Fish of the Week-Topic 3: Striped Bass

RealBigReel
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Post by RealBigReel »

YaknYota wrote:I'll touch on other aspects of striper methods and equipment later in the thread.
Waiting to cut and paste that post to my Striper.DOC file

Aren't live Shad a more dependable bait than any lures. I wonder if you might part with any clues as to how to cast net up some big Shad.

I have caught hundreds of Stripers but just 1 keeper, so I will refrain from putting anything forth on this one. But I am reading with great interest.
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Vlaude
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Post by Vlaude »

LOL, Danny you want to hear about the 11lber, the few 8's, the 7's and 6's... Maybe the handful of 3-4's??? Or LOL... About how well that Carolina Rigged 10" Weedless Texposed Tequila Sunrise Culprit Worm worked? LOL :wink: When you gonna come down to Tejas? I'll take you out and we can catch those fish in the pics, because I didn't hurt them! Promise! That said I'm not sure the ponds hear aren't better! Some good bass fish'n down here... Maybe Fork instead of the River?

===============================================

I'll be fish'n for linesides on Texoma again this week. Right now the fish'n on Texoma is jumping!!! Pun intended!!!
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Post by Danny Williams »

Yessir. I'll bring a hundred of those 10" Weedless Texposed Tequila Sunrise Culprit Worms.

Hey RealBigReel,
I'm not a big fan of bait, I prefer to chunk topwaters if given the choice, but at certain times of the year it's far better than lures.

I know a lot of striper fishermen that prefer cut shad in early spring before the spawn but I've not had a lot of success doing that. Catch some nice blues though.

Keeping shad alive is a whole new art. I have a homemade tank that I made for fishing the lake in my (ugh) PB, but very seldom use it. I'm too lazy to try and keep lively shad in the heat we're having now and much of my shad quickly becomes chum. I tried to give Vlaude another homemade tank and he sneered at me.
Last edited by Danny Williams on Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by reservoir dog »

dang, can yall pm each other? :roll:
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Beve
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Post by Beve »

reservoir dog wrote:i am very interested in this fish. i've never fished for them.

where is the closest place to houston where i could give it a shot?
Does Toledo Bend have stripers?
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Post by barditch »

8) Don't know a thing about around Houston, except to fly over if at all possible...no offense, but... On Topic: At Canyon, we were fishing about two years ago within a mile and a half of the dam. We're working the points, because it's like hotter than a roommate's check and we're looking in 20-30 feet of water and I turn around and there are birds working in the middle of the lake!!

We tie on the biggest Rat L Traps we've got in the boat (3/4 oz), Carolina rigged w/1 oz. sinkers and started trolling around the outside of the birds. Hooked up, big time, and took two each home, took many pictures and kicked back having had a heckuva day. Must have hooked 1 1/2 dozen, landed 8-10 in the 8-12 pound class. Great fishing, great eating.
I always keep an eye out for birds and a Rat L Trap on a line, just in case. The Rat L Trap has never failed to produce under birds, yet!
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Post by Longhorns »

Average result for the Horns, some inexerience but very good athletes. Just hope we don't get embarrassed by you guys, Tech, Missouri, Kansas and the Ags. Goodness it's hard to poor mouth if your heart isn't in to it.

10-3 or better. 10-3 would not make folks happy. But our defensive coordinator, Muschamp (sp?), is really breathing some fire into things. 11-2 probably more realistic.
Hook 'em
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Post by Vlaude »

Horns, I don't see you guys getting embarrassed... Should be a good game. OU's D will need some work I think. That game is always up in the air with emotions running high! Both offenses shoudl be decent. Mizzou should be on target to get the nod from the north. They were pretty good last year...

ON TOPIC -

Barditch, when the fish are working the shad to the top and you see the birds diving on them I throw a topwater bait or a sassy shad. The topwater won't produce the best numbers typically, but is fun to watch IMO. The sassy shad is pretty versatile like a Rat-L-Trap (both great lures) but the sassy has one hook on it and can be jigged, ripped, or slow rolled in. The key is the single hook makes for good hook-ups and easy release or removal and in the tank. In my experiences the sassy will produce more numbers in general in that scenerio, but not a guarantee... [/code]
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Post by DirtyMike »

Is this fish of the week or stupid fools balls chat room? So far I learned a little about striper and a lot about fools.
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Post by DirtyMike »

By the way that was a joke. I figured I better repost before some one gets really touchy.
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Post by ol'yeller »

THis is my opinion only, but I think the Brazos River Striper have evolved into a kind of SUPER Striper. I caught one two weeks ago in water that had to be 85 degrees on a plug. It was not shy at all, and they haven't been releasing water much from Whitney. There are a few striper that hang along the dam, but I like to leave them alone.
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Post by Beve »

This thread got beat up with a lot of extracurricular non-striper activity.. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Eventually I am going to try for stripers under one of these dams along the highland lakes chain. Good sized ones have been caught from all the dams over the years. Longhorn is closest to me, so I'll give it a shot one day when the conditions are right, but would be willing to try Tom Miller or Mansfield too.
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Post by DirtyMike »

Hey Bevo I will join you. I have never caught a striper. I would also like to join you on a river run. I need some cat fish.
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Vlaude
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Post by Vlaude »

Ol'yeller, lake Texoma is pushing 90 in some areas and the stripers are slaughtering the shad daily. Ofcourse, you won't find the big ones chasing the little shad, but fish up to say 23"-24" or so... A lot of fun on a medium light spinning rod or even a baitcast. The smaller fish have the chow bag on 24/7...

Favorite Topwater baits for striper for me are - She-Dog / Amazon Ripper / WoodChopper / Chug Bug & Big Bug / 8" Redfin

I think the best all around bait if you are chosing one to use would have to be a fluke or sassy shad. I really like the Hogie Minnows glow & chart.

I was just waiting to hear a response as to why Yak'nYota called "BS". Guess re-read the post? The info seems pretty good.
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Post by Strider »

reservoir dog wrote:i am very interested in this fish. i've never fished for them.

where is the closest place to houston where i could give it a shot?
Baytown.
http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showt ... p?t=148304

Kim
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Vlaude
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Post by Vlaude »

The link Strider posted also has a clip from Dr. Fisher regarding striper a lot of good basic info on there regarding striper and activity. Good stuff...
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Post by YaknYota »

I can see alot of folks have questions about bait tactics for Stripers.
And for good reason, as there is hardly a better way to consistently dupe stripers, IME. Combine a properly presented live bait and a savvy kayak angler, chances are, there are going to be some stripers hitting the decks.

Store bought bait may work in a pinch, but stripers can be selective when not feeding in a competitive mode. IME, when available native baits will get the nod from me 9 times out of 10. Gathering, care and presentaion of native baits is a artform in itself and this is where many anglers good intentions, remain just that.

Non-gamefish destined for the hook, can be taken by several legal methods such as rod and reel or castnet. Baits obtained in this manner can be fished live, whole fresh dead or cut sections depending on conditions and the bite.

Top fin fish choices for Southern striper chasers can include the following where legal-

1. Gizzard shad
2. Threadfin shad
3. All sunfishes
4. Blueback herring
5. Rainbow trout
6. Freshwater drum
7. Barfish (yellow bass)

All of these baits will have a time and place depending on the fisheries, conditions and time of year. Some baits will require more care than others to be fished live. Gizzards, threadfins are notorious for going belly up without the use of a large round or oval tank with pump and filtration system. Even with the use of a tank, care has to be made with partial water changes and sudden temperature increases or decreases of more than 8-10 degrees. I also use Sure Life chemicals in my insulated shad and herring tanks to insure the very best water quality. So, how big should a shad tank be? I like 1 gallon of water per bait in most situations
for larger baits. I also use custom made bait tubes for my herring, since they will tend to kill themselves by slamming into the tank walls unless I add a fish calmer like Tranquil. Anywhere native or stocked trout and or bluebacks co-exist with stripers, you will have potential for HUGE stripers to be lurking.

Once bait is obtained, now the game begins. How should the angler go about presenting it to the fish? Post cold front Winter/Spring bluebird days and sweltering Summer draw downs may require soaking fresh cut center sections or whole cut off heads on the bottom in known striper haunts. While active or selectively feeding fish can be tempted with live baits presented on a freeline (no weight) ,wind drifted under a balloon rig or via planer board. All of these methods have produced plenty of stripers from the kayak for me and my customers, including some real nice Trophies and Personal bests.

Here is a quality Canadian River striped bass that fell for a herring head soaked on the bottom during a low water, late Summer drought -


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RiverViking and YaknYota demonstrate what kind of stripers a motivated and skilled live bait angler can produce on the Brazos River, Tx -

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Tailrace areas immediately below major impoundments are great draws for stripers and will hold fish year around for both the plug/jig tosser and bait soaker to take adavantage of. While access to these areas may be somewhat limited by kayak, enterprising anglers on foot with a long rod can put some of the largest fish in the river within striking distance -


Image


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As always, keep what you will eat as the law allows, and let the rest be CPR'd. Here is a shot of RiverViking putting one back in the drink.

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If a 8 year old can CPR, so can you :wink: .
Last edited by YaknYota on Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by YaknYota »

Vlaude wrote:I was just waiting to hear a response as to why Yak'nYota called "BS". Guess re-read the post? The info seems pretty good.
Hey, Vlaude.

EAT ME !!! :P

How was that for a response? :twisted:


Btw - Feel free to do it SOOOOOOOOOOOOONER than later :lol:
Last edited by YaknYota on Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Danny Williams »

And then again, that's a great reason to not book a trip!

Vlaude, I apologize. I got this started by posting on this link.
I knew when I started that this guy would jump in butt first trying to discredit anyone who had any input.
Again, I apologize to Vlaude and everybody else.
There's plenty of good info online about striper fishing,
even the Brazos. There are a lot of good striper forums where people will willingly answer your questions without making you feel like an ass, , including one that Vlaude and I both participate in as moderators. :D :D :D

I know a lot of guides who share info and the smart guides know one thing:
No matter how much you know, you can still learn from others.
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Post by Strider »

All this hubub about an artificially introduced non-native fish :D . They don't even belong here. Wonder what native species they have pushed out? Great fighters and eaters though. I won't argue it takes above average skill to find and catch them either.

Kill 'em all is what I say. Keep the striper tactics (and recipes) coming. Meanwhile I'm waiting for any to show in the longest undammed stretch of river in the state :? In 6 years of hard fishing in the McLennan/Falls Counties area I've yet to catch my first one. If they were here...surely,,,surely I would have caught one by accident. But I haven't, which leads us to some conclusions...

1. Either they are swimming so fast when they are running down the Brazos (to avoid the predators?) that they don't have time to stop to eat, or....

2. That is why our turtles get so big down here.

Moral of story? Seems they don't do so well in natural condtions.

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Post by YaknYota »

Strider wrote:Seems they don't do so well in the natural condition of the waters of our state :? .

Kim
Kim,

Please, understand.

Contrary to the opinion of some :roll:.

Our Texas and Oklahoma river stripers are just fine and will continue to thrive as they have for years.

Stripers have a uncanny ability to seek out what they need to survive, even hugging the bottom of a river next to a tiny underwater upwelling or seepage to survive the ravages of drought, low water and even golden algea.

Suggesting that our river stripers are fragile or can't survive the Summers in downriver holes is not only wrong, but a poor reflection on the credibility of any river angler who forwards that opinion.
Last edited by YaknYota on Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Danny Williams »

And Strider, that's why the hybrid striped bass is so favored by wildlife biologists. They can stand the heat, they seldom if ever reproduce so they can be controlled, and hybrid in a lot of people's opinion will out fight a same size striper. Maybe not a river striper, but they sure seem to kick up a harder fuss than a lake striper. To each their own. I'd love to catch a alligator gar, then release him. A lot of guys would just as soon shoot every gar they saw. But those fish are incredible. By the way, I kayaked below Keystone last Sunday night during a generation period and I had needlenose gar all over me. Our Striper bite is dead right now because of the hot water flowing from Keystone, but those gar love it. The Illinois river is ripe for striper right now and with consistent water flows eufaula dam has drawn a lot of fish.
You've just got to know where the striper will be at this time of year and only catch what you can eat.
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Post by Vlaude »

Strider, the fish are heavy predators as you know which makes them IMO easier to catch than say some "rough fish". If the stripers were in your stretch of river in any numbers I guarantee you'd have caught one with the time you have put in. I understand your point on non-native fish...

===============================================

No problem Yak'nYota... Just was curiuos, since you didn't elaborate.

Nice stripers BTW, seem to have seen those pics a few times now. I too enjoy catching good ones... Just don't understand the reaons why you'd call "BS" on a good post and not explain. Looking at history its a bit ironic that its you calling the "BS" here, don't you think? :lol:

Yak'nYota, each river is different. I can tell you from experience that below Eufaula, fish (including stripers) do get trapped in pockets at low flow times and perish. That is not a study or a guess, its what took place. I have not experienced that on the Red and am not familar with the Brazos. I'm a bit younger than you probably, but I can say I've spent a number of hours on those rivers growing up in the area and that has taken place below Eufaula.
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Post by bowgarguide »

Suggesting that our river stripers are fragile or can't survive the Summers in downriver holes is not only wrong, but a poor reflection on the credibility of any river angler who forwards that opinion.


Yakin
Man your a trip, I think on this post you are the one with the credibility
problem, on the lower Brazos as you call it. I have seen or heard of two strippers being caught below Waco, have never seen one under the lights
and that is on several decades of running this section.
Answer this question , where are they if they survive like you say, why don't folks catch them are at least see them. You may know the upper parts of the Brazos but your opinion on the lower Brazos just doesn't
instill much confidence in me.
The upper Brazos is your running place and I will listen to your advice about that section, but to spout off at Strider about the section of the river he knows just shows your lack of knowledge of this section.
Ron
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Post by YaknYota »

bowgarguide wrote:Suggesting that our river stripers are fragile or can't survive the Summers in downriver holes is not only wrong, but a poor reflection on the credibility of any river angler who forwards that opinion.


Yakin
Man your a trip, I think on this post you are the one with the credibility
problem, on the lower Brazos as you call it. I have seen or heard of two strippers being caught below Waco, have never seen one under the lights
and that is on several decades of running this section.
Answer this question , where are they if they survive like you say, why don't folks catch them are at least see them. You may know the upper parts of the Brazos but your opinion on the lower Brazos just doesn't
instill much confidence in me.
The upper Brazos is your running place and I will listen to your advice about that section, but to spout off at Strider about the section of the river he knows just shows your lack of knowledge of this section.
Ron

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................. :?

Ron, I don't guide on the Lower Brazos and have never dipped a paddle in it.

I'm on the Upper/Middle, remember?

I'll tell you what, if you can find one single post, report or reference to me fishing on the Lower Brazos, I'll eat crow until the cows come home.

Why in the hell would I fish the Lower Brazos:?:

Kim and I have discussed,on several threads in the past, about the complete lack of stripers and smallmouth anywhere below Gholson/ Cameron Park area.

If I want to catch "rough" fish. I'll hit the Trinity, not the Lower Brazos.

I love Ya like cooked food, Ron, but you are so far out in left field on this one, I can't even see you :lol: .

I can assure you of this.

If there were stripers on the Lower Brazos.................. I would already be there :twisted:
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