Striper Addiction 

By Don Gasaway

 Known locally as rockfish, striper, wiper, hybrid or striped bass, this member of the bass family has me hooked. I have fished for them in such locations as Lake Texoma, Lake Cumberland, Barkley Lake, Kentucky Lake, and the Ohio River. I just cannot get enough of this brawny battler.

Although not native to inland freshwater settings, this striped tackle buster has adapted to many lakes and rivers throughout the middle of the country. They are a saltwater relative of the white bass. The hybrid striper is a cross between white bass and the saltwater species. More elongated, stripers resemble a stretched version of the white bass with a straight back. The top of the striper is a dark green to blue, sometimes with a brassy tinge that gives way to lighter sides. The underside is a silvery color.

Stripers sport seven or eight narrow stripes along their sides from the gills to the tail. The hybrid will have some of these stripes broken. Fish of 20-plus pounds are often caught. A striper generally reaches weight in the five-pound range by their third year of life.

My first experience with this fish came in the 1970s not long after they were introduced into the Ohio River. Fishing with some locals and employees of the Illinois Department of Conservation (later known as Illinois Department of Natural Resources), we were trying to pattern the fish. Up to then, catching a striper was usually a result of serendipity.

We fished the fast-running tailwater below Smithland Dam in the fall. Most casts resulted in hooking skipjack herring, an oily relative of the oceangoing species. Stripers did hit some of our white plastic shad imitations. They appeared to mistake them for herring. No matter, I was hooked.

Finding stripers is not complicated. Finding the big ones is difficult. Stripers are fish that like structure. It might be points, flats, drop-offs, creek channels or humps. Just because they are present, does not mean they will take a lure or bait. Feeding fish tend to follow baitfish up onto long points or flats in about 15 to 20 feet of water.

Often they stage just off from a school of baitfish. Even if forage is available, it does not mean they are feeding. They seem to just wait until they are ready and then move in on the hapless forage fish.

A more recent theory is that the bass sense the school of baitfish as one big fish. Sooner or later the bass move in to explore and become aware they are food. The shad burst into activity to get away. As they explode into a thousand directions, the bass begin to strike at anything in their sight. That includes the fisherman’s offer.

Stripers prefer deep water for the temperature but tend to suspend at mid depth ranges. This is especially true of those fish suspended on some structure next to a deeper water drop-off. Anglers in a boat with electronics can see those schools of shad with a single striper off to one side.

The feeding habits of stripers seem to vary according to their mood. One minute they avidly take artificial lures and the next they hit on live bait. For that reason I prefer to have both live bait and artificial lures at hand. Even the live bait appetite of these finny brutes can vary from one forage species to another. Often they prefer threadfin shad to gizzard shad when the only difference is size. On other occasions they prefer the plastic shad imitations or crankbaits to live herring. Even that can reverse for some reason known only to the stripers.

Fishermen in a boat often troll in search of schools of stripers. Once located, the angler throws a marker buoy to pinpoint where the fish was caught. They can cruise through the location several more times and often hook more fish.

When fishing larger bodies of water such as reservoirs, I have found that larger gizzard shad or large plastic flukes seem to produce better action. In rivers, particularly below dams, the smaller artificials like a crankbait or live threadfin shad of about one to two years are a good idea. The smaller lures and baits should be about the length of your finger.

Stripers migrate frequently, following the forage. Just because you find fish in one location on Monday does not mean they will still be there on Tuesday. Still, these locations are worth checking. They like deep-water structure and are often found just in the deep-water side of a drop-off. Depths of 20 to 40 feet are a good place to begin looking for fish. But, they can be found actively feeding as deep as 90 feet. Larger sinkers of one to three ounces will get the bait down if you do not have downriggers.

River-run stripers tend to follow cool, highly oxygenated, fast flowing water. Anglers find fishing riprap productive from either the shore or by drifting in a boat. The shad are attracted to the plankton and algae in the rocks. Stripers follow the shad. The stripers are often found in locations of slack water downstream from islands or wing dams. They are attracted to any current break with a good food supply. Forage fish will hold in slack water to rest between feedings, and often find plankton upon which to feed.

Live shad hooked on a 1/0 circle hook with no weight seem to take the most fish in fast flowing water while drifting. I like a medium action rod with a spinning reel with line to match the fish you anticipate catching. (But, then I like spinning reels for everything.)

Fall and winter seems to be ideal for striper fishing. The fish like cold, windy and overcast days. In spring they spawn and are drawn to current as they migrate upstream until they reach a dam. In summer as the air temperatures rise, stripers go deep. Often they find a deep hole in a channel and remain there except to move up for feeding during the late hours of the day.

Most striper fishermen come to the sport through the accidental catching of a fish while bass fishing. Like me, they become addicted to the action. There is nothing like this reel-screeching action. The physical challenge of landing a fish that is often 10 pounds or more is also a fun addition.