Striper bass??

[Red Possum Strangler]

Striper bass fishing is  pretty popular here on Lake Murray but I don't hear too much about it on bass boards. Do many of you striper fish?

[Gatorbassman]

I only fish for them when they are schooling hear on Clarks Hill. I always have a jighead and grub close at hand.

[SDoolittle]

Most of the stripers I've caught have been by accident. They are a lot of fun though and Lake Murray is supposed to be a great striper lake.

[Red Possum Strangler]

They have been good for getting my kids very in to fishing mainly because of the success we usually have.  I just don't understand why LM bass fishermen don't care for them.  I may have answered my own question....because they're not Large Mouth Bass.

[SimonSays]

lI fish for them when they do their run, fall/winter, hoping for a 25+ incher this year!

They fight pretty hard also like smallmouth without the acrobatics

[Micro]

They have been good for getting my kids very in to fishing mainly because of the success we usually have. I just don't understand why LM bass fishermen don't care for them. I may have answered my own question....because they're not Large Mouth Bass.

Not me, I love them.  I usually pick up a few every year in the tidal creeks while LMB fishing.  Nothing like a big schoolie on a medium action rod and Bomber Model A.

[macmaster761]

theres nothing like the atlantic striper, things put the largemouth to shame

[=Matt 5.0=]

Nothing quite like wading out to a rock, and standing up to your behind in the Atlantic.  8-)

[Crabcakes]

Matt's got the right idea. For me surf fishing is far and away the most gratifying way to catch a striper.

That's a nice UPS colored popper.

I also have fun fishing for them in Chesapeake bay with light tackle in the summer.

[A-Jay]

"Nothing quite like wading out to a rock, and standing up to your behind in the Atlantic. 8-)"

Man - you are making me long for days gone by . . . . .

A-Jay

[BassFishingMachine]

Im not one of them fisherman who strictly fish for one species of fish. I'll fish for anything I get the opportunity to fish for, be it weakfish, fluke, winter flounder, blackfish, kingfish, striper, trout, crappie, you name it...

Striper are a very fun fish to catch but they're typically a fish that gives you a good challenge on catching, especially when your stuck to the shore like I am. I prefer using artificials, but you can use clams on a high low rig, or on a standard fluke style rig just with a size 4/0 5/0 bait hook. Best bet if your going to use clams is buy some "clam wrap" which your probably wondering what that is, just go to a small tackleshop and theyll explain everything to you. You can also use cut bunker, or live eels, but like I said I prefer artificials.

For artificials I recommend a few lures which you can pretty much always have faith in.

First would be a "School bus" pattern bomber (aka yellow baby striper), this is the plug I am referring to http://www.saltwateredge.com/BOM05.html.

Secondly you'd want an all black bomber, same type of lure as the one above, but in all black obviously.

Third lure I'd recommend would be a tsunami swimshad in either the 4 or 5inch size (can't go wrong with pearl spot) http://www.biminibayoutfitters.com/images/tsunami/swim_shad_07.jpg.

The 4th lure I'd recommend is a krocodile in silver size 2oz http://www.eburch.biz/lj_krocodilespoon.jpg. This lure is great for bluefish, so if the blues come in you have a great lure to throw at them that they won't be able to tear or chip up like they would a bomber/swimshad, plus it also has been known to do quite well on striper too, so its like killing 2 birds with one stone. I'd really recommend for you to buy a wire leader if your throwing this lure into a bluefish blitz, because blues tend to bite your leader clean off, which they can't a wire leader.

Finally, the 5th lure I'd recommend would be some type of topwater popper. This is because if the striper are busting on bunker on the surface (aka blitzing), a topwater popper is the perfect lure in this scenario. Two lures I strongly recommend for topwaters would be either a Gibbs little neck popper in white or yellow/white (http://www.stripersonline.net/cart/images/gibb_polaris.JPG), or a Gibbs Pencil Popper in white or yellow/white (http://www.saltwateredge.com/Pencil-Poppers-Gibbs.html). Be warned, these 2 lures are quite expensive, (17-22$) but they work great, even when a blitz I'snt occuring. If you choose to go the cheap route theres nothing wrong with that, then I'd recommend a Striper Swiper in blue/white or red/white(http://www.4fishin.com/Atomstriper.jpg), or some brand of plastic poppers, such as yozuri or tsunami.

There are many other sorts of lures, including soft baits that will work well on striper, these are just a few basic proven effective plugs (if you want to know more lures that will work, just send me a PM). Also, let me advise you, the only striper experience I have is fishing from the surf, so if your fishing in a lake or bay I cannot honestly say these are your best bet lures for catching the striper in those specific bodies of water, but I can say if your planning to fish from the surf, these are the lures that have been known to get er done .

[BassFishingMachine]

After reading my response to your question, I have realized I did not give all the info I wished to give, even though my response does seem like more then enough information..let me explain. I commonly read responses to my questions where guys will recommend certain plugs/softbaits but thats all they'll do, just give a name of a plug. Now thats great and all, but if I go out and purchase this lure how effective can I truly be with it, if I am clueless on how to fish it. So, I will now explain the common and proven effective ways on fishing the plugs I've recommended.

The first and 2nd lure I recommended were bombers. This lure is quite easy to fish. All you have to do, is cast it out, and slowly retrieve it. You can add a slight jerk here and there, but I have most luck with a slow constant retrieve, no pauses, no jerks, just a slow constant retrieve. I really recommend you fish this lure about 2-5feet along the side of the jettis, alot of striper tend to hang out right along side the rocks. You can also just cast it all over the place.. obviously.

The 3rd lure I recommended was a tsunami swimshad, this lure and all other swimshads are fished pretty much the same way. You can either swim it at a slow-steady pace, or you can also experiment and hop/swim it. The fish should tell you what they want. Most of my luck comes retrieving it very slowly as I would a bomber. The advantage to this lure is the hook is on the top of the lure, which makes it kind of snag"less". This means you can fish this lure even closer to the rocks, or even be dareful enough to fish directly over the rocks. Be warned, if you do get snagged on a rock and manage to get the bait free, check the hook for any bends. Alot of the times after snagging on a rock the hook point will bend. Nothing a hook sharpener can't fix.

The fourth lure I discussed was a krocodile, this is another lure that doesn't take much work to fish. Cast it out and bring it in at a slow, medium pace, or fast retrieve. For bluefish I tend to do best with a medium to fast retrieve. For striper I do best with a slow to medium retrieve, but experiment as you will and Im sure you'll find the best retrieve your comfortable with.

The 5th lure mentioned was a topwater, now this lure requires a little more work then the others. A pencil popper is pretty much a walk the dog bait. For this plug you want to stick the handle of the rod into your waist and begin to quickly jerk the rod tip up, try not to reel much, you just want to reel to keep the slack out of the line. The main purpose for this plug is to make it walk the dog while not moving far at all. Once you begin to twitch the rod tip you'll see the action this plug has, remember the best way to fish this plug is not to cover water quickly, but to keep the lure going slowly across the surface while still darting side to side.

One of the other topwaters I talked about was the Gibbs little neck popper, this popper is a bit different to fish then the pencil popper. With this plug you pretty much fish it the same way you would fish a popper for largemouth. You want to cast it out, jerk the rod top 1-3 times, making the popper dart and spit water, after you give these 1-3 jerks let the popper sit for 2-3secs and begin to jerk the popper 1-3 times again followed by another 2-3sec pause and just keep repeating this process until the popper is back to shore. This is also how you would typically fish any other plastic common poppers, such as tsunami's and yozuri's.

Hopefully I gave you a good lesson on the basics of artificial lures and how to work them for stripers while fishing from the surf. Best of luck to you, if you have any more questions feel free to PM me 8-).

[BassFishingMachine]

Oh, how foolish I feel.. :-[. I just read your post a second time RPS, and realized your fishing on a lake for them... Well I can't give you much help there, but atleast now you know how to fish for them if you make any trips to the beach  ;D.

[SlingBlades]

They have been good for getting my kids very in to fishing mainly because of the success we usually have. I just don't understand why LM bass fishermen don't care for them. I may have answered my own question....because they're not Large Mouth Bass.

Not me, I love them. I usually pick up a few every year in the tidal creeks while LMB fishing. Nothing like a big schoolie on a medium action rod and Bomber Model A.

They will absolutely stop, and I do mean stop a crankbait. Then it is on. Doesn't take long to figure out its not a LMB.