new here and pretty new to striper fishing

[footballgoody]

I have been fishing for stripers for about a year now but i never have any luck. I must be doing something wrong. I normally downline for them. I dont have a very good fish finder just your low end fish finder. So my question is if im looking to down line for them. Do yall anchor? If so what depth of water should i be anchoring? should i be casting towards the bank or to the middle? Just need some help and all help would be appreciated

[Deleted]

Welcome young man, glad to have you.

The fish are on the move and are gathering up in schools on the lower end of the lake for the spawn. Don't anchor up. move around with your trolling motor. What ever depth your fish finder shows the fish, lower your bait to them. If you are not very experienced at reading your fish finder and can't tell, a good depth to start would be a few lines at 25ft. and a few at 30ft. In front of the dam would be a good place to start. Some scattered bunches of fish in there this past weekend but every day now will make a big difference in the amount of fish that show up on the lower end of the lake. All we need is for the weather to co-operate a little more. You should catch a few fish. Don't get discouraged. Post up a report after your trips. Don't worry about being skunked, we alll do it from time to time. Good luck and be safe.....again, glad to have you aboard.

[mytoyzfishing]

Welcome abourd, what he said

[mytoyzfishing]

Oh and the night time bite seems to still be good right now. Thundersticks and such along the rip rap

[footballgoody]

Thanks for the advice so far. What weight egg sinker should i be using?

[CorneliaGale]

Welcome to the forum, Bent rod had a good post on how to run downlines look back on the posts in live bait. What was wrote above is good info. Sometimes you can run through a bunch and the rod tips will be going crazy from the bait and not get a bite and sometimes all the rods will go down at once. egg sinker size 1 to 2 oz should work unless you get some big shad or a bunch of little ones you might go smaller.

[footballgoody]

Thanks for all the info. I believe weve been doing it right. My dad doesnt care much for live bait fishing but he loves throwing plugs at them. So i wanted to get into live bait fishing now we are into it just havent had much luck. Pretty sure we are going to book a trip with a guide soon. To try and get some hands on knowledge

[footballgoody]

We want to come up and fish on saturday night or sunday morning. With the weather i believe our best bet is going to be Sunday morning

[leeb]

I have always been told that 1 striper for every 3 hours fishing is average. If you are doing better that's awesome and comes with more experience.

Another great way to learn new water or to get started if you are not doing well is invest in a guide. Do you want to spend your time fishing or catching. When I go to a new place on vacation for a week I take my boat but the first day is usually spent in a guides boat. I take what I learn from them and try to duplicate the pattern in different spots. This has always worked well for me and I enjoy my time on the water a lot more.