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I have a question for the striper fisherman. They catch ocean run stripers on cut bait all the time. Does anyone do that around here or tried it at least? I know hybrids and white bass will destroy chicken liver but what about stripers? I assume it would work, but we know what happens when you assume!
It is pretty difficult to keep a piece of FRESH cut bait out long enough for a striper to find it....the drum, cats, gar and turtles get to it first. Ive tried it exhaustively over the years and always the same results....drum, cats, gars and turtles.
However, if you are going to try it, do it in the hottest part of august and september on downrods right next to the bottom in the mouths of the mainlake coves...it does work on the rare occasion.
p.s. frozen has NEVER worked for me
Good luck
Yes it works! I've never tried it in the warmer months because of the issues stripernut just talked about, but when the water cools off it can be very effective. My favorite cut bait is skipjack. Don't be afraid to use a big ole hunk too. My buddy used a piece of skip meat the size of my hand and caught a 25 lb striper. Of course big Gizzards work well too. We find a good spot and put the boat up next to the bank and fan cast around the boat to find the depth the stripers are cruising in. It's a good time to rest up for night plugging, save the trolling motor battery and eat some food. ;)
Like Mean Morone, I have mostly done it in cooler months: winter and early spring. Usually set out a spread of live and cut bait. Gizzard shad work well for cut bait. I use the whole shad. Egg sinker above a swivel, circle hook on a leader below the swivel. Baitcaster reel with clicker on and reel out of gear. Fresh cut bait is best. I hook them, then cut them right before casting them out.
Or you can do what they said....I only fish cumberland 200 days a year, so im just giessing
Thanks for all the advice! I'll let y'all know how it goes!
I'll defer to others for the most part, but have done well with smashed bait fish bottom fishing in the mid November time frame a few times. While it's not "cut" bait it isn't using live bait.
We had no choice but to use cut bait. I remember my buddy catching some nice sized gizzards on our way to the lake one December. Problem was, it took 4 hrs to get there. It was very cold that year and by the time we got on the lake, there was a nice film of ice on the water in the bait tank. Our shad had frozen. Of course we didn't know this until we were on the water. We looked at each other and said, "now what do we do". One of us said something about trying cut bait and that's what we did. To me it's a last resort type of thing, but it will catch you some fish. And as far as Stipernut is concerned, he's forgotten more about stripers than I've learned. I would listen to him. ;)
[QUOTE=Mean Morone;556068]We had no choice but to use cut bait. I remember my buddy catching some nice sized gizzards on our way to the lake one December. Problem was, it took 4 hrs to get there. It was very cold that year and by the time we got on the lake, there was a nice film of ice on the water in the bait tank. Our shad had frozen. Of course we didn't know this until we were on the water. We looked at each other and said, "now what do we do". One of us said something about trying cut bait and that's what we did. To me it's a last resort type of thing, but it will catch you some fish. And as far as Stipernut is concerned, he's forgotten more about stripers than I've learned. I would listen to him. ;)[/QUOTE]
I've caught lots of small stripers, white bass, and hybrids out of rivers before while catfishing. A sure fire way to see if hybrids or whites are in the area is to throw a piece of chicken liver in the water. They attack it like piranha. Just wanted to see if anyone had any luck for striper this way. I'm gonna give it a whirl and see what happens. We have had several fish following lures to the boat but no bites. Figure this might be a way to coax them into hitting.
[QUOTE=Mean Morone;556068]... And as far as Stipernut is concerned, he's forgotten more about stripers than I've learned. I would listen to him. ;)[/QUOTE]
Same here. Different experiences with fishing I guess. Like mean morone, my cut bait fishing was typically a last resort. Though it was useful after being on the lake all night chasing stripers to get a short nap in while waiting for the abu alarm :rolleyes: Did all of my cut bait while pulled up on a red clay bank, same place that I would bottom fish for stripers.
[QUOTE=stripernut1;556003]It is pretty difficult to keep a piece of FRESH cut bait out long enough for a striper to find it....the drum, cats, gar and turtles get to it first. Ive tried it exhaustively over the years and always the same results....drum, cats, gars and turtles.
However, if you are going to try it, do it in the hottest part of august and september on downrods right next to the bottom in the mouths of the mainlake coves...it does work on the rare occasion.
p.s. frozen has NEVER worked for me
Good luck[/QUOTE]
Thanks a bunch. Never thought of it, but now I know what to do with the gizzard and big alewives that die in my bait tank. Rather than dump them, I'll just slit their sides, and make them the deepest down rods when I'm running birds.
:) I never had any luck fishing frozen fish bait. The wrappers always got in the way.