cheez said - Weiss is loaded with them from what I hear and I think there is some evidence of natural reproduction in the coosa. I am not sure if they get huge like in other TN areas but for quantity I think Weiss is a great place to try. I may need to take my kids down there with a guide and get them a good workout (and me an education) sometime after it warms up. I can't find any quantity of fish on the lake in my last few scouting trips, but water temps have been mid to upper forties so they have been slowwww. Look for an increase in tailwater activity in the Spring as the water temps rise and the spawn nears. Nickajack can be good (and crowded) at times but I think its been slow the past 2 years from what I have heard. Good Luck!

 

[mallardecho]

SpurHunter - 2/19/2008 8:00 PM

Rockfish

I can help you this summer if you can get my wife out of the boat. We catch several normally in the 8-12 lb range on a pretty consistent basis.

 

[procraft]

well i dont know much about up their but my son whent to the steam plant saturday and moped up on them he used a yellow perch rapalla and a green grub with a wight leadhead and a small silver spiner bladehe relased all he caught he said they caught close to 140 about 1 pound

 

[Guest]

Spur 5 to 12 pound stripers are common on Weiss. Occaisionally there are some 20 plus pounders caught and a more rare 30. The numbers are terrific though. 4 years ago I came home with 24 fish that weighed 186 pounds. I could have gotten more but that was all I needed for the fry I was doing. I caught all of them in less than 3 hours by myself. You don't see reports on here because Weiss is not really a trophy striper fishery. Rockbuster made a couple reports last spring with some big fish in them. They were caught in the Coosa up out of the lake in GA. I keep this link in my favorites. It is the best most up to date info on Weiss. Mark is also a premier guide. He is the one I told you we need to go hire one day.http://www.markcollinsguideservice.com/report.html

 

[Guest]

try this

http://www.markcollinsguideservice.com/report.html

 

[mallardecho]

procraft - 2/19/2008 8:10 PM

well i dont know much about up their but my son whent to the steam plant saturday and moped up on them he used a yellow perch rapalla and a green grub with a wight leadhead and a small silver spiner bladehe relased all he caught he said they caught close to 140 about 1 pound

Well I can say for 100% certainy I can not put you 140 fish in a week much less a day, but we normally catch 5-15 fish a evening or morning on Tims. Or at least we did last summer this year may be diffrent.

 

[SpurHunter]

Thanks for the link Cheez. We need to go check this out.

 

[slo-ride]

Spur, I'm no expert by any means, but have taken quite a few guide trips in the tailraces(mainly Wheeler and Wilson dams) for the past 3 years to learn. Early spring..as early as March.. the big spawners will move in and the jig bite can be pretty hot. It's all about water temp and you need to be fishing when it hits the 50's, imo.
In the dead of winter, warm water discharges (nuke and steam plants) is supposed to be good using big live baits.
Summer is tough for me, so I don't fish for them then...they go to cooler water...up the creeks and deep holes, I suppose. In the fall, I start fishing the tailraces again...like Drumking has said, 45 degrees seems to be the magic "it's pretty much over" number.


I wouldn't be suprised if they're starting to bite some at Nickajack dam....we went to Guntersville dam last Saturday and caught some 4-6 pounders.

my 2 cents..worth about half a penny

 

[drumking]

Spur, I was so busy this fall that I didn't have time to go to the Bar until the water temp was 43.6 degrees. Before that, TVA wasn't running enough water to warrant a trip up there while the temps were in the ideal range. Hopefully, we will have a good spring run.

 

[SpurHunter]

I have been watching water temps reports, and they seem to be on the rise, anybody seeing more activity with the stripers?