Lake Norman Striper Report*

[madmax]

Somebody recently told me that there were not any more big stripers in Norman. Caught this one and more along with some hybrids. All on alabama rigs on downriggers. We released this big girl as I practice CAR all the time with Norman stripers/hybrids

[pete]

Yessir very very nice.

That in the general area i mentioned? Glad the kids had fun!

And by chance those on the rigs i sent you?

[madmax]

Pete
That was in the general area. The rigs you sent me caught the biggest striper of the day. I had other rigs that I also caught stripers and hybrids with. Chartreuse was working best.

[Jdnelson07]

How can you tell the difference between hybrids and Stripers

[madmax]

Stirpers have more of solid lines on thier sides whereas hybrids have broken lines. But sometimes the lines on a hybrid is close to solid. The body of a hybrid is stocky more of a football shape like the white base that it was crossed with. Stripers are more slender but have big bellies when they get older. I think the head is larger on a hybrid. They can be hard to tell the difference until you have caught both. That is the reason that the size and creel is combined for the two of them on Norman. The left picture is a Hybrid with broken lines. The right one is a Striper with solid lines.

[Jdnelson07]

I don't mean to sound stupid when I ask but what are they mixed with striped bass and?

[pete]

White bass

[madmax]

In NC the Hybrid are a mix of female Stripers that they shocked from the Roanoke River in the spring and then artificially bred with male white bass that they shock in NC lakes. They can also produce Hybrid from female white bass and male stripers. The biologist from NC know what the DNA is of the fish in Norman.

[Jdnelson07]

That's pretty cool. Thank you to you both for the education today. I started fishing for Stripers in the Roanoke last year and I've really enjoyed it. They're a lot of fun to catch. I think they're in Jordan too but it doesn't seem like people fish for as much as y'all do at Norman.

[pete]

the Jordan population was decimated a few years back when we had the severe drought. i dont think its seeing the pressure like it used to. Give it a try. you never know!