Stripers- The Striper fishing is good right now. The best bet for a big fish is early in the morning. Flat lines and planner boards worked in the back of the creeks may surprise you with a trophy. Blue Backs have been producing best for me for the last week or so. Trout and medium shiners are also good. If possible mix it up and use all three. After the sun gets up good, head out to deeper water! Most of the fish that I am marking will be over a 60-80 foot bottom. The fish that want to bite are around 40 feet. I try to put my boat in the wind and start scanning the area that I think will be holding fish. Once I mark a group of fish, I will continue on for a few yards, kill the engine, rig the baits and let the wind work me right back over the fish that were just marked. I am using Blue Backs and small Trout. If I don't mark the fish grouped up with at least 3-5 fish and they are just scattered out, I will pull out the u-rigs and work the area. I am using the Mack Farr heavy nine bait rig. The trick is getting the rig deep enough to trigger a bite. I can't seem to get bit unless the bait is running at least 30 + feet. I am running the rigs out from 140-160 feet behind the boat and keeping the boat speed around 2.8. Work the mouth and mid section of lower end creeks or pockets and coves just off the main river channel out on the main lake.
Bass- Most of the bass we have caught, the last couple of weeks, have been while Striper fishing. We have boated some really nice spots. Two have tipped the scales at close to six pounds! These fish are amazingly healthy and feeding heavily. The fish that have been caught are suspended out over structure over a 40-60 foot bottom. Some have came off of flats and point over a 40+ bottom. Unfortunately, these fish have been caught on live bait but I am sure you can make them bite artificial. I'll be fishing for spots a few days next week but I'll be focusing on water that is warming up. I'll focus on the fish that are up the lake and on clay banks that receive sun all day. Typically these fish can be caught with crawdad colored shad raps, chartreuse grubs on a 1/8 oz jig head and a finesse worm. I'll post another report in a week or so and let you know how it is doing.
Crappie- Nothing much has changed for me on the Crappie. Concentrate on covered docks, up the lake, with 20 feet out off the end. A major key is the dock needs to have structure and plenty of shade. Another pattern is the major bends up in the rivers. These fish are schooled up and easy to catch on small minnows. I have also heard of some good catches coming out of blow downs up in the rivers as well.
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