We caught 6 stripers today between 6:45 and 8:20 AM ranging in weight from 15.0 to 17.4 using 1/2 oz jigheads with 5" pearl bass assassins and 4" sassy shads. Total weight of the 6 was 98.1 lbs. Water temp was 53 degrees and rockfish were feeding on 2 1/2 to 3 inch threadfin shad.
Stripers 3/23/06
- Thread starter drumking
- Start date
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Bprice
Well-known member
Thanks for the report drumking... was this on a tailrace?
Minner just got a bay boat, and I'm ready to striper fish...
Minner just got a bay boat, and I'm ready to striper fish...
Davo
Well-known member
Wow, that sounds like you had a great time. Stipers are some of the strongest fish out there. I'm with Bprice, was this in a tailrace?
Davo
Well-known member
Well, I may just have to go dam fishing. Thanks for the report drumking. What's your favorite tackle for stripers. I like a little bit lower (5:1) reel with either a 7 or 7'6 heavy action rod with around 20lb test. Also, do you ever throw Redfins?
My favorite rockfish bait is a 3/4 oz shadhead jig which I pour myself and powder paint either chartreuse, hot pink, or red head and 5" sassy shad for winter, early spring fishing. Bass assassins for summer fishing. With the bait being so small so far this year, I have downsized to 4" sassy shads and it worked pretty well this morning. I have occasionally tried redfins, but I have never caught the fish in a redfin mood for some unknown reason. Maybe I don't know how to fish them properly.
My largest rockfish to date has been 42 1/2 pounds a couple of years ago. 5 more over 33 pounds and I don't know how many 20+ pounders that I have caught. When conditions are right, (proper water flow, temp. baitfish, etc.) you can't beat rockfishing.
TVA usually does not run enough water on the weekends to make it worth while to fish below dams and it only takes a couple of boats that don't know that stripers are spooky to turn off a hot bite by running their boats through the fish.When that happens to me, I usually just put my boat back on the trailer and go Crappie fishing.
My largest rockfish to date has been 42 1/2 pounds a couple of years ago. 5 more over 33 pounds and I don't know how many 20+ pounders that I have caught. When conditions are right, (proper water flow, temp. baitfish, etc.) you can't beat rockfishing.
TVA usually does not run enough water on the weekends to make it worth while to fish below dams and it only takes a couple of boats that don't know that stripers are spooky to turn off a hot bite by running their boats through the fish.When that happens to me, I usually just put my boat back on the trailer and go Crappie fishing.
DHaun
Well-known member
Great report drumking - Thanks! Were you below Chickamauga, Watts Bar, or Nickajack? My favorite this time of year is a 1oz 5" glowshad from Mr. Leonards tackle up the hill in Bryant, AL from Nickajack. I was checking my posts from this time last year and it's just about time...When I get back from Spring break in FL with my son I'm going to be ready for the stripers!
Great point about the boats...I have read you should always motor up to the boils from the side so you don't spook the fish...
Great point about the boats...I have read you should always motor up to the boils from the side so you don't spook the fish...
fisherpal2k
Well-known member
great report drumking. Keep up the good work. Where was you fishing?
Davo
Well-known member
So when you are running a drift, do you loop all the way around to start your next drift? Or does is spook them just to drift over them. I've got to admit that I was one of those guys who used to just drift and then run right back up the way I just came. Heck, I must've scared all of them away at times.
As far as fishing a redfin, just reel it really slow on the surface so that it is making a V wake. It's really awesome to see a big striper blow up on one.
As far as fishing a redfin, just reel it really slow on the surface so that it is making a V wake. It's really awesome to see a big striper blow up on one.
Let me see if I can get all these questions answered this time. I was fishing below Watts Bar. I do make a wide circle around the fish and easy my boat into the proper drift position, shut the motor off, put the trolling motor down and just use it to keep the nose of the boat pointed upstream vs just letting the current take you downstream and turning the boat sideways. (That way the person that you take fishing has the advantage by fishing out of the back of the boat because the fish see their lure before yours.) Drifting over the fish with nothing running will not spook the fish. I have been on them for hours when I was the only boat up there or with other boats who knew how to striper fish without spooking the fish.
I use a 7' med-heavy action quantam rod, 20lb test Trilene Big Game low-vis green line (I just like it better than most). Let's see, did I forget anything? Oh, yes! Be extra cautious near the wing all with low flow rate and winter level. I talked to the only boat that was up there yesterday ( he was from Georgia) and he warned me about the steel I-beam that is just under the water. He hit it the day before without doing any damage. He was lucky. I told him that I knew exactly where it was and asked him politely not to run his motor through the fish. He was trolling for Crappie, Sauger or something right through the middle of the fish. Fortunately, we had already caught most of the fish by then. He complied. People just don't know. I know that it gets frustrating when you invest a lot of time and gas money to plan a trip like this and have someone run all the fish off.
Finally, we did manage to catch 4 large drum (tee hee) from whence I get my username. Lost a big smallmouth at the boat nearing 5 pounds and a 2lb white bass. That's all! I've told more than I should. I hope that I don't have to take a number to get in line next time that I go up. If we are going to make this forum a place that we all want it to be, then we are going to have to open up a little, run the risk of saying too much, but then that will just force us all to become better fishermen by fishing new and exciting waters.
I use a 7' med-heavy action quantam rod, 20lb test Trilene Big Game low-vis green line (I just like it better than most). Let's see, did I forget anything? Oh, yes! Be extra cautious near the wing all with low flow rate and winter level. I talked to the only boat that was up there yesterday ( he was from Georgia) and he warned me about the steel I-beam that is just under the water. He hit it the day before without doing any damage. He was lucky. I told him that I knew exactly where it was and asked him politely not to run his motor through the fish. He was trolling for Crappie, Sauger or something right through the middle of the fish. Fortunately, we had already caught most of the fish by then. He complied. People just don't know. I know that it gets frustrating when you invest a lot of time and gas money to plan a trip like this and have someone run all the fish off.
Finally, we did manage to catch 4 large drum (tee hee) from whence I get my username. Lost a big smallmouth at the boat nearing 5 pounds and a 2lb white bass. That's all! I've told more than I should. I hope that I don't have to take a number to get in line next time that I go up. If we are going to make this forum a place that we all want it to be, then we are going to have to open up a little, run the risk of saying too much, but then that will just force us all to become better fishermen by fishing new and exciting waters.
slo-ride
Well-known member
awesome, drumking!!!! as soon as i shake this flu crud i've got, i'm gonna be hitting the tailraces down here.....btw, do ever dye your jig tails chart.?(seems to make a difference for me sometimes)
G
Guest
Guest
I am glad someone mentioned the proper way to fish the boils. There are still alot of people that crank up at the end of the drift and run straight back up toward the rest of us. Besides spooking the stripers they will run over your lines and the wake they leave will rock you pretty good. We always have to look over our shoulder and watch out for those folks. At Nick. we loop out and come up the slack water in front of the floodgates then cut in at the wing wall but once the season kicks in that don't always work because of the sheer numbers of boats. I have counted 15-20 boats on Sat. in late April. May everyone have a safe Dam striper season
Oh yeah! We've been doing that for 2 or 3 years now. Sometimes it makes a big difference. Also, you can use different colored permanant markers and do all sorts of tricks. Just let your imagination go. I also use the garlic spike-it colors to customize my Crappie grubs, tubes, etc. Try using a 2 1/2 inch pearl plastic minnow, spike the body with chartreuse, then dot the curly tail with red permanant dots and watch the Crappie go nuts. That's how I caught them in Savannah creek the other day. That should work with curly tail grubs too.
TennesseeTalker
Well-known member
Hmmmm ... hard for me to believe that fish love color that much! But since you all's fishing stories are better than mine ... I'm fixing up some colorful buggars for tomorrow!
Can you use magic markers on minners??? emoLaugh
TT
BeeBasser
Well-known member
Drumking, Great report. I also worked with Jimmy Leonard at Dupont a few years ago and still have some glow shad in my tackle bag that he brought in to me. Reading your report makes me anxious to get them out and try for some of those giant strips.
Davo
Well-known member
A buddy of mine used to catch some monster flatheads below Watts Bar. Just cast net for the shad and chunk them into the deeper water.
A couple of years ago while striper fishing, I caught a flathead that weighed 17 pounds up near the #1 turbine on a pearl 5" sassy shad. In all that current with the way that a flathead fights, I thought that I had a whale. Exciting!
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