I fish Murray regularly for bass but now that the bite is about over after mid morning I want to shift gears and go after stripers. I haven’t had a ton of luck historically just picked a few up as bycatch.
What methods work during the summer? Is it mainly down lines?
Do I drive around until I mark fish or can I set up, put lines out and wait?
Can I reliably catch bait with a cast net or sabiki rig somewhere on the water?
Any general tips for them this time of year?
My suggestion would be to attend the upcoming Midlands Striper Club meeting …
The presentation at that meeting is going to be on Summer Downrod Fishing …
Guests are welcome …
The meeting information is as follows:
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Flight Deck of Lexington
The Shoppes at Flight Deck
109-A Old Chapin Rd
Lexington, SC 29072
Call to Order 7:00 p.m. but get there early if you want to eat …
… it’s my Wife’s fault we HAVE to fish !!!
2005 Sea Pro 2100cc / Yamaha 150hp 4-Stroke
One thing you can do also is go to youtube.com and watch Captain Mack Farr’s little series entitled Stripers on Live Bait. He shows a good demonstration of how to do it this time of year. The only difference I noted was his use of swivel sinkers instead of the in-line eggs most of us use. Good info in the videos.
Hope to see you at the meeting on the 11th.
Xpress HB-22
175 Yammy Jammer
I used to work for one of the bigger box stores in the fishing and hunting dept. Whenever anyone in the lake Murray area told me they wanted to learn about striper fishing, other than catching schooling fish or trolling, I always suggested MSC. They have a lot of knowledgable, good, friendly folks in that club (I know several). In my opinion, being a member of their club and attending their programs, will help anyone wanting to learn the different striper fishing techniques. After you learn the basics, then just like bass fishing, it just takes time on the water to get better.
It seems to me that there is usually a very good early morning bite in the summer whether you’re targeting bass, perch or stripers. After that things seem to slow down for me on most days.
When the bass bite slows down I can usually catch a few more by moving to deeper water than most bass fishermen will consider fishing. A lot of times I can fish behind guys, and catch the bass, out deeper than where their boat was sitting. I’ve caught good keeper bass as deep as 43’ in late May. From what I’m hearing they’re almost that deep on Monticello now too. Good luck with the fishing. Spoons and drop shots might be worth trying next time the bite slows down for you.