Thread: striper fishing advice for lake waterree

Leave the stripers alone. They are dangerous. Keep fishing for bass and crappie. Have a good day!

First off, if you are going to do much Striper fishing, get yourself a good lawyer! LOL

Seriously, I enjoy targeting multiple fish species too (Stripers, crappie, white perch, etc) depending on what is biting the best. Around here, that presents lots of fishing opportunities, usually at different times of the year.

In April and May, the forage fishes the striper feed on (shad, herring) will be spawning on gravel bed banks and on long points on the main lake and in the major creek arms. Larger plugs that make a V-wake when fished slowly on the surface are good choices in the early morning and early evening. Good choices are Red Fins and Thundersticks. Zara Spooks can also be good. Sebile Magic Swimmers are also good, but pricey. All of these baits can be cast on your standard bass gear, just be ready to handle a 10+ lb striper with your line and drag.

Pulling live bait (free lines and planar boards in these same areas can be good as well as the day warms. Bigger gizzard shad work best this time of year. You can't get bait too big right now!

Fishing For Reservoir Stripers, A How-To Handbook goes into more details on the seasonal movements of reservoir stripers, as well as detailed discussion of equipment and additional techniques. It is not a "go fish right here" book, but instead discusses key lake features to look for and then be able to pattern the fish. Can be useful on any freshwater impoundment with stripers.

Tight Lines!

I have John's book and it is well written and specific to SC waters. I have learned a lot by reading it. Well worth the time and money to get one and read.

Check out the area around June Creek. We got a herd of em this a.m. Small but fun on a long rod. We was using jigs and minnows. They liked most everything. Gotta be some bigguns there somewhere. Good Luck.

Like JMJ said leave em alone!,,Nah he was just kidding,knowing that striper fishing is addictive as all get out.Id say early am and later pm are best times.As far as casting for them,most people only cast to schooling fish or birds working over fish that are feeding.The trolling method as well as live bait fishing most use electronics to locate fish then pull something thru them,whether it'd be bait or lures.Lots of fish are caught on cut bait (with gizzard shad best bait)in the springtime but in the last few years iVe had much better luck in the fall. If you troll,make sure the lure you use will get to the depth you want it to,like trolling a lure that only gets six foot down isn't gonna catch the fish that you're marking at twenty feet and if you using a lure that goes twenty feet it isn't gonna get the fish if they are at six feet.The fish are scattered from almost end to end of the lake,,lots of folks think all the stripers run up lake into the river this time of year buts that's not the case.Just as with any fishing it takes time to figure out stuff but it sure feels good when the plan comes together and you catch some.Mighty fine eating fish also.

In the Spring of the year, always go check behind the dam at Cedar Creek Hydro. When the local non boaters are lined up on the banks catching stripers, you can throw bucktails behind the dam and load the boat up.