| The Big-Lake Blitz | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 20 2016, 06:42 PM (30 Views) | |
| Ghost Comanche | Mar 20 2016, 06:42 PM Post #1 |
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The Big-Lake Blitz by Keith Pickett @ http://www.americanangler.com/ Fall is the best time to catch freshwater striped bass in big lakes across the South. On one recent November trip, a fly-fishing friend and I landed more than 60 healthy stripers up to 20 pounds. No, not off Montauk or along the Jersey Shore or even Chesapeake Bay. We were in Alabama, casting under perfect—that is, calm and overcast—conditions. But we could have been enjoying the same exciting results under similar conditions in many lakes from Virginia to the Gulf Coast.Although the words fall stripers usually call to mind the saltwater blitzes created by fish migrating along the eastern seaboard from Maine to North Carolina, a small cadre of anglers across the South knows that, as the mercury falls, the freshwater striper fishing in big lakes and impoundments turns on, as well. In fact, throughout the region, fly fishing for freshwater striped bass is at its best from October through December. So while your buddies hit the woods or stay plastered to the couch watching football, head for your nearest striper lake to get in on some inland blitz action. Getting in the Game Of course, you can catch impoundment stripers on flies during the spring and summer, as well. However, the best spring fishing often occurs on swift tailwaters, which require specialized gear and the ability to maneuver in hazardous water. And summertime stripers can be a tough sale for anglers unwilling to either dredge with fast-sinking lines or explore hidden coldwater tributaries for close-combat fish. (I wrote about such tributary tactics in “The Hidden Stripers of Summer,” in the Summer 2006 issue.) Fortunately, the game changes with the advent of the first frost. As surface-water temperatures drop through the 70s and into the 60s, impoundment stripers leave their summer refuges in search of abundant and often-shallow schools of threadfin and gizzard shad, which compose almost all of an adult striper’s diet. Fall’s cooling water moves shad toward the surface and shallow water. And where shad go, stripers follow. Fly anglers must also follow the shad, so a boat is essential for success. There are some places where a shore-bound angler may catch a few fish, but fall and winter stripers are constantly moving. And boat choice is important: You need enough power to cover a lot of water and get to surface-feeding fish while they’re still there. Impoundment stripers, especially in the fall and early winter, are swift predators—mauling a school of shad on the edge of a wide flat, then disappearing, only to blow up on another pod of shad hundreds of yards away. Since you’re running and gunning, some kind of open casting platform is important. I use a modified 18-foot flats boat with a side console and wide, uncluttered casting surfaces.Whatever your boat choice, you need to be in the right place at the right time. Obviously, you need to be on a lake with a fishable striper or hybrid (a sterile cross between white bass and striped bass) population. (See the sidebar on page 76.) Good striper lakes abound throughout the South, as well as in other parts of the country. Every lake has consistently productive areas, and just as a trout angler keys on current seams in his favorite stream, impoundment striper anglers should think in terms of edges, those fertile places where deep water meets shallow. Depending upon a lake’s depth characteristics, productive edges may be extreme or subtle, from dozens of feet to just a few. For example, a good “depth edge” in Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake or Georgia’s Lake Lanier may feature a drop-off of 50 feet or more. Contrast that with more subtle changes on lakes such as Texoma in Texas or Alabama’s Weiss Lake, where a 15-foot-deep creek channel abuts a 3-foot-deep flat. You get the point—focus on edges, especially under less-than-ideal light conditions. Like vampires, good freshwater striper fly anglers hate bright sun, which keeps the fish from coming to the surface. Thus, the best time to cast to shallow edges is morning and evening. On perfect overcast days, however, you can find fish in very shallow water. I’ve had success on South Carolina’s Lake Murray on flats so shallow that the feeding stripers looked like carp enjoying a spawning bacchanalia. At the same time, ideal low-light conditions may trigger all-day surface feeding over deep water. Stripers are indeed a movable feast, with the emphasis on movable. Surface-feeding activity peaks early in the cold-weather season and gradually fades as lake surfaces cool. In my home waters of Alabama and Georgia, good surface action continues through December, and even throughout the winter in warmer years. Farther north and west, peak surface melees occur in a shorter period, often just October and November. Don’t forget that surface feeding can occur in both shallow and deep water. Low light is the common denominator. Birds of a Feather Fortunately, for those of us who love casting to topwater stripers, nature and migration patterns throw us a bone. Beginning in early fall, Southern lakes attract migrating gulls and terns from coastal regions, and these birds make finding stripers easy for anglers. Still, there are nuances. When gulls or terns are wheeling in a raucous funnel, it’s a good time to put a fly somewhere in the neighborhood. Few things are more exhilarating than running a boat toward a cloud of birds over striper-tossed water. You know that a good cast will result in an immediate hookup—if the boat doesn’t spook the fish, if you don’t step on the line during the cast, and if your normally competent 80-foot cast doesn’t dissolve into a tail-looped 30-foot embarrassment. Absent any of the above, strikes under these conditions are as close to a certainty as anything in fly angling. Early in the cold-weather season, bird activity will often reveal visibly feeding fish. Impossibly big swirls, lavender-green dorsal fins, and terrified shad are everywhere. It’s topwater-fly time. Gurglers and Crease Flies in sizes 1/0 through 3/0 are reliable choices. Anything that resembles shad will work, so think white with touches of green, yellow, chartreuse, or lavender.These aren’t timid fish, so start with a quick water-tossing retrieve. If that doesn’t work, experiment with different paces and pauses until you find the strike trigger. Subsurface flies will work well for these rampaging fish, but enjoy the topwater action while you can. Nothing in freshwater takes a surface fly as dramatically as a big striped bass. While conventional weight-forward floating tapers will work, I prefer a floating shooting head with a clear intermediate shooting line. Distance, not accuracy, is the name of the game, and that’s where the shooting head excels. The heavy head also minimizes the need for false casts, getting the fly to the fish much more quickly. Surface activity can be an ephemeral affair, lasting only a few minutes, so your fly needs to be in the strike zone quickly, not waving around in the air. Use a simple leader composed of a 5-foot butt of 40-pound mono connected to 3 feet of 20-pound mono tippet by a triple surgeon’s knot. Then tie on the fly with a nonslip mono loop, and you’re in business. As fall moves toward winter, pay close attention to what is happening below wheeling birds. So long as you are seeing some surface disturbances, surface flies will continue to produce. However, if you are no longer seeing dramatic fish evidence, it’s time to go subsurface. I’ll still keep the floating rig handy, but it’s time to switch lines. Your best bet is an integrated shooting head, and my favorite is Scientific Anglers’ 350-grain Streamer Express Clear Tip, which may be the perfect line for when the fish are feeding from the surface down to less than 10 feet. The long-casting line is equally effective in shallow flats. Again, use a simple leader, just 4 to 5 feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon. Continue to use this line until there are no overt signs of fish below birds. Don’t ignore bird activity even if you see no fish activity. If birds are acting “fishy,” stripers are there. This situation is common after surface temperatures fall into the low 50s or even 40s. If stripers are feeding below 10 feet, the Streamer Express Clear Tip is still effective, but its moderate sink rate requires too much patience. I keep another 9-weight rigged with a faster-sinking version of the Striper Express for late-season fishing. The colder the water, the more frequent and longer you should incorporate pauses or “drops” during the retrieve. In late winter, almost all my strikes come as the fly falls during a pause. Pay attention because some strikes are subtle—just a slight twitch or interruption of the fall rate. Bird activity can be equally subtle. Be especially alert when you see a group of birds sitting on the water. If the birds seem reluctant to move away from your boat as you approach, there are probably stripers nearby. The birds know the fish are there and are just waiting for more active feeding before they take flight. I always make a few exploratory casts under these conditions. It’s also possible that stripers have just surfaced and gone back down before you arrived on scene. I’ve rounded a bend while looking for surface activity, and have suddenly seen sitting birds scattered across a wide area. Inevi-tably, those scenarios lead to hookups. Binoculars take some of the mystery out of such instances. The best striper lakes are large. With thousands of acres to search, it’s nice to extend your range while looking for active birds. Dealing with Sun On sunny days when birds are not indicating any active stripers, you can still catch fish if you’re willing to put in the time and make lots of blind casts. You will, however, increase the odds by focusing on areas with high striper potential. Although they are not structure-oriented like largemouth bass, stripers still tend to hold in certain areas if shad are present. Long lake points that slope into deep river channels are always high-value targets. The entrances to large tributary creeks or bays abutting main lake channels are worth checking. If the water is stained, don’t be reluctant to blind-cast along the edges of shallow flats. Always stay alert for any signs of fish, particularly in shallow water. I have had several bad experiences when I ignored just a surface tremor or two in shallow water—what saltwater anglers call “nervous water”—only to have big stripers suddenly blow up in panic all around my boat. Now, I cast to any hint of shallow striper presence. A good electronic depthfinder is essential for winter striper success when birds aren’t flying. The depthfinder can salvage a tough day. Stripers are easy electronic targets because they are big and tend to “suspend” or school at mid- depths. If you locate them when they are less than 10 feet or so below the boat, they are aware of your presence and will not strike even if they don’t move away. How-ever, you can mark the spot with a floating buoy, leave quietly, and then return after giving the fish a chance to settle down. If you mark fish below 10 or 15 feet, ease away from the area, and make long casts with sinking lines back to the target area. There are, however, times when stripers are absolutely inactive. Fortunately, in a big lake, you can usually find active fish even under marginal light conditions.But what you’re really hoping for is one of those calm, pewter-dark days between winter cold fronts when gulls are squalling striper talk and stripers are mauling shad on the surface. On those days, both life and striper fishing are good. Sidebar 1: The South’s Best Striper (and/or Hybrid) Lakes There are plenty more good striper lakes than those listed here, so check with your local state fisheries department. There are also great lakes in other regions of the country, where these tactics will work, as well. Alabama—Smith Lake, Lake Martin, Weiss Lake, Logan Martin, Lay Lake, and almost every lake in the Coosa River chain. Arkansas—Lake Ouachita, Beaver Lake. Texas—Toledo Bend, Lake Texoma, Lake Whitney, Lake Tawakoni, and Buchanan Lake. Tennessee—Percy Priest Lake, Tim’s Ford Lake, Cherokee Lake, Norris Lake, and Watts Bar Lake. Kentucky—Lake Cumberland (some huge stripers). Georgia—Lake Lanier, West Point Lake, Carters Lake, Allatoona Lake, and Thurmond Lake. South Carolina—Santee Cooper Lakes, Lake Murray, Lake Hartwell, Lake Norman, Lake Gaston. North Carolina—Kerr (Buggs Island) Lake, Lake Norman, Badin Lake, and Lake Tillery, as well as some of the Catawba River impoundments. Virginia—Kerr Lake, Smith Mountain Lake, Leesville Reservoir, and Lake Anna. Florida—Lake Talquin. Florida has an abundance of smaller lakes with good populations of hybrids, or “sunshine bass” for Floridians. Sidebar 2: Tackle and Flies ROD & REEL: A 9-weight rod is perfect for tossing large flies, casting in sometimes-strong winter winds, and handling big fish, but any 7- to 10-weight will do. Any good saltwater-quality fly reel holding 100 yards of 30-pound backing is adequate. Stripers don’t make bonefishlike runs. LINES: Fly line choice is critical. Three line choices will cover every cold- weather striper situation for a 9-weight: —Floating shooting head with .30 diameter intermediate running line for surface flies. I like the RioMax head with Scientific Anglers intermediate running line. —Scientific Anglers 350-grain Streamer Express Clear Tip, ideal for fish from the surface down to 8 to 10 feet. —Scientific Anglers 400-grain Streamer Express for deeper fish. Rio and Teeny offer comparable integrated sinking lines. FLIES: Fly choice for lake stripers is relatively simple because you usually need to imitate only threadfin and gizzard shad. (A third forage species, blueback herring, exists in some Carolina and Georgia lakes.) Thus, white is the base color with green, chartreuse, blue, or lavender on top. Yellow is a good topping when threadfin are the dominant forage. Size, however, can be critical. When stripers are feeding on 2-inch threadfins, they can become size selective. My go-to fly is a white-and-green Flashtail Whistler tied on a 1/0 Eagle Claw 413 jig hook. I like a lot of flash. Other good flies include Gurglers, Crease Flies, Puglisi patterns (great shad mimics), Clousers, Polarfiber patterns, and Deceivers. Other than the Whistler, I don’t think that pattern is as critical as presentation. If stripers are active, and they see a reasonable imitation of a shad moving in a realistic manner, they will strike. |
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3:59 AM Jul 11
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On one recent November trip, a fly-fishing friend and I landed more than 60 healthy stripers up to 20 pounds. No, not off Montauk or along the Jersey Shore or even Chesapeake Bay. We were in Alabama, casting under perfect—that is, calm and overcast—conditions. But we could have been enjoying the same exciting results under similar conditions in many lakes from Virginia to the Gulf Coast.
Fly anglers must also follow the shad, so a boat is essential for success. There are some places where a shore-bound angler may catch a few fish, but fall and winter stripers are constantly moving. And boat choice is important: You need enough power to cover a lot of water and get to surface-feeding fish while they’re still there. Impoundment stripers, especially in the fall and early winter, are swift predators—mauling a school of shad on the edge of a wide flat, then disappearing, only to blow up on another pod of shad hundreds of yards away. Since you’re running and gunning, some kind of open casting platform is important. I use a modified 18-foot flats boat with a side console and wide, uncluttered casting surfaces.
Absent any of the above, strikes under these conditions are as close to a certainty as anything in fly angling. Early in the cold-weather season, bird activity will often reveal visibly feeding fish. Impossibly big swirls, lavender-green dorsal fins, and terrified shad are everywhere. It’s topwater-fly time. Gurglers and Crease Flies in sizes 1/0 through 3/0 are reliable choices. Anything that resembles shad will work, so think white with touches of green, yellow, chartreuse, or lavender.
A good electronic depthfinder is essential for winter striper success when birds aren’t flying. The depthfinder can salvage a tough day. Stripers are easy electronic targets because they are big and tend to “suspend” or school at mid- depths. If you locate them when they are less than 10 feet or so below the boat, they are aware of your presence and will not strike even if they don’t move away. How-ever, you can mark the spot with a floating buoy, leave quietly, and then return after giving the fish a chance to settle down. If you mark fish below 10 or 15 feet, ease away from the area, and make long casts with sinking lines back to the target area. There are, however, times when stripers are absolutely inactive. Fortunately, in a big lake, you can usually find active fish even under marginal light conditions.
FLIES: Fly choice for lake stripers is relatively simple because you usually need to imitate only threadfin and gizzard shad. (A third forage species, blueback herring, exists in some Carolina and Georgia lakes.) Thus, white is the base color with green, chartreuse, blue, or lavender on top. Yellow is a good topping when threadfin are the dominant forage. Size, however, can be critical. When stripers are feeding on 2-inch threadfins, they can become size selective. My go-to fly is a white-and-green Flashtail Whistler tied on a 1/0 Eagle Claw 413 jig hook. I like a lot of flash. Other good flies include Gurglers, Crease Flies, Puglisi patterns (great shad mimics), Clousers, Polarfiber patterns, and Deceivers. Other than the Whistler, I don’t think that pattern is as critical as presentation. If stripers are active, and they see a reasonable imitation of a shad moving in a realistic manner, they will strike.




3:59 AM Jul 11