OH/Steam Plant

[Jdkxtreme]

Originally Posted by nomad60

Ha, so I'm not the only one who hasn't caught a striper yet? I would say let's have a friendly wager on who gets theirs first but with my dubious track record, I know better. Good luck, hope you get one soon!

I plan on giving it a go Friday evening again.

[txnative]

Originally Posted by agelesssone

Pretty sure it was a hook. And where were they catching them? In the mouth....

Yep. The exception is skippies...I tend to catch them in the tail, in the sides, in the belly, etc. no species of fish shows up foul hooked on my lures more than the TN tarpon.


Chris Bryant

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by txnative

Yep. The exception is skippies...I tend to catch them in the tail, in the sides, in the belly, etc. no species of fish shows up foul hooked on my lures more than the TN tarpon.


Chris Bryant

The one I caught sunday was in his gill plate from the backside. Better him than me.

[Jim]

I'll bite

There is no big secret to good baits for striper. Bottom line - if it is or looks like a shad then it will probably work.

Live bait is an excellent choice. Live shad and skipjack are great but minnows, sunfish, tilipia or any small fish will work.

Cutbait - good also and again any fish works with shad and skipjack being the typical choice

For lures, any shad imitating lure in white or silver with a bit of chartreuse or red is great. I have never really needed any other colors, but I am sure other colors will work. Pick lures that are a size bigger than typical bass lures as they are easier to cast far and stripers like big baits.

Jigs- Hair or plastic usually 4 to 6 inches long. Can be curly-tailed or paddle tail as they both work. The old standard sassy shad is a great lure as are the newer swimbaits. Jigs work well because you can fish them shallow or deep and they cast a long way.

Surfacebaits - Big zara spooks and and wakebaits are really good. Rattletraps are killer sometimes.

Spoons - There are great for long casting and deep jigging. Various sizes and shapes to play with but most work.

The Alabama rig - It was originally a striper lure and still works today. Just use white or chartreuse jigs and it should be great.

As for catching stripers, dawn and dusk are great times, but they will feed all day and night some days if you are lucky. Try to be quiet and make long casts as they can spook pretty easily. If you see them busting bait on the surface almost any bait will get a hit if you are fast and get it in front of them.

When in doubt, a 4 to 7 inch live shad is almost a sure thing.

Med-heavy bass tackle is fine for most fishing. I catch plenty on 6lb test spinning rigs, but you may have to chase some of the bigger fish.

These recommendation are for the typical schoolie stripers (3 to 15 lbs) if you want to go for the giant fish, you will need to heavier tackle with bigger baits and some changes to your fishing patterns, but you may luck into a big fish with the above lures.

With all of that said, my number one lure for stiper fishing has to be a 1oz white and chartreuse hair jig with a 5 inch paddletail swimbait as a trailer. It works below dams in the summer and at the steam plant in the winter and in the more secret spring and fall hotspots.

Good luck,
Jim

[nomad60]

Honestly, I have never seen anything that looked like striper busting shad around here...maybe I need to fish below Cheatham dam where there's more current, I don't know.

Around here, I've seen folks catch LM & spotted bass, white bass, crappie, bluegill, drum, catfish, sauger, skipjack etc but never striper or hybrids.

Now having said that...about 4 weeks ago I was fishing the rock walls, throwing a blade-runner spintrix jighead with a 6" swimbait in about 20 feet of water and something took about half the line off my reel before breaking off. It felt like I had snagged a submarine so I figured I had either hooked into a large striper or a big catfish. Or, an actual submarine LOL.

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by nomad60

Honestly, I have never seen anything that looked like striper busting shad around here..

You will definitely know once you see it and never forget. Imagine bowling balls falling into the water off in the distance and shad doing their best Jesus impersonation walking on water to get away. Some don't make it very far....

[nomad60]

I'm starting to wonder if they even make it down river this far. I have been told that every now and then folks will catch the smaller ones near shore but I've never seen it. Maybe I should get and learn how to use a cast net so I can catch some live shad, and then put one on a hook and just float along the river channel.

One of these days, Alice, one of these days!!!!

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by Jdkxtreme

Would anyone be willing to share ( in a PM ) what your catching the striper on? I'm looking for my first one. Thank you

Live skipjack are great catch with small Jigs or Trout and Crappie magnets. Sabiki rigs too. If you can catch bigger threadfin shad with the Castnet that's good too. Threadfin I like to use a three way swivel with a bell sinker and skipjack I like to use Carolina rig with about a half ounce weight both set up with circle hooks. Use larger hook for skipjack smaller for threadfin. Hook through nostrils. Make sure you check your bait to make sure it's always lively. Largest one that's been in my boat at steam plant is 36 pounds on a skipjack.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jim]

Originally Posted by nomad60

I'm starting to wonder if they even make it down river this far. I have been told that every now and then folks will catch the smaller ones near shore but I've never seen it. Maybe I should get and learn how to use a cast net so I can catch some live shad, and then put one on a hook and just float along the river channel.

One of these days, Alice, one of these days!!!!

I have never fished down near Clarksville on the Cumberland River, but I just looked at a map and if I was looking for stripers I would focus under the HWY 13/48 Bridge on the bluff side and the bluffs near the mouth of the Red River. Use your depthfinder and go along the outside bend bluffs and look for rockpiles at the base of the bluffs near the deepest areas. You will probably see big hooks (fish) on your depthfinder in the bottom 1/3 of the water column and these could be striper, big cats, big carp, paddlefish or big gar. You have to fish them to figure it out, but if you get big cats then big stripers will be in those areas at some point during the year. If I was guessing I would say your area kind of looks like a fall spot, but that is a guess. Stripers are tough as the move a lot, but once you figure out when they are in the area, it is pretty easy to find the good spots.

It is really random to catch a striper if you focus your fishing effort on Largemouth bass. They are not really in the same areas or doing the same thing most of the time. If you focus on big cats, you are much more likely to run into stripers.

Hope that helps and good luck,
Jim

[MNfisher]

Originally Posted by nomad60

Now having said that...about 4 weeks ago I was fishing the rock walls, throwing a blade-runner spintrix jighead with a 6" swimbait in about 20 feet of water and something took about half the line off my reel before breaking off. It felt like I had snagged a submarine so I figured I had either hooked into a large striper or a big catfish. Or, an actual submarine LOL.

Sounds exactly like you hooked a big striper!

[jad2t]

I'm planning to go tomorrow morning and don't fish this area much so I need some advice from the more frequent visitors. I know we have some rain and wind coming tonight through very early tomorrow AM (before I'll be there I hope) and then it should clear up by 6am. Does this canal tend to get really muddy after a rain? I don't want to fish in water that looks like coffee with cream. And who puts cream in their coffee anyway? Man up and drink it black

[Reel Tune]

The canal doesn't muddy, but the flat does. You cannot fish the canal though unless you cross the barricade. The river will get swift, and a lot of debris could be in the channel. I've been out there a few times wondering if I would have the strength to paddle back up river to the takeout, so keep an eye on the river levels with all the rain and snow we've had. This all runs down from east Tennessee, and Virginia. So even if we haven't had a lot of rain here, rain in the plateau can affect the flows.

[XxthejuicexX]

Originally Posted by jad2t

who puts cream in their coffee anyway? Man up and drink it black

That's the only way to do it. If my grandfather does not fish with me in the morning and my wife does not throw a fit I will see you guys at the steam plant.

[txnative]

The water shouldn't be too bad. The stripers have been fairly consistent regardless of water clarity, but they will slow down a bit in murky water. I'm sure they are still there and feeding, but fishing suffers due to the lower visibility.


Chris Bryant

PS: I drink coffee with sugar AND cream...y'all can talk about my manliness from the couch while I slay stripers in weather that's kept everyone else at home

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by MidTNKayakAngler

The canal doesn't muddy, but the flat does. You cannot fish the canal though unless you cross the barricade. The river will get swift, and a lot of debris could be in the channel. I've been out there a few times wondering if I would have the strength to paddle back up river to the takeout, so keep an eye on the river levels with all the rain and snow we've had. This all runs down from east Tennessee, and Virginia. So even if we haven't had a lot of rain here, rain in the plateau can affect the flows.

Thanks for that. Is there any available data online to show flow so I can determine if it's safe? I'd be really disappointed to drive an hour out there and see fast moving, dirty water full of logs.