nite bite cumberland

[fishincreek]

Creek did you guys blank?????

Boated 3 small ones on topwater baits and lost one decent keeper at the boat.

[apb]

Boated 3 small ones on topwater baits and lost one decent keeper at the boat.

and foolishly let someone else throw a Jt Beaver at stripers using flimsy bass gear. Bet it won't be easy to replace that one Man, you send them to school, teach them to read, and all they do is eat the pages....

Hopefully things will go better tonight seeing as you have a better guide this time

Andrew

[fishincreek]

and foolishly let someone else throw a Jt Beaver at stripers using flimsy bass gear. Bet it won't be easy to replace that one Man, you send them to school, teach them to read, and all they do is eat the pages....

Hopefully things will go better tonight seeing as you have a better guide this time

Andrew

He wanted to catch fish and I allowed him to use a bait that would get the job done. Isn't that what friends are for?

[apb]

He wanted to catch fish and I allowed him to use a bait that would get the job done. Isn't that what friends are for?

Right you are Edward! Course, a good friend would have suggested a little heavier tackle so that he had a chance of landing a striper. I mean, the guy who makes those plugs is somewhat of a slacker, so no telling when more will be made. Besides, he tends to be a stingy ****** so you know how hard it is to pry a plug out of his hands

Andrew

[apb]

Seemed to be bait and stripers up around 2 or so last night. No keepers, but enought to keep us casting for a while. Topwater at first. Closer to dawn we caught them subsurface. Dam end of the lake. Anyone fishing further up lake between Wolf and Conley Bottom seeing bait/fish?

Andrew

[thunderstorm]

I fished Tuesdany night about mid way in Wolfe Ck. Good action between 1-3:30 AM eastern. Only 1 25" fish out of 10 boated. Most were between 20-23, but they sure didn't want to be boated. It will be great in a couple more years.

[Rob1678]

Seemed to be bait and stripers up around 2 or so last night. No keepers, but enought to keep us casting for a while. Topwater at first. Closer to dawn we caught them subsurface. Dam end of the lake. Anyone fishing further up lake between Wolf and Conley Bottom seeing bait/fish?

Andrew

Ok guys... Help a brother out! My son and I braved the rain last night from 1:30-5:00am. Not a bite. Saw 3-4 come up and hit the surface really hard. We put in at the dam and fished our way to the buoys. Marked lots of bait... I think. We threw a Redfin and a rapala husky jerk. Tried slow and steady retrieve! Rip and pause, reel and stop...nuttin'. But the rain was fun...almost comical after a while. Went to several points heading to Indian creek and back into Indian creek and nuttin. Did catch four shad. Guess I was in the bait. What's ur thoughts. Technique, front, rain, lure, area ...where did I go wrong.

[fishincreek]

Ok guys... Help a brother out! My son and I braved the rain last night from 1:30-5:00am. Not a bite. Saw 3-4 come up and hit the surface really hard. We put in at the dam and fished our way to the buoys. Marked lots of bait... I think. We threw a Redfin and a rapala husky jerk. Tried slow and steady retrieve! Rip and pause, reel and stop...nuttin'. But the rain was fun...almost comical after a while. Went to several points heading to Indian creek and back into Indian creek and nuttin. Did catch four shad. Guess I was in the bait. What's ur thoughts. Technique, front, rain, lure, area ...where did I go wrong.

Therein lies the challenge of nighttime striper fishing. A guy can do everything right and still not get fish. I think this week's cold front slowed the bite down. Not as many blow-ups have been heard since then. Find the shad and one would like to believe fish would be with them, but it is not always the case. As the season progresses, the bite gets later (and shorter). Nighttime bite USUALLY is pretty much over by the time water temps get 74-74 degrees. Tips would be is to find calm banks where the shad are working. Toss Long A Bombers, slivers or redfins(or thundersticks) right ON the bank. Sometimes you can be 2-3 feet off the banks and the fish won't hit(go figure). Last 3 trips out we went to banks with LESS shad, yet those shad were right on the bank. We could almost target individual fish. That being said around 4:30-5AM, as the shad numbers lessened and no fish busting the top, my partner boated four off one point on a Long A. Had we not been hanging around waiting for topwater smallmouth we may well have had the boat on the trailer. Even a few shad generally keeps our interest. If the shad are both on and off the bank, try a bucktail or a sliver. Don't be afraid to try other areas, knowing full well you may zero. It can actually be like deerhunting, in the fact that nearly any place can be the right place, but have to be there at the right time. My best spots are those that I gambled in a search for good banks.

[apb]

... What's ur thoughts. Technique, front, rain, lure, area ...where did I go wrong.

Fishincreek gave you a bunch of good info. A few more things to consider. In general, this time of year I do not like rain while striper fishing. A light drizzle, not bad. Heavier and it will often keep the alewifes off the bank and stripers away. Other times of the year, rain can be good. The areas you fished typically produce this time of year. Note that Fishincreek and I had to move around some the other night to get into the fish. Your ears can be your best piece of gear this time of the year. If you are not hearing a good number of alewifes on the bank, you need to move. If you are hearing alewifes, are you also hearing at least an occasional blow up? If not, stripers may not be there, or not there in good numbers. As a double check, through a subsurface bait.

Couple of other things to consider. Boat position can be key. When the stripers are in feeding, I like to paralel the bank, no more than 20 feet off the bank. Keep the trolling motor on a slow pace, continuous, not off and on. Throw casts down the bank keeping the plug in the strike zone for as long as possible. As Fishincreek noted, its gotta land close to the bank. Any further than 2 feet from the bank is a wasted cast. The best cast is the one that lands in the water 1/2 inch from the bank. You would be surprized at how many times you'll land a cast that close and not even get a full turn of the reel handle before you get slammed. Typically, slow and steady retrieve gets it done. Red Fins (jointed 5 inch), jointed Thunder Stick, Bomber long A, Gizz 4, Bucktail are your top lures. If there are two of you in the boat, each try a different lure until you start producing fishing. I.e., one throw surface the other subsurface. I typically have a bucktail, a subsurface plug and a surface plug tied on different rods and will rotate through them until I find what works. Often if I am not hearing stripers blowing up, the subsurface lure produces better.

Andrew

[Duayne]

I would also throw a sliver in the mix as well. The top water baits, slow and steady making a V in the water. Test the retrieve before it gets dark so you'll know what retrieve to use. Baits like the sliver, two or three hard cranks then slow and steady. If the sliver hits bottom, throw a giz 4. when I fish up to a good point, I pull off and throw a buck tail deeper and further off the bank. If I point hop, I'll start off further back with a buck tail, then come in with the shallow baits. As they said, sometimes you can do everything right and not find them feeding Sometime, you can't do anything wrong and nail em good. Once you do, you're hooked. So be careful what you ask for.. LOL

[stripernut]

dont be discouraged....sounds like you were on the right track. stripers are rude and inconsiderate....sometimes they just dont show up.

like andrew said, im just not a big fan of rain at night, i kow some people are going to say the best night they ever had was a rainy night....ok. but more often than not it doesnt help. i'll take a dark dreary day anytime, but i can do wihtout the rainy nights.

i know of 2 boats last night with 2 very good night-time striper hunters in each boat.....they had one keeper between the 2 boats and very very few hits period. so maybe you just happened to be there on a bad night.

i agree with everything thats been suggested above, great advice, the only thing i would add is if you tie on a gizz4 and keep it on and keep throwing it and keep throwing it you will surely catch a striper, or a walleye, or a smallmouth, or a big flathead, i have a hard time throwing anything else anymore, great confidence bait. the same thing applies as the other baits , throw it inches from the bank and slow, slow slow retrieve, just under the surface, donnt set the hook gentle sweep of the rod, its a crankbait and will pull out sometimes.

[Rob1678]

Guys, first of all, thanks so much for the great advice. I really mean it! I am a newby to the striper game. I am usually pulling bait or u-rigs during the daytime. So many things to consider. My boat was about 35 feet out perpendicular and we would cast like old bass fishing techniques. Many times within 2-6 ft from the bank the lures would hit. Scared of getting hung up! There were 2-3 problems right off the bat. I was using a black light with white green and red burning as well. I have looked up the gizz4 and assume it is made by smacktackle. The sliver, not a clue. I did keep one of the shad last night to get a good look at size shape and color. As far as the two boats out that only caught one. I was worried when we got there that an obvious skilled striper hunter was parked on the ramp watching his boat tied up at the dock of the dam and not fishing. I am making this judgement by the tackle and how nice the boat was. Again, Thanks for the info.