I’m relatively new to this site and very new to the striper section. I’m a student at Clemson w/ a house on lake hartwell. We recently bought a 16’ scout and I was looking to try for some stripers. Problem is, nobody I know ever striper fishes, we msotly stick to bass when freshwater fishing. I have a variety of both freshwater/saltwater rods and tackle. Can some one help me out with the basics as well as good spots around hartwell, I live about 2 miles from Portland Marina. Thanks in advance for the help and I look forward to chatting with ya’ll.
Just read down through the posts below for technique. This time of year the fish are in deeper water. Probably in the main channel by the dam. If you have a fish finder you should be able to locate them. Just fish herring on down lines just above the fish. if you do not have a fish finder try between 20 and 40 ft deep. Either troll very slowly so your lines stay down or drift if you do not have a trolling motor. I use 1.5 oz sinkers on a carolina rig with a 4/0. I am not familiar with Hartwell, but this should hold true there.
My son is also a Clemson Student. He just went back today. He’s in the Band playing drums in the “CUD”. He knows the ropes on stripers and probably will enjoy going with you. Him and his friends wakeboard on Hartwell. Shoot me an e-mail and I’ll give you his cell phone #. My e-mail is Magnawake@netzero.com.
Thanks for the advice fellas. Hopefully I’ll have some time to try my luck once some of this heat subsides. Do stripers tend to dive deeper with the hotter weather? Thanks again.
Yep, they go deep in the middle of the summer. The bait does also. I think thats where the oxygen is. On Murray, 50-80 ft is not uncommon. Spring time is my favorite when the fish hit top water.
Don’t mind helping TIGER’S at all:smiley:
Right now we are catching them in the deep water around the dam in the main channels. Most fish are being caught around 40-50’ deep right now.
The best way is to spool up a couple of reels with 200 yards of leadcore line and top it off with a 30-40 leader. The 1-2 oz roadrunners with a big chartruese or white trailer is the trick and pull them where you mark the fish.
Last week we were using about 10-12 colors(each color is 10 yards) and left the fish biting at 1 pm.
If you have a downrigger that works well also.
Let me know what else you need, I am going Friday and will post a report for my Tiger friends ( I do not want you to get homesick this early).
The last couple of weeks most of the fish I have caught ranged between 7-10lbs
1999 Sea Pro 210cc
Suzuki 225 EFI
Sounds great tprice…always good to meet another tiger fan, can’t wait for a hell of a season. Might try my luck this weekend before football season starts up. I tried last week but got skunked so switched over for a couple bass, nothing to write home about, 1-2 lb. range. I’d LOVE to catch a 10 lb’er on hartwell…the biggest cat I’ve pulled in was around 8 lb. Thanks again for the advice fellas, I’ll post if I get anything.
Getting ready to head out for the am, I will post results when I get back. May look like an “offshore pirate” today. I am planning on using my outriggers so I can run 2 more leadcore lines. I am sure the boys on Hartwell are gonna get a kick out of this:smiley:
1999 Sea Pro 210cc
Suzuki 225 EFI
hey tprice they may laugh now but until youstart catching fish.ibet you won’t be the only one with outriggers out.i use my king fish anchor rig for stripers inthe river.as long as it works.
We only caught 3 on Friday but funny thing about it 2 of the three were on the outrigger lines. It worked pretty well we could run 4 leadcore lines instead of two. We figured it took about 2 extra colors to run it through the outriggers but seemed to work fine.
We did not mark a lot of fish but did see some schooling activity at the surface every now and then but they did not stay up long.
May hit it one more time this friday before we start getting everything ready for deer season.
1999 Sea Pro 210cc
Suzuki 225 EFI