Striper help

[JasonB]

So I've been curious about fishing for Stripers for a bit now, but until just the other night I've never actually made even a slight attempt at catching one. The other evening I made a cursory attempt while fishing for Shad on the Lower American, I did end up swinging a few spots with a 3-4" Clouser (Chartreuse over white tied on a 2/0 hook). While my confidence faded pretty fast, feeling like I didn't know what I was doing; at one point I had a most violent grab!

Unfortunately, the excitement ended as quickly as it began when my tippet broke. Still, it did further stoke the fire, and I'm more curious than ever now. I'm most interested in the following:

-What size/patterns are you guys using?

-What gear set ups do you all use?

-What kinds of water do you focus most of your energy on?

-Presentations (depth/speed, etc)?

Thanks for any and all suggestions,
JB

[Tony Buzolich]

Welcome to the wonderful world of STRIPERS ! You had your first grab. A violent aggressive take that often rattles the nerves of any fisherman for minutes on end. Not to be forgotten

You've already hit several of your questions with your story. Patterns either match the hatch, or insight a reaction bite. Your chartreuse/white is an attention getter and works everywhere.

A 2/0 hook is the smallest hook I'd ever consider for stripers. They have now problem with 3/0 or 4/0 either. Just because the hook is large doesn't mean the fly has to overly large. Though, those stripers have no problem eating a 3 or 4 pound shad. Think about matching the hatch with that.

I work the edges along seams and banks or eddys where the fish can get out of the faster currant, but still quickly chase food into passing water.

Though topwater is great visual fun for all fish, 99% are caught below the surface.

For a leader I use two feet of 40# butt Albrighted to the line and ended with a double surgeon. Two or three more feet of 20# leader looped to the butt, and tied with a Homer Rhodes loop knot to the fly. Keep your leaders short to get down deeper quicker.

Now you've got to put in you time. They like low light, early or late.

Good luck out there, and we'll want to hear about that first one that comes to hand.
Tony

[JasonB]

Thank you Tony! Yes that grab was very memorable, don't think I'll ever forget the violence (or the weight) of that strike... can't wait to experience that again! Two points about your response:
-You mention them quickly chasing prey, do you find that a faster swing and/or strip tends to get their attention (like say brown trout), or do they tend to prefer a slower easy meal?
-how deep below the surface are you thinking typically? Top 1/3 of the water, mid depth, or along the bottom? Mine was pretty low in the water when I got the grab, but I may well have had his attention for some time so I don't know if he first started chasing when the fly was much higher in the water... hard to say of course.

Appreciate the thoughts and advise, hope I can get out some more and get at least a better look at one
JB

[Tony Buzolich]

If the water is clear, (like the American) a faster strip will get their attention, and, they won't have too long to think about what it is or isn't that they saw. A quick erratic strip with very short pauses would be best in clearer water.

In off-color water (like the Sac or the delta) a short fast strip will send out vibration that they can key in on. Here though you'll want to make longer pauses which will allow the fish to home in and find the cause of the vibration. (his lateral line does this). Once he's within a few feet of the fly, it then becomes a visual game and he's on it. Strip -strip- pause. Strip as fast as you can say this

I find that most of the fish I take are in the lower half of the water column. They're feeding mostly on crayfish, lampreys, baby squawfish, etc. and not on the surface. When I take guys out, I tell them to "dredge" the bottom and get down deep. "If you're not snagging up and loosing a few flies, you're not in the zone".

From a boat you cover a lot of water and snags are common, but you need to SET hard on every bump or tap you get. Some are going to be snags and break you off, but others are going to be Ol' Mo' sucking that fly in
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Tony....we are so lucky to have some real veteran Striper anglers on our message boad.


JasonB,

If you are interested in catching Stripers on the Lower American River you might go in an talk with Andy Guibord for some ideas.

Most Stripers are caught from a drifting boat in Nor Cal but wading is another way to go after them.

Andy has a Sculpin pattern that catches Steelhead and Stripers in the American River.

He is working today at the shop.......

.

.

[Mark V]

Andy's a great guy you can learn a lot from. When you go to the shop, see if they still have the DVD "Stripping for Stripers" on the shelf to rent. It's a how-to video starring Andy and other experienced striper snipers, shot on the American back prob around 10 years ago, when the numbers of monster stripers in the river was higher.
In a good way, I think you're on the verge of acquiring a serious addiction! Enjoy.

[JasonB]

Fantastic guys! This is what I love most about this forum; the level of knowledge and the willingness to share and help lesser experienced folks along. I've learned quite a bit over a few years here, and I'm happy to say that apparently I still have quite a bit more to learn yet...

Really appreciate the tips and the help, and I can see that "the addiction" is not likely to lessen anytime soon!
JB

[JasonB]

A 2/0 hook is the smallest hook I'd ever consider for stripers. They have now problem with 3/0 or 4/0 either. Just because the hook is large doesn't mean the fly has to overly large. Though, those stripers have no problem eating a 3 or 4 pound shad. Think about matching the hatch with that.

Tony

Thanks again Tony,
With that advice in mind, I tied up a few larger streamers for a little float yesterday. I did manage to hook and land my very first striper. He was just a little guy of 16" or so, but what surprised me most was the fact he ate my biggest streamer: an articulated fly tied on a 2/0 with a #2 trailer, probably almost 6" long and he swallowed the whole damn thing! I see now what you mean. I had heard of bigger stripers eating adult shad, and while I certainly believed the stories it was still kind of hard to wrap my head around the concept... until now.
I did manage to hook into a bigger fish for a slightly longer time frame than my first encounter which was over immediately. Unfortunately after some big head shakes, this one ran right at the boat and I got a bit caught up in all the running line. My wife frantically backrowed while I attempted to strip line in as fast as I could, but by the time I came tight to the fly the fish was gone...
Oh well.
We did a little shad fishing on the way down and caught a couple each, enjoyed a spectacular sunset, and overall had a pretty sweet float! I'm more than happy with the small success so far, and I'm happy to have caught another species of fish now too. Now if I can just tie into another one of those BIG ones
JB

[Kevin Goding]

Thanks again Tony,
With that advice in mind, I tied up a few larger streamers for a little float yesterday. I did manage to hook and land my very first striper. He was just a little guy of 16" or so, but what surprised me most was the fact he ate my biggest streamer: an articulated fly tied on a 2/0 with a #2 trailer, probably almost 6" long and he swallowed the whole damn thing! I see now what you mean. I had heard of bigger stripers eating adult shad, and while I certainly believed the stories it was still kind of hard to wrap my head around the concept... until now.
I did manage to hook into a bigger fish for a slightly longer time frame than my first encounter which was over immediately. Unfortunately after some big head shakes, this one ran right at the boat and I got a bit caught up in all the running line. My wife frantically backrowed while I attempted to strip line in as fast as I could, but by the time I came tight to the fly the fish was gone...
Oh well.
We did a little shad fishing on the way down and caught a couple each, enjoyed a spectacular sunset, and overall had a pretty sweet float! I'm more than happy with the small success so far, and I'm happy to have caught another species of fish now too. Now if I can just tie into another one of those BIG ones
JB

I like to tie Deceivers of various sizes and colors, they are fairly simple and seem to work. My brother is a more advanced fly tyer than myself and makes much more complex flies. They all seem to catch fish. I think mid summer and late you can try some top water stuff, early and late in the day, but we always use running flies on a shooting sinking head for the most part. Depending on flows you'll need different sink rates, but you want to try and get it close to the bottom and strip from there. If you drift certain parts of the river enough, you'll figure out where they like to hold, that just comes with experience. Seams near back eddies are good spots. Spots 3-4 feet deep with weeds on the bottom also are good to try, they like to hide in the weed valleys and ambush stuff. It looks like you're figuring things out.
-Kevin

[robdog]

I have only hooked into one striper ever & that was in O'Neal Forebay. I used a crawdad imitation & I was on my float tube. I wasn't even looking or seeking a fish at the time & it caught me off guard. I guess I got lucky. I have tried to go back & duplicate that feat, but the winds & waves of O'Neal Forebay got the best of me. I tried to again on Memorial Day in the Delta, but only came up w/ Bass. However, I didn't use that crawdad imitation. I was using mostly deceivers & divers. Maybe I should bring out that crawdad imitation more