As I mentioned when I first started this blog, I'd from time to time be giving walkthroughs on fishing techniques and methods. If you're a relatively savvy striper angler who tosses plugs or uses large bait for them, as I too often will, this article may not be of interest to you. This is simply a technique I've devised to deal with the boredom of waiting around for a bite all day with your rod in a rod holder, or from casting lures that are often times ignored. This method can be as action packed and fun as bluegill or trout fishing in the sense that you'll be hooking up every couple of minutes and often times, as soon as your drift rig hits the bottom, which for a beginner can be much more enjoyable. And hey, you'll often be rewarded with some snow white, flaky and mild tasting fillets and collars.
So, where to begin? For those of you who don't know, or who are new to the addictive sport of striper fishing, striped bass, or more commonly known as stripers are an anadromous fish (meaning they migrate from salt to freshwater) that are native to the Eastern Coast of the United States. During the last century to century and a half, stripers were transported by humans to the coast of California, where they now thrive as one of the most sought after gamefish in both the salt and in the rivers. They're apex predators that roam the waters in large schools like a pack of ravenous wolves, hunting for shad, herring, smelt and pretty much anything they can eat. Stripers are opportunistic feeders and won't hesitate to strike at a bluegill, crappie, medium sized trout or even their own kind. That's right! Cannibalism! Being that they're so voracious, they're easy targets for fishermen. Anglers on both coasts toss topwater lures, crankbaits, swimbaits and other plug style lures for them. On the west coast, bait fishing is an extremely common method for targeting them. Bait Fishing involves using large rods, reels and heavy sinkers to get big baits onto the bottom of the water column. But who wants to carry around big bulky rods, 4 oz sinkers and lose tons of terminal tackle to snags and hangups if it can be avoided? I've devised another way to target them, albeit it's a bit strange and simple, but results in the same fish, with less lost gear and more action in trade of dealing with many more non keeper fish such as this little guy.
And when I say many more, I mean a quite literal shit ton of them. Be prepared to land 10-30 shakers per every keeper 18 inch plus fish you'll find.
Now for your gear. You're going to put that heavy casting bait rod away and pull out your bass or trout rod. "But Daniel! You're advising to use 4-6 pound line for a fish that can reach upwards of twenty pounds?"
Damn right you are. Learn to use your drag well, and how to properly fight a large fish on ultralight gear. This involves walking or running with the fish along the banks and sometimes a bit of luck. It's adrenaline pumping and your heart will be pounding when you drag that 24" fish onto shore. I use an 18 dollar Shakespeare rod and a budget Abu Garcia spinning reel spooled with Trilene 6lb mono.
Now for your drift rig. A drift rig in this case is simply a small baitholder hook tied to your mainline with 2 or 3 splitshot weights crimped a foot above your hook. The idea is kind of inspired by drift fishing for salmon as I've seen guys do before. You get your bait to the bottom, but instead of staying in one spot waiting for a fish to come by, your offering drifts downstream with the current, but stays in the strike zone. Simple, cheap and almost foolproof. This is beginner fishing at it's finest.
Now that you've got your rig set up, it's time to add some bait. I like to use anchovies. They're cheap and only need to be cut into 3 chunks. Added, every bait shop on the west coast should carry them. I've tried sardines and other fish like shad, but it's harder to get those to stay on the hook and is a lot messier to cut up. Cut them into 3 pieces like this.
Now that you've got your bait ready, thread a piece onto your hook and weave the hook in and out of the bait to make sure it's secure. Bury the hook shank (that's the long part) into the anchovy to make sure when Mr.Striper bites, he gets the hook point lodged into his mouth. Your final rig should look somewhere along the lines of this.
As for the times and locations to fish, it's really area specific. If you're in California and fish the Sacramento river like I do, try to fish from 5AM to noon and from 5PM-9PM. The best fishing is often on days where there's lots of cloud cover. Stripers will feed all day long if there's enough cloud cover, but on those hot days of midsummer, try to stick to fishing dawn and dusk when the sun isn't directly on the water.
Find yourself a stretch of river and start casting at about a 2 o'clock angle upstream. Depending on the speed of the water, you may need to add more splitshots to keep your rig down along the bottom. Now keep your rod tip up. I mean almost straight up. It's a bit awkward but the idea is that when a striper grabs your line, you want slack in it for him to run with your bait. A high rod tip angle lets the fish run and ou follow him until your rod tip is facing the water. Set the hook by simply pulling slightly in the opposite direction of the fish. Experiment a little but don't let the fish run for too long, or you'll end up with a gut hook fished that swallowed your bait. Cast close to the bank and work your way outwards. Sometimes I'll get big fish holding in a foot or less of water, and sometime all of the fish will be schooled up a little further out. You don't know until you start hooking them. Remember where you hook your first fish and go from there. Some days I'll land nothing but 14 inch to keeper fish and other days you'll be hooking 8 incher after 8 incher. Just find the little ones and start working your way through them until a big one hits.
Always be prepared for a big fish to hit. I started using this method a month ago, and have lost two knowingly large sized fish by not paying attention and being on my phone or expecting another shaker.
So if you've read this terribly long and over examined article, hopefully you can find yourself some fish and have a fun new way to target them. Like I said before, it's really simple and doesn't take too much time to master. So if you have a trout rod and gear, 3 dollars for bait and a river nearby and are looking for some hot summer striper action and quite possibly some amazing table fare fillets, give this technique a shot. I'll be adding some striper recipes soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment