The pattern is getting stronger now for trolling. Our trips are seeing more fish per hour than in previous weeks and overall the numbers have been very good this year. There are loose schools of stripers up further north where most of the fleet of guides have been and there are a lot of singles and double lurking around bait in the thermocline over very deep water, relating to the river channel. The most prevelent baits have been the new Fire Shad Custom Troller and the big shad bodies with 1 ounce and ounce and a half shad head jigs. Here’s some videos of our recent trips:

Well, it’s here. Winter is upon us and the striper bite is picking up after a transitional period. Fish are popping on top and feeding below the surface. This is the time of year stripers work together to feed on the massive schools of bait scattered throughout the lake.
I expect a great winter fishing season for stripers with the water levels way down and dropping. With the levels being down, the stripers will be more concentrated in areas throughout the lake. The bait will be less scattered due to the decline of shoreline and structure for bait to move around in.
My tackle strategy this winter is pretty simple. My winter set-up consists of a minimum of 4 planer boards with an assortment of bait. I will weight and freeline bluebacks, gizzards, threadfin and trout. I’ll freeline the biggest trout and gizzards I can find on ballons or straight out the back at least 100 feet. I’ll also run a small gizzard right behind the boat to swim back and forth, this is called a transom bait and is very effective to pick up a striper or two close to the boat. Sometimes a bait will use the shelter of being around a boat to get away from a hungry striper. Stripers know this and they will not hesitate to come right up to the back of the boat for a quick meal.
I vary the distance of my baits behind my planer boards, but if I’m fishing very shallow water my rule of thumb is the average distance of the bait behind the board is about the same distance as the depth unless I’m using bluebacks as they like to stay near the surface and the don’t usually stray to the bottom like a gizzard or trout. I aways make sure I put out a variety of bait sizes and slowly transition the majority of my baits to what is working the best for me.
I also run 4 downlines with varied baits and various depths. Don’t get stuck on one depth. Your shallower or lighter downline baits should go out the back and your heavier weighted baits in the front of the boat and the depths should be varied until you find a good pattern to stay with.

I’m probably going to have 3 types of artificial tied on. First is some kind of topwater bait. That usually varies acording to what’s laying around the boat. Second is a small bucktail. Winter stripers usually key on the smaller stuff so I use a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce bucktail and thirdly, some kind of jig that I can cast a long way or do some verical jigging. Two years ago we were fishing a big tournament in the middle of winter and ran across a big school of fish. They didn’t hit the downines or planer and freelines so after two passes on the fish I dropped a little verical jig on them and imediately hooked up with a white bass. Dropped back down in them again with the same result. I’m glad I had the little jig tied on or we may have wasted more precious tournament time on those fish. On another occasion my partner broke out a little Flex-it spoon when he saw a few big hybrids surface. As soon as the spoon hit the water one of the big hybrids slammed the jig and that fish won us a top 5 finish 4 years ago in the Striped Bass National Championship landing a 9 pound hybrid with minutes left in the tournament. sometimes a little casting jig can really save the day.

That’s a little bit about my tackle. As far as my fishing strategy, it’s simple in the winter; find the bait and you’ll find the fish. Not every school of bait will hold fish but if you find a creek that has a good concentration of bait, the fish won’t be far away. I like fishing bends in the river if I’m river fishing or fishing a narrow lake in the winter. I also like pulling points and creek channels in the lakes. Sometimes pulling your big baits right down the center of a creek channel will net a big fish. You have to be patient but there’s usually a big striper or two cruising just below the surface or deeper in the channel waiting to greet bait on the way in or out of the creek.

Watch the birds!!! Fast moving groups of gulls headed in one direction and diving or circling gull indicate fish. Loons are a good indicator of bait. Loons are generally working around the lake looking for bait to eat while gulls are more like opportunists sitting around waiting on the fish do the work for them so they can dive in and get a free meal.
Enjoy the winter striper fishing!
Jim

Here is a piece I wrote for one of our local forums concerning trolling leadcore and downriggers:

Gear:
On leadcore I’m using #36 lb test and I’m also using 30-50 feet of 25 lb Big Game clear mono for a leader. I used flouro leaders for the past 2 years and went back to mono leaders. I don’t think the leader type matters much (mono vs flouro). I’ve caught fish on both and don’t see a significant difference in the two. The only difference that makes mono a little better is the fact that mono is tougher than flouro. If I hang a good fish and he takes me to the trees, I’ve got more of a chance of getting the fish out with mono. It has more stretch and is more tolerent to abrasions. When you are using leaders at 30-50 feet at a time, a good mono is far more cost effective than using flouro.

I have one Accu-Depth 57LC and a Okuma Classic Pro for my leadcore reels. I don’t pay much attention to the line counter. I use colors to get the bait where I want it.

For my downrigger reels I use Accu-Depth 47LC’s. I use 30 lb Big Game green line and a 30-50 foot 25 lb Big Game leader. I don’t really use the line counter for the downrigger applications either. I just run it out about 20-40 feet past the leader and hook it up to the ball.

All of my rods are Power Plus Trophy Class 7 footers (med heavy). They are tough and I’ve never had a problem with the rods. They are made for trolling 1/2 ounce to 2 ounce jigs. I’ve also used my Tiger rods for leadcore and downriggers. They work great also, just a little more flex than the Power Pro.

Tactics:
When I’m trolling, I’m looking for active fish on the graph. Over the summer months the thermocline on Lanier usually sets up in July and the top is around 27 to 35 feet. The top is where the bait likes to hang out. They have the safety of being at the edge of the thermocline and they are still getting some oxygen rich water. That’s usually where the action is, right at the top of the thermocline. That’s where the stripers like to feed. Sometimes the stripers work together on a school of bait. A small bunch of stripers will attack the bait sending it scattering and lurker stripers nail the scattering bait from the outskirts of the main bait school. Because of this feeding scenerio, trolling single baits on leadcore and downriggers work well. The single jig looks like a fleeing bait as it goes through the feeding zone.
Right now the most popular feeding zone is 25 to 45 feet on Lanier. When I see fish feeding in the 35-45 depth I want to get my baits down to that area. I set my downrigger weights at 25 and 30-35 feet with a small jig and a larger jig. That’s when I start working the baits up and down. I believe that if you put action on your jigs and get them running up and down in the feeding zone you’re going to catch more fish. I achieve this by slowing, speeding up and turning the boat. Very Important: Keep in mind that you are pulling 275-300 feet of lead filled line. It takes a while for the action you create to get to the jig. You are actually putting waves in the leadcore line and it takes the waves a little while to get out to the jig. Start your action early and often.

Another important topic is baits. I’ve heard a lot of folks say they are running leadcore at the proper depth but not catching the feeding fish. The tackle your using is important. I’ve always said you can catch feeding stripers on a dog turd placed in the right area at the right time, but the dog turd has to be the right shape and size and color. Size matters when trolling. If the fish you are targeting are eating 3-4 inch Threadfin, you’re probably not going to get many running a 7 inch paddletail through the feeding area. That’s why I use different size jigs when trolling. If something is working better, I’ll switch my baits to that size.
At the depths that are being targeted, jig color is less important. I think that color tones are more important. Two tone baits work better for me. Flash is something that always helps in reaction strikes. I use a lot of flash on my jigs to help create a reaction. Sometimes flash helps for lathargic fish. Especially if fishing a group of inactive fish.

Another important tactic I use is marking a school of feeding fish on my graph. As I get over the feeding fish, I’ll lay a mark on my GPS and work that area from different angles. Sometime you won’t get them the first or even the second time through so trying coming from different directions and varying speeds as you go. Very Important: Make sure you keep the baits in line with the fish you marked. I use dead reconing. I usually look at my heading and what’s behind me to stay in line and keep my baits in the right zone. I’ll make left and right turns but always coming back to the imaginary line I made to keep my baits in the right area.

Here are my thoughts on summer mortality. If you put every striper you catch in your cooler those fish have zero chance of survival. One of the reasons I keep the boat moving while catching fish is to keep water flushing through the fishes gills. If you’ve ever Sail or Marlin fished, this same procedure is used to insure the fishes survival. It works and it’s the best chance for the fish to survive. I also slowly turn the boat into the fish to speed up the process of getting the fish to the boat. Almost every fish I catch has a good bit of fight left in him when getting to the boat, and swiftly getting the fish back into the water betters the chance of that fishes survival. If I see a fish swim away strong, I feel better about his chances. I don’t believe that every fish you catch in the summer is doomed to the bottom.

For the past week the u-rig bite on Lanier has been in full swing. I would like to say that I have been a part of this but I am a full time tackle business and full time means full time right now. I haven’t had much time to fish. There have been some members of our Cast Away Baits fishing team that have been out and made me a few videos to tease me while I’m here in the shop making tackle. Here are a couple videos of my Cast Away Pro Staff out there having a ball with the Lanier Blueback pattern. Enjoy.