North Georgia: Sodium Free Stipers

North Georgia: Sodium Free Stipers

For many fly anglers, the striped bass is a gamefish that can prove to be both captivating and elusive. Fishermen like myself are often kept up at night with dreams of water erupting with baitfish and glimpses of black stripes over silver bodied fish. The pure adrenaline and chaos that comes with blitzing bass is something almost indescribable with words.

By JOSEPH CLARK

Striped bass have drawn many people to saltwater fly fishing and it’s easy to see why. These fish readily take flies, fight like hell, and are extremely accessible. Every year anglers up and down the east coast of the US wait in anticipation for the striper run. With that being said these fish can be found all across the continental United States.

When it comes to freshwater fly fishing people most often think of trout, bass, panfish, and even carp. What many don’t realize is you can find saltwater gamefish in many of the same places these other fish live!

Introduced in numbers

While striped bass are native to the eastern coast of the US (Maine-Florida) they have been introduced into a number of freshwater environments across the country. As many know, striped bass are andromodus, meaning that they make an annual spawning run into fresh or brackish water rivers to spawn. This is because stripers, like many other fish, need moving water to successfully reproduce.

During this spawning run in 1941, the closing of the Santee-Cooper dams in South Carolina trapped striped bass in the freshwater reservoirs of Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion. It was said that biologists were unaware of the fish spawning in the Cooper river and assumed with the dam’s closing that they would inevitably die off. To their suprise the stripers began to flourish in the freshwater lake. This was the first account of landlocked stripers but they have since been introduced to a number of other lakes and rivers.

Lake Lanier (my home lake) was constructed in the 1950s and shortly thereafter was stocked with striped bass to help control populations of invasive blueback herring. Unlike the Santee-Cooper system of lakes, Lanier is hatchery-supported and has little to no natural reproducing striped bass. This is mostly due to our river systems (Chestatee and Chattahoochee rivers) not having ideal spawning conditions. However, the state of Georgia stocks hundreds of thousands of fingerlings every year to keep the population healthy.

In the Lanier system the average striper is around 8-10 pounds. That being said, there have been fish caught up to 30lbs in recent years and it isn’t very uncommon to catch fish anywhere from 15-20 pounds. With North Georgia’s fairly temperate climate striped bass can be chased year round on the lanier system. While the places and tactics change with the seasons if an angler puts the time and work in they can be successful 12 months out of the year.

Prepare for striper season

Striper season on the lake typically starts around the second or third week of October with the fall bite going up until mid November. It’s this time of year that can offer some tremendous topwater fishing.

As the fall weather cools the water, stripers come out of their summer refuges. Water temperatures start around 75 degrees and by the second week of November are somewhere in the low 60s on the main lake. Fish can typically be found feeding on or near main lake humps and points ranging from 35-15 feet deep or sporadically on the surface. During fall, stripers can be found eating both blueback herring and threadfin shad so having an assortment of baitfish patterns ranging from 3-5 inches is generally best.

“With North Georgia’s fairly temperate climate striped bass can be chased year round on the lanier system”

When fishing the lake I always have intermediate and full sinking fly lines in the boat although during this time of the year keeping a floating line for poppers and ‘’walk the dog’’ style flies provides some really fun fishing. It is worth mentioning even though a school of stripers might seem like they are eating on the surface most of the time the splash you see is just a tail kick. This is where an intermediate fly line shines.

As previously mentioned, stripers generally prefer cooler water temperatures so fish can usually be found feeding vigorously near the surface right at dawn or dusk this time of year. By mid November water temperatures are in the low 60s and stripers begin to settle into their winter patterns. From mid November all through the winter bite, the fish will primarily be feeding on big schools of juvenile threadfin shad. When fish are feeding on small shad like this they get extremely picky.

Striper flies and tactics

Having the right size fly makes all the difference in the world. Flies like Henry Cowen’s Somethin’ Else, Polar Fiber Minnows and closures in smaller sizes tend to yield the most success as the shad can be anywhere from 1-3 inches in size.

At this time of the year Lake Lanier gets its annual visits from gulls and loons. Following and reading birdlife plays a key role to finding wintertime stripers on Lanier. Where there’s birds, there’s usually bait and if there’s bait then stripers are sure to be nearby. With the cooling temperatures large schools of juvenile threadfin will seek shallower warmer water. On my reservoir the northernmost section of the lake is shallowest, this would be opposite for a northern flowing system. Stripers can be found this time of year on or near flats 20-35 feet deep as large schools of threadfin shad will be piled up in these areas schooling by the thousands. While bait is easy to find during the winter, stripers can be somewhat elusive. This time of year birds are often an angler’s best friend. Most fish feeding on or near the surface will be accompanied by either loons or gulls.

“Striped bass can often be found eating spawning baitfish in large numbers”

By mid late december and into january water temps are dipping into the low 50s and upper 40s. While stripers will still feed aggressively during this time, often the search for slightly warmer water proves more successful. The schools of threadfin get extremely uncomfortable with the colder water and will seek warmer water even if it’s only one or two degrees.

Structures like rock or clay banks tend to hold more heat this time of year. Once the surface temperature of the lake gets below 50 degrees, stripers get extremely lethargic. For this reason the month of February is typically slower but fish can still be caught. When mid March hits water temps are usually on the rise again into the mid and upper 50’s. Once again fish will be spread out all over the lake. Main lake and secondary points with some sort of heat retention are generally the best bet. While stripers can still be found in bigger schools near their winter feeding grounds many fish can be caught in small groups or even solitarily on points.

As April rolls around, water temps are now in the low to mid 60’s and stripers will now begin to stage on main lake points near the river channel in anticipation for the spawning run. When this begins, most of the fish will make their way up the river but many fish will seek areas in or around the lake with substantial current to spawn. By May, most stripers will make their way back to the main lake and begin feeding around humps and points once again. This time of year fishes very similarly to the fall with the exception of the shad spawn.

Blueback herring and threadfin shad can be found spawning this time of year on seawalls, clay banks, rock, and other structures. Striped bass can often be found eating spawning baitfish in large numbers along with black bass. Fishing with floating lines and intermediate lines with 3-5 inch baitfish patterns is generally the best this time of year. Stripers can be caught effectively with fly gear until the lake’s surface temperature gets above 75 degrees once again.

“Where there’s birds, there’s usually bait. And if there’s bait then stripers are sure to be nearby”

While targeting river stripers generally has a lower success rate, pulling on a potentially 20 pound fish in small water never gets old. As far as flies for the river I usually throw bigger presentations (5in-8in flies). Although the river does have blueback herring and threadfin shad, stripers on summer vacation will often take advantage of bigger prey items. Examples of this forage would be bluegill, suckers, gizzard shad and in some instances stocked trout.

For flies I mostly throw Game Changer variations but other patterns like beast flies, larger Clousers, Deceivers, and other larger baitfish flies will work.

When choosing sections of river to fish, I’m a firm believer that faster water is your friend. While deeper sections of river might hold more striper they are harder to fool in the slower moving water. Fast moving water adjacent to deeper holding water has granted me the most success. I’ve found that time and time again stripers will sit in the deeper water throughout the day and move into swifter currents to feed during low light periods.

Waterlevels and flows also play a major role in chasing river stripers. When rivers begin to rise and the water gets dingy it gives striped bass a major advantage over their prey. In my particular area summer showers provide these conditions but in other places can be more reliant on dam releases. Some fish will stay in the river year round but once lake temps reach comfortable levels most stripers will make their way back down into the reservoir.

Be versatile

Though tactics for landlocked stripers can differ slightly from their salty brethren, the gear is very similar. As far as rods go, an 8wt setup is a good “do it all” rod. When fishing the lake I always bring two rods. One outfitted with a heavy sinking line (for fish 10-30 feet deep) and a rod with a slow sinking intermediate (for fish 1-4 feet deep).

When fishing the sinking line in the lake it is important to use the countdown method. The countdown method is nothing more than counting down until the sinking line has reached the strike zone.

So with a line that has a sink rate of 6 inches per second you would count down twice the desired depth. Whether I’m fishing with an intermediate line for surface feeding fish or a sinking line, I always retrieve the fly using short strips and frequent pauses.

When chasing striped bass in rivers, I find a heavier rod to be more forgiving. As previously stated I generally throw bigger flies in the river and with that a heavier 9wt or 10wt rod is more applicable. When choosing a reel for landlocked stripers I look for larger arbors and hefty drag systems. Backing capacity is somewhat important but somewhere between 175-250 yards is perfect. For tippet sizes I always use between 16 lb and 20 lb test fluorocarbon.

When fishing the lake around brush or in rivers, I tend to throw 20 lb more frequently to help minimize losing fish in structure. I use 16 pound often in the winter when fish tend to be in more open water. Leader length can vary but a 6 foot or 7 foot leader is plenty. On

intermediate lines a tapered leader is necessary however, when fishing with sinking lines I commonly use a straight piece of leader material with no taper. Flies for freshwater stripers can vary with their environment but as far as lake fishing goes it’s hard to beat a Clouser Minnow.

When fish are feeding on smaller shad Henry Cowens Somethin Else and Polar Fiber minnows tied on size six hooks are my choice. When fishing the river I find myself throwing lots of Game Changers. Not only do they push a ton of water, they also have an amazing serpentine action. Other staple flies would be Lefty’s deceiver, Cowens baitfish, The Coyote, Ep Minnows, Roberts Pop’s Shad, and Popovics’ Surf Candy.

Another piece of essential gear, especially for lake fishing, would have to be a good fish finder. I am a fan of Humminbird due to their Lakemaster Series of charts but anything is better than nothing. With all of that being said the best rods, reels, flies, and electronics are useless without time on the water.