also as an add on…I was only on the water for 3 hours but saw at least 5 or 6 dead stripers?? Is this caused by people catching them and then they die from the heat stress?? No other dead fish??
Easily could be from accidental catch and release. I used to see floaters on the freshwater side of Bushy Park in the summer and I myself caught a couple by accident fishing there for bass. Stripers don’t revive well when the water is warm like it is now. I’m fishing Lake Marion now several times a week and haven’t seen any floaters so far.
I was wondering if was just the heat?
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I think it is a little of both. I have fished Moultrie all my life and it seems like I see more floaters in the summer months than in the cooler months. If someone ends up gut hooking one and ripping the hook out, you can pretty much guarentee it will be a floater…
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I think pitviper is on the right track. The summer heat is tough on the stripers, even if they are not stressed by angling. They can bloat and float for several days and if you ride around on a calm day, you may be seeing the results of several days spread over several thousand acres of lake.
I spent the week at the lake this past week, and there were quite a few floaters. The water level was dropping all week, not sure why they were letting so much out, but surface temps were in the mid to upper 90’s.
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is it just coincidence that a few days ago I saw four floaters, all not 200yds from a couple sets of trotlines?
I would think so, but not positive. I see them all over and I also run trotlines. I have never had a striper on a line, but I do have a few straightened hooks, so who knows what I lost.
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