New Video, New Season, Steam Plant Stripers 29 Pounder !

[SaltySportsmanTV]

Check out this video link below of Merv and I catching Striper at the Steam Plant, I hope you like it! Please be sure to comment on here or the video itself with your feedback thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0447Nrdk-E

[Reel Tune]

Looks like you guys had a pretty good day

[SaltySportsmanTV]

It was a lot of fun out there, no doubt. But FREEZZING to say the least, temp was 7 oF when we got off the water!
Thanks MidTNKayakAngler,

[DPowell]

You need to take that Gaff and throw it in the lake. There is absolutely no reason to Gaff a striper or any other fish that is going to be released. Get some respect for OUR trophy fish!

[XxthejuicexX]

You need to take that Gaff and throw it in the lake. There is absolutely no reason to Gaff a striper or any other fish that is going to be released. Get some respect for OUR trophy fish!


I think that's the actual hook he was using with that 200lb braid and What it I told you he ate it later that night???

[jad2t]

You need to take that Gaff and throw it in the lake. There is absolutely no reason to Gaff a striper or any other fish that is going to be released. Get some respect for OUR trophy fish!

What if he wants to eat it?

[XxthejuicexX]

What if he wants to eat it?


Trophy fish are delicious, so much more meat on them ;)

[SaltySportsmanTV]

You need to take that Gaff and throw it in the lake. There is absolutely no reason to Gaff a striper or any other fish that is going to be released. Get some respect for OUR trophy fish!

I understand your concern for the Stripers that are released... I will have you know that it always is and was "our" last intention on any harm to this fishery. Hints one of the main reasons I make the videos is to promote "respect" fisheries not damage them. As most of the time we use nets, weather we are keeping them or releasing them in this I can speak for Merv and me, as I know we both do this.
Thanks for your concern, all the best..

[SaltySportsmanTV]

I do agree with you though, big or small they all taste fantastic!

[SaltySportsmanTV]

What if he wants to eat it?

Good point, yes even if I'm going to eat it most of the time I net either way it goes. Furthermore, if your keeping it to eat you can gaff it, net it, flip it on deck, Just get it in the cooler!:D
PS. That Striper kept from that day was Delicious!
All the best,

[jad2t]

See, DPowell, it was eaten so there is nothing wrong with using a gaff.

[XxthejuicexX]

PS. That Striper kept from that day was Delicious!
All the best,


Good lord.... now the population is going to crash. Striper extinction event!!

[SaltySportsmanTV]

Goodness... lol that Striper that was gaffed "in the mouth" yes was released, however we do net 99.9 percent of the time.
Not trying to redirect blame or not take ownership for what I did but....
Just curious how about six treble hooks threw the side of the face of a Striper, or any fish for that matter not great for the fish right, but many do it and release them daily.
I can be honest and say gaffing a fish in the mouth is far less damage than most do on a daily basis with these Striper.
Should I have used a net 100% of the time while releasing is in mind, yes probably so, do I believe that I damaged the fishes livelihood, no.
Furthermore, I did keep one that day to eat.. and they are fantastic blackened grilled.

[DPowell]

Can most of you all not read? I said in my comments "released fish". If your going to release a fish you should do everything possible to insure its survival and that goes for all fish. Even to the point if you have to use a net, use a rubber coated one. The nylon nets are like a cheese grader on a fishes slime coat. These are basic facts about proper handling of fish that are intended to be released. I didn't get that from the video though. The Gaff looked and sounded like the standard practice of landing fish. Has far as keeping fish, keep them all and fry them up if that's what you want to do.

[agelesssone]

David, I will give you the courtesy of one reply and then after that, please mind your own business.

It's amazing that you have been a member of this forum for 15 months, made four posts prior to today and the first post you make after all that time is not something enlightening, cordial, informative, or even blase. You have to come on my home forum and basically attack me over something that you PERCEIVE to be. Something that is horrible only in YOUR OPINION and that is not actually based on facts

It's horribly funny that the FIRST AND ONLY fish I have ever gaffed in my life! has caused you such angst.

Too bad. Like was posted earlier in this thread, the gaff was not through any part of the fish's anatomy that would cause it harm, it was released, unharmed, no net touched it's body. If you ever see my boat you will find a rubber coated net is the only net in the boat.

Do I want to stick my hand in the water when it's 7 degrees, even when I have a towel in my back pocket? No.

Will I gaff another rockfish? If I feel like it. Do I eat rockfish? Yes.

Did I take home two rockfish to feed a single mother and her daughter who are my wife's best friend and my daughter's favorite playmate? Yes. And I'm going to do it again, and again, and again.

Do I keep rockfish over ten pounds? No, they are released to grow and give another angler the pleasure of a good fight.

Do a lot of rockfish die, after being caught and released, hours and days later? Yes. It's not the handling techniques that are killing them, it is the exhaustion and stress.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/Default.aspx?tabid=416&IndexId=176

There are more studies that confirm these facts. If you want to preserve the species, quit catching them. Or catch your daily limit and stop fishing.

Why do some people have to catch 5, 10, 15 20 per day, multiple days per week? Is it bloodlust? Does it prove that you are a MAN?

The most proficient anglers do more damage to the fisheries than do us "inept, gaffing, netting with nylon nets, buffoons.

So go on back to your STRIPER SOUP.com forum, tell your buddies that you came to my home forum, and you vilified, castigated and would have castrated me if you could have gotten your hands on me.

I'm sure they will all give you high fives and pat you on the butt.

Have a nice day.

[XxthejuicexX]

Very well put Merv! Good luck tomorrow morning, may you catch many stripers.

[txnative]

I'm a huge catch and release advocate for stripers, as most of you know. What I saw in the video (lip-gaffing a striper) may not be MY preferred landing method, but I saw no problem at all with it. I use Lucid Fish grips, which are similar to a Boga Grip. I'm not entirely convinced there is a difference in terms of harming the fish to the point of delayed mortality. I have had several stripers tear holes in their mouth by thrashing while on the grips, yet they swam off fine (and probably a little pissed at being caught).

All this is needless banter in light of what stripers and other apex predators do to themselves. Stripers don't just eat soft-rayed baitfish, there are bluegill, crappie, bass, etc thrown in the mix. Those prey fish have spines, lots of them. Feeding alone will cause far more soft-tissue damage to a striper's mouth than being lip-gaffed once or twice during its' lifetime.

It may look hard on the fish to be lip-gaffed, but what is the difference between that or having someone jerk a large hook thru it's' jaw and pull it in with a lot of thrashing mixed in ? There is more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to land a striper.


Chris Bryant

[tsuggs]

sometimes i throw a 9 1/2 in crappie 10ft in the air because I'm pissed heez not 10in.Then I pee in the water to release my favorite fish attractor.:D

[Fishaholic]

WOW! Its amazing how you can't even post a video of an awesome day of fishing without some immature hater getting bent out of shape.....This is a fishing forum isn't it?

[XxthejuicexX]

sometimes i throw a 9 1/2 in crappie 10ft in the air because I'm pissed heez not 10in.Then I pee in the water to release my favorite fish attractor.:D


9 1/2, those are "keepers". I have a special livewell for those fish. :o

[tsuggs]

stomp on it juice,ole chickasaw indian trick!!!

[jad2t]

9 1/2, those are "keepers". I have a special livewell for those fish. :o

Only if you're Laotian :D

[XxthejuicexX]

Only if you're Laotian :D


Hmm, no need for that Jimmy! :)

[jad2t]

Only if you're Laotian :D

Before anyone flies off the handle at me for this comment, it's a joke in reference to another thread in which Laotian poaching is discussed.

[TNBronzeback]

Im sorry to inform you all of bad news, but you are all fighting and releasing fish the completely wrong way. Take a page out of my playbook if you will indulge me:
1) find a good striper spot
2) take medium action bass gear, 12lb test mono TOPS! (how strong can the fish be ya think to yourself)
3) buy brand new/expensive top water baits to go after the big boys
4) entice a topwater smash for the ages
5) keep drag either too lose or too tight (this isnt as vital a step, just varies on individual preference if you want to lose alot of line, or very little)
6) smile and laugh while fighting said fish (cause its going to be over soon)
7) cringe as you feel your line rub against all the branches/rocks along the canal bank
8) Throw you hands up in the air and look around in total amazement/confusion as the fish broke your line with ease and swam off with your brand new $15 topwater plug.

Now THAT fellas is how you properly fight and release stripers. no long & exhausting fights, no stressing of the fish, no netting, no cradles, no gafs, boga's....none of that. You let the fish tell you when he is done fighting. Plus ya dont get covered in all that icky slime and smell.
Geeze, dont you guys feel foolish.

Note: the above was from my very very first striper encounter at the Kingston Steamplant about 16 years ago on a frigid december night. didnt even know what they were until i moved down here from michigan, i thought they were strictly a saltwater fish. LOL.

[XxthejuicexX]

Im sorry to inform you all of bad news, but you are all fighting and releasing fish the completely wrong way. Take a page out of my playbook if you will indulge me:
1) find a good striper spot
2) take medium action bass gear, 12lb test mono TOPS! (how strong can the fish be ya think to yourself)
3) buy brand new/expensive top water baits to go after the big boys
4) entice a topwater smash for the ages
5) keep drag either too lose or too tight (this isnt as vital a step, just varies on individual preference if you want to lose alot of line, or very little)
6) smile and laugh while fighting said fish (cause its going to be over soon)
7) cringe as you feel your line rub against all the branches/rocks along the canal bank
8) Throw you hands up in the air and look around in total amazement/confusion as the fish broke your line with ease and swam off with your brand new $15 topwater plug.

Now THAT fellas is how you properly fight and release stripers. no long & exhausting fights, no stressing of the fish, no netting, no cradles, no gafs, boga's....none of that. You let the fish tell you when he is done fighting. Plus ya dont get covered in all that icky slime and smell.
Geeze, dont you guys feel foolish.

Note: the above was from my very very first striper encounter at the Kingston Steamplant about 16 years ago on a frigid december night. didnt even know what they were until i moved down here from michigan, i thought they were strictly a saltwater fish. LOL.


Love it!

[agelesssone]

Thanks for the input guys and seeing the OTHER (my) side of this topic.
Over at Stripe Soup.com, they seem to try to one up each other
On their catch and release shit.
They pretty much think I'm scum over there because of that picture and they think I'm full of BS when I told them about Harry and Roger catching 35 rockfish that day it was so cold.
I only saw them catch 9 rockfish but that was between 2 and 5 PM. They were there before daylight so I have no doubt they did it.
Anyway, I hope David Powell keeps his hater remarks about me over on the Soup.
I really don't need him bad mouthing me over here too.

[Headhunter]

Nothing in this world wrong with gaffing a fish in the mouth. Sorry Dpowell, you are wrong, when they flop on with boga grips, they can make the exact same hole in the mouth them as a gaff would. One thing I have heard that damages larger fish, is holding them up by their mouth only. Not sure why, but I have heard it is hard on their internal organs.

I will say if you are going to release them, "hugging" them is probably not a good thing to do. I try to not take mine out of the water unless I weigh them and now I feel bad about that because holding a larger fish, as I said above, by just the mouth may not be a good thing.

[SalmonDaze]

Fillet and Release.
Any questions?



You're doing it right Ageless.

[XxthejuicexX]

Fillet and Release.
Any questions?



You're doing it right Ageless.


They don't swim to well after that. Make sure you hold on to the tail and try to revive them first.

[agelesssone]

To respond directly to TNBronzeback......there seems to be a fella that fished next to me this morning who learned to fish for rockies from your first experience.
Uses 10 lb mono, but throws flukes instead of expensive top water baits, ties into three fish this morning, one spooled his first reel so there is a fish running loose with 150 yds of 10 lb mono hanging on him/her. The next fish runs off like the last one so he cranks down the drag and the fish snaps the line.
The next fish can't be controlled with the light line so it runs amok, picking up two live bait lines thirty yds off to the side of said fisherman. The fish then goes under the barrier, behind my boat where the line goes over my outboard lower unit. End result is me hand lining a 26 lb striper back to my boat, netting it, (couldn't find my gaff) cutting off the fluke and giving it and the fish back to the fisherman, cutting one live line apart and sending the other live line and hook back to the other fishermen.
And this guy fishes with ten lb mono all the time. When he gets a fish on, people have to stop fishing because his fish run all over the place.

[XxthejuicexX]

Merv, how many fights were almost started by that one fish and guy using 10lb line? Last time I was out two guys wanted to fight because one guy got to close with his trolling motor running. Did you keep the fish you landed by hand?

[agelesssone]

. End result is me hand lining a 26 lb striper back to my boat, netting it, (couldn't find my gaff) cutting off the fluke and giving it and the fish back to the fisherman,

Everybody there was reasonably courteous and polite today.

I got scolded when I suggested to one old guy that if he were to announce "fish on", we could clear our lines out of the water when he couldn't control his 8ish lb fish and it ran side to side right at the barrier.

He informed me that this was not the first fish he had ever caught.

I considered myself properly reprimanded!

[XxthejuicexX]

Glad you learned your lesson Merv.

[agelesssone]

I was rightly humbled....

[SAMBOLIE]

Merv, I have seen thousands of fish caught in various ways. I would have paid to see you hand line that fish in. Better than Bill Dance bloopers.

[agelesssone]

Luckily, for me, it was all played out, had no fight left in him.

I just dragged it up to the boat, netted it and cut the line. He must have played that fish for five minutes or more.

I did weigh it as it looked like the twin to the one I had caught minutes earlier. His weighed 26 and small change and mine weighed 25.

[SaltySportsmanTV]

After it was all said and done...
Thanks Merv with NashvilleFishingGuideS and your reports
Thanks Good OldHickory
Thanks Steam Plant
For the fantastic day of fishing!
Thank you FishingTN.com for offering a fantastic community to share our reports!
:D