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If these numbers of small Stripers are indeed natural spawn lake fish then we are watching history before our eye's.
And do not think that there are still not 42"-44" fish still being caught :)
I also beleive you will see fishing methods change this year from the past.
Learn and adapt!
I am primarily a bass fisherman, a decent one at times, lol. I also love to fish for the stripers during the night bite and will target them casting early in the year and then in the fall when the jumps start to occur. I have learned most of what I know from Andrew, (apb) and he has been an excellent teacher. I'm getting better and learning more every year. Since the lake has been held at the 680 target there is no doubt the bite has changed. It's not as predictable and is ever changing. The night bite is sporadic and overall not as good as the years prior when the lake was at normal pools in my opinion.
This year has been weird, every time and I mean everytime this spring that I have went bass fishing I have caught stripers. Mostly shorts but quite a few keeper sized from 25 to 27 inches and a little change. One day Andrew and I was bass fishing and we couldn't get the stripes to quit hitting our jerkbaits. I had a 27 inch in the morning with several shorts and later in the day with Andrew I had another 27 inch, a 25 inch and again several shorts. He also had several shorts as well that afternoon. My point is I don't remember ever catching stripes during the daylight hours with bass baits so easily and so frequently as it has been this year. I'm certainly not complaining but it just seems weird, and it sounds as if everyone has been doing the same.........There is no doubt this has been an different year in my opinion.
Just some thoughts:
Big Stripes like cooler water. Threadfin like water warmer than Alewives, but cooler than gizzards. So maybe there's more day time shortie Stripe action is because the threadfins stay up, and thats bass spinner bait depth.
Maybe the threadfins population has exploded in part due to more warm water last year. Maybe thats why we all saw the crazy amount of thredfins in teh back of the creeks. But that was a good thing cause the Stripers found them back there and most folks I heard from had a blast in the shallow water. I know I did.
Maybe with more thread fin, that like to get close to the surface, we'll see even more surface action as this fall arrives. I love jumps, and don't mind a bit catching shorties when they are blowing up. Adrenaline rush!
Lots of you all are more experienced with the lake than me. I agree it seems things are changing. But I like the variety, love the surface bite, love cornering fish back up in a creek, and really don't mind [U][B]NOT[/B][/U] having to chase all over heck and back to try to find stupid alewives at 90 feet, when I can find threadfins at 20 feet with Stripers hot on their heals.
Since threadfin slow down and die off in real cold weather, think about how many big boy Stripers are just going to gourge themselves this fall when the little thredies start to struggle and slowly sink. I bet a bunch of the shorties this year put on a beer gut over the winter:)
Do ya really mind drinking to 12 ouncers, when one 16 ouncers is not available?
Last time I player poker 4 fives, beats 2 tens.
hey bob i like the way you think, BUT one 30 beats 4 fives...hahaha.
[QUOTE=twise7;415007]Just thinking outside the box...has anyone thought that perhaps the reason why you're seeing less and less of the larger sized stripers might be due...in part...to that fact that whenever you catch one of them you put it in your livewell and add to the mortality rate of that particular size of fish? [/QUOTE]
Exactly.
-Rich
I'd like to think something else is going on. Hopefully it is a "lake" thing and we just aren't fishing where the larger fish are right now, so I guess we will know by mid-June. For what it is worth I have seen a heck of a lot less walleyes as well.
[QUOTE=fishincreek;415401]I'd like to think something else is going on. Hopefully it is a "lake" thing and we just aren't fishing where the larger fish are right now, so I guess we will know by mid-June. For what it is worth I have seen a heck of a lot less walleyes as well.[/QUOTE]
I've fished cumberland for over 30 years, and the walleye bite has been the best for me this year, than I have ever seen it. before the heavy rain flooded the lake, I would go to cumberland to striper fish, and the walleye bite was so good, I'd tie on smaller bait and fish for walleye. haven't been back to cumberland after the heavy rain, I've been fishing cherokee lake. haven't caught any walleye their, but have been having a time with the striper and hybrids. :)