11/18,24,25/17 Report And Call For Discussion

[choochoo]

11/18- Headed out with pals for the second annual "First Day of Rifle Season" fishing trip. Clear, chilly and calm. Let's call this a Groundhog Day trip. We caught fish last year and well....same people, same lures, same location,,,,and second cast,,,fish on. Several hookups later and we realize we got a pattern. Comedy of errors this day as the trees got a couple and one rolls off the back of the boat on a broken line and plug in its mouth. Our confidence is lifted.

11/24- Myself and C. Miller are on the water at 4:00 AM determined to find out at what time the bite starts. Well, at 26 degrees it doesn't start soon enough! Flip on my underwater green lights and the back of the boat is covered in bait. We are marking stripes, but they are 30-40 feet down. Nothing till the first light is in the sky and here they come. Fishes on. Continue to confirm this is not a fluke. A few stripes hooked and missed, a couple landed. When the sun gets good and awake, the bite stops. Period. Can't even mark a fish. Miller finishes the morning with a 4 pound plus smally.

11/25. Myself and a pal hit the water at 5:00 AM, eliminating one hour of misery we endured the day before. Marking plenty of bait and stripes in the 20-40 foot range. Sky gets a little glow and fishes on! We are getting better now at taking hooked fish to non timbered water and land three. Gets good and light and it's over, not even an arch.

Here's the scoop. We are steady cranking 41/2 inch shad imitation shallow diving plugs in 50 feet of water. This is happening on the same 3 acres of lake everyday. It is flat done by 7:30 AM.

The question for y'all is this. What will catch those deep fish before daylight? I'm enjoying the artificial bite and would love to find something that will work along those lines. Will fluke jigging work in the pitch dark at 30 to 40 feet? The green light is attracting bait, but I didn't see stripes flocking to it. My best marking was with light off. And when it gets daylight, the fish are gone like they went in dens. Can't mark a one. The floor is open.

[smldlv]

Yes, jigging flukes will work, at least it should work! Maybe try jigging Hopkins spoons too. If you can, find out where the schools of bait are moving to when the sun comes up.

[31Airborne]

As important as where the schools of bait are is why they're moving. At 50' it's not gonna be sunlight. Light will have diffused to point where it's not an impediment to fishes' sight (like in the shallows). I'd check the pull/push cycle at the dam. Maybe there's something going on around sun-up (maybe a surge in demand as people wake up??). The slightest change in current can often affect the bite.

Something else worth checking might be the terrain where you're catching fish. Baitfish and stripers are roamers (pelagic). Places like hard channel swings are prime time water for roaming schools of fish. The ledges in a channel swing make a natural trap. If the fish move from one try the next. Same-same for flats or under water structure (like humps).

+1 on flukes and spoons. I'd add the good ol' silver buddy (3/4 oz) as another option. Try a gold one when the water has a lil stain on it.

[ghostcomanche©®]

I concur on the flukes and spoons being jigged. They are good on the deeper fish, 24/7 any time of the year.  You can also cast them, & let them sink to the depth you want, then start your retrieve.

Have caught many stripers "jigging and casting" in the dark.

[noreggo]

I've noticed the exact pattern. Thanksgiving morning and Monday morning. Thursday they cut off as soon as sun appeared. Monday I was able to catch fish till around 8am. Monday was actually my best day ever striper fishing by myself. Caught 6 by 8. broke one off and one came unbuttoned. I'm going to try jigging trees when the bite shuts down this weekend.