Ohio River Stripers

[Tacklebag23]

Nice. Live bait or artifiical?

[SKIPJACK]

I have been hitting a lot of stripers upriver as well. I have noticed that bass are on an upswing since the catfish population has been decimated.

[chuckconder]

When you say up river are you referring to the water above McAlpine Dam? Sorry, I'm a rookie when it comes to the river!

[SKIPJACK]

Yes, I fish the river from Markland dam down to Louisville. I have been finding Stripers the same way you are. I fish for Skipjack at the mouth of creeks and quarries. The Skips push minnows onto sand and gravel bars and feed on them. I use a Sabiki rig for Skips and I have been catching small Stripers and Hybrids in the mix. When I find them I switch up to a large rooster tail or a crank bait. It can be a lot of fun sometimes! I've not caught any big ones yet. and I fish early before the crowds get out on the river, on the weekends.

[mclark202]

I hooked into a few below the McAlpine discharge while trying for Skipjack that took my jig and ran. Couldn't do anything with them with the 6lb outfit I had!

[MadCaster]

Caught one (3 lbs.)the other night on a river rig using live creek chubs. I was fishing for blue cats off the bank in Newport ky. I was tossing my line as close to a restaurant barge as I could, usually its a productive catfishin spot. Numerous hits that weren't catfish, but I don't think I was using the right hooks for stripers. I was using 8/0 circles, any advice on a better hook style/size to target them?

[chuckconder]

Nice. Live bait or artifiical?

All artificial, I'm new to the striper seen, I was looking for skipjack and all the while they were right in front of me...lol This week we found them exploding on baitfish alongside rocks on the river, we threw a jerk bait in the feeding area and that's all it took. My boy and I were fortunate enough to get a double. They weren't the biggest, but we had fun and made a great memory together. It was his first striper ever, all he has been talking about is going back