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

[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.

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

[tsuggs]

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

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by XxthejuicexX

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

Only if you're Laotian

[XxthejuicexX]

Originally Posted by jad2t

Only if you're Laotian

Hmm, no need for that Jimmy!

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by jad2t

Only if you're Laotian

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by SalmonDaze

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.