Fishing is Excellent!

Striper fishing is very good. The morning bite has picked up this week and the fish are biting all day. The challenge has been finding the fish. Several days this week I have found fish in one creek only to go back the next day and there is no sign of a fish. The fish are moving and you have to do the same. The only exception has been six, two and four mile creeks which have been good for a few fish every day. The fish are holding tight to the trees in the south end creeks. Start your search in the creek mouths on the side of the creek channel over trees. The fish are holding at 30 to 60 feet. The summer time pattern is in full force and all of the summer time techniques are working. Down line herring at 30 to 60 feet is working but the fish are easily spooked and it can be difficult staying on them. If you see fish vertical in the water column do not hesitate to fish for the deeper fish. As an example; if the 30 foot fish will not bite drop your baits to 55 feet and fish for the deeper fish. You can also try power reeling for those fish that will just not bite. Drop your bait well below the fish and reel your bait up through the fish. This approach will often trigger a reaction bite and can serve to "fire up" the rest of the fish in the school. Shorten your leader to about three foot when power reeling. You will have a lot less trouble with tangles and knots than with the long leaders. You can also use a 2 oz Captain Mack's bucktail jig tipped with a herring. Downriggers and lead core are both working with Captain Mack's 1oz bucktail jig with a chartreuse or white 4 inch shad body. Leadcore at 7 to 8 colors and a Chartuse shad body has worked best this week. I used Umbrella rigs this week with some success but trying to clip the tree tops with a heavy rig 160 to 180 feet back can be a challenge. Lead core and downriggers are probably your best bet. At our current 80+ degree water temperature catching a striper subjects it to a lot of stress. Consider not taking "another" fish picture and instead release it immediately. Finding fish in trees is a much simpler with the new Lowrance structure scan!