Tackle for American river Stripers ...

**Darian** · 02-13-2005, 12:23 AM

Hi WC,..... You didn't say, but what type of reel are you using

Does it have a decent drag

It's not imperative, but drag does help to put "the hurt" on a fish early, land/release 'im. (....or whatever

)

**Adam Grace** · 02-13-2005, 01:00 AM

WC, David is right. Stripers fight hard but rarely go into your backing, unless you are on a river a they use the current. I've had a couple stripers take me into my backing on the American. They did not take me very far though.

Good luck out there

**David Lee** · 02-13-2005, 01:08 AM

Strange thing .... Out of all the Stripes I've hooked in the A. , none have made runs longer than around 30 yards ... However , ALL the Stripes I've hooked in lakes have run waaaay out there , sometimes well over the 50 yard mark . You would think it would be the other way around , but no ... I have no idea why the lake fish are such screamers .
Those crazy 'ol fishes

. David

**Adam Grace** · 02-13-2005, 01:12 AM

David, the furthest run occurred in the last chance riffle below Paradise beach. A five pounder striper got into that current and peeled of some line on my 7wt. Granted if I was fishing a 9wt I could have applied more preasure.

Andy Guibord was there guiding me around with Bill that night.

**David Lee** · 02-13-2005, 01:19 AM

Hey Adam , have you ever Spey-ed Last chance ?? I've bounced a few Steelies there and think a Spey rod would be ideal for covering that run . At 1200 cfs it's a fun wade

. David

**Wednesday Caster** · 02-13-2005, 10:17 AM

David Darian Adam:
Thanks for your input. A surprise about the stripes not running far though. Would have expected them to take off like a jet away from the source of the tension.

The reel is a Pfleuger Purist 1595 and it does have a drag. I'm so use to the 8-12" wild-bows I normally fish for that I forget there are fly reels that have mechanical drags. I'll add on extra backing just to build up the spool then.

Ooohhh, can't wait to use that drag! Man that sounds nasty.

**Darian** · 02-14-2005, 12:33 AM

Hey everyone,..... Just a follow-up for WedCast and drags/reels for Stripers. Has anyone noticed the reel that David Lee used to land his Striper (see Avatar)

Does tend to show that just about anything will work....

Also, shows that David knows what to do with it...

**Hairstacker** · 02-14-2005, 08:56 AM

Hi Darian! I'm not sure it would be good to use David Lee as an example, as it's been my impression for some time now that David doesn't actually NEED a reel -- he can probably just take the fly line out of the box, shove a pencil threw the hole in the middle, and just use that to catch bigger fish than most.

David's the kind of fisherman that leaves high-end reel manufacturers ... confused. I'll say it again, that striper he caught (his avatar photo) was a MONSTER! I believe he caught it on a Pflueger 1495.

**David Lee** · 02-14-2005, 08:57 AM

Darian , I'm glad you brought that up .

We worry about T6061 alloy , cork vs. Delrin , LA vs. Regular arbor , all this crap . And unless you're in bluewater chasin' Marlin , Tuna , or Wahoo , it IS all crap !!
Don't get me wrong - using nice , well engineered , expensive reels (or rods ....) for Trout , Stripes , Bass , whatever is effective and a safe choice .
It's also not necessary .
Think about all of the record fish taken 30 or 40 years ago ... before CNC-machined , bar-stock , disk-drag reels .... Were fish just weaker back then ?? If you pay attention to knots , learn the "limits" of your gear , and have a plan you should take down ANYTHING you hook on whatever gear you choose .

Once again , you all know the drill - send hate mail to my PM or Email .... David