C-land striper report 12/8-9

[Lowerider]

Sorry to hear you did not do so well because I had a great weekend. I was east up by Waitsboro and Burnside. Last Thursday there must have been 500 birds feeding at the surface between the bridge and Waitsboro but by the time I got there they were gone. Saturday I put in late, because of the fog I did other things and started around 3:00. I put in at Burnside went around the island under the bridge and saw a few feeding so I stopped and second cast bam hooked a good size 37” long. I was using a Cumberland Pro skirted spinner with grub tail. Casted a few more times and hooked another about 10 minutes later. They were schooling up in different areas so I tried to use a red fin as I still have not caught one on a red fin no luck though. After about a ½ hr they stopped busting the surface other than a few here and there. I started using medium size shiners and planer boards and caught a few more with in the next two hours and then it was over.

Sunday was a different story all together; again I started late but at about 10:30 I put in at Burnside went under the bridge and caught one in the same spot that was feeding in a small school. There were no birds active they were all sitting on the break wall for Marina so I went over there for a while. I marked a lot of fish but could not get a bite with the bait down at 20 and 30 ft. The birds picked up and moved at about 12:00 so I gave them time to scope things out and ½ hr later I went to find them. Went past Waitsboro around the bend and there were the birds feeding in the middle of the lake. Threw a new top water bait X-Rap 13 and two casts in to it I had a fish on nice size as well 34-36”. The schools were only feeding for about 5 minutes every 10-15 minutes but each time I caught one on first or second cast. They did this on and off for 2 hrs and the last time they stayed up for about 15 minutes. All in all I caught 13 fish by myself in about 3 hrs all over 20 lbs on top water. I even caught a huge hybrid that if I would have known the state record was only 20.2 lbs I believe I could have had it. I let it go with the rest and only have a picture to prove it on my camera phone.

WOW!!!

I've never caught 13 fish over 20 pounds total (in the lake) casting artificals even after several years of spring time night casting so beleive me when I say you had an incredible day! I'm even more amazed by the location and time of year. I may have to "re-think" the north end of the lake which is traditionally known to be hot in the spring but not fall/winter. Nice job.

[JUSTINHALL]

I had been driving down to Beaver Creek and putting in but once I tried it up on this end they were hitting, so no need to drive 1 hr when I can drive 5 minutes. So far I have had good luck catching them on this end I dont know if it will change or not with weather but hopefully not, we will see tomorrow.
1 week ago I was trying to troll for walleyes with small crank baits and no walleye but as soon as it started raining the stripers were hamering the bait like crazy. No real big ones but alot of them they seemed to be chasing the bait but not takeing. I went to turn around once and when the line went loose one slammed it. After that i would troll and about every 5 minutes I would pop it in N and 2 out of 5 times a striper would smack it as soon as I popped in N but if not I just pop it back in Forward.
When I used to troll for walleye in Detroit river at night this would happen all night with white bass. As soon as someone would snag or catch a walley we would throw it in N and almost always bam a white bass would hit the lure but very rarely did they hit while in motion.

[fishincreek]

Thanks for the great reports guys!

[apb]

Definitely sounds like some good action. I fished the night bite Saturday. Main lake looked tea colored, so headed back in the creeks. Caught one about 3/4 the way back on a crank soon after dark. Right around keeper size. One other hit a few minutes after that. That was it for me.

Justin, yeah, the other guys are right. There are no Hybrids in Cumberland. Stripers will often have broken lines.

Andrew

[deedman]

do white bass and stripers not cross breed naturally? hybrids arn't stocked, but is it possible that there are some occuring naturally???

matt