we were out on Kegonsa 7/3 in the morning

some surface feeding , but seeing a lot of bait fish on the graph with mixed other fish in the 5-10 foot depth in 18-24 feet of water

so we break out the planer boards , find some diving lures and trolling at first way too fast , then we figured out how to add enough drag that we got down to 2.7mph and we started getting fish , then with the sun now getting up in the sky everything seemed to go 8-15 down in 20-24 feet of water and we could no longer get down there.

anyone here fish for stripe bass

we actually picked up a striped bass my first ever , a huge blue gill and a nice northern so the fish were down there in these schools of bait fish

we fried up the gill and the stripe bass yesterday , I could eat stripe bass more often and there is no season or limit on them in WI

also doesn't seem many people fish for them

also what is your preferred small planar board I lost one of the 2 we had when the northern hit , we doubled back several times looking for it and never found it so I need a starboard and I didn't care for the design of these.

the ones I had are opti tackle they look to be a rip off of the mini yellow bird design with the ball bearing line closure in the back

also if any of you have made any I would be interested in what they look like

We have some true stripers in the Ohio river as well has hybrids. A few lakes are stocked with true stripers. Don't know if there's a much better fighter or funner freshwater fish to catch than a striper. We catch them mostly on top water or jigs or live bait in the river.

Never have trolled for em.

we used the bucket method for get from 3.6 to 2.7mph

need to work on a harness to put it in the center , she pulls a little to starboard like this

that little boat slides right along at 3.6 in idle

I have to experiment with a larger bucket or drift sock to see if I can get us down to 2.5 or maybe even 2

my dad trolls worm rigs a bunch at 1.5 to 1.7 and they pick up a lot of fish that way

I am a bank fisherman and I don’t target them specifically but catch them as incidentals when I’m fishing in Lake Hopatcong ( New Jersey) in late April early/May each year.

Here’s a couple I caught last month.





I filleted them and took them back to PA with me.



I batter dipped them and served them with some homemade tartar sauce and fries.





Like SNIPERBBB says, they are hard fighters, very exciting to catch.

Lug you got you some hybrids there.

Yeah, white bass/striped bass hybrids.

is this a hybrid or a stripe?




Edit : looking at more pictures it would seem broken strips on closer to the belly indicate hybrid

I know next to nothing about trolling but when we went to lake Eric for walleye on a guided trip we ran planer boards. Seems like to get the lure deeper we just ran more line out from planer board to lure. More line deeper they would go.

All the fish pictured are Wipers, which is a striped bass/white bass hybrid. They grow very quickly and are stocked in even small ponds now. They are sterile. They typically die if released during hot temperatures, so it's best to keep and eat them.

Keith

I hate the term wipers for hybrid stripers.

#1 lure for white bass: sonars

So do I.

I agree it's a bad sounding name for a useful fish. The name sounds fecal related.

Keith

Got an ocean full of stripers here. Have gillnetted them but never caught one on a hook and hope to keep a perfect record!, lol

Guys use wire line or leadcore when trolling to get deep enough, used to use a lot of umbrella rigs this way, but kinda fell out of fashion due to the size limit. Never saw anyone use planing boards, but large diamond jigs will go deep and you can use them on regular line. You can drift over the schools and work the jigs.
Jigs can be used with feathers, plastic thingees, or cut bait.

If you want to go slower, and the surface conditions are calm you can troll in reverse....

It is my understanding that true, non-hybrid striped bass are saltwater fish. Crossing them with white bass produces a hybrid that can live in freshwater. So every striped bass you catch in freshwater is going to be a white bass/striped bass hybrid.

I could be wrong but that is the way I understand it.

I guide for them here on Texoma. We don't have many hybrids, but are one of the few lakes where striper can reproduce. Can't help you with trolling though, the only method I don't use. It is effective, especially a-rigs with swimbaits or bucktails.

That's not true. True stripers can live in freshwater. They just tend to not get as big as their saltwater brethren.

All the fish pictured are wipers? I seriously doubt the DNR stocks wipers in Lake Kegonsa. More than likely a white bass.

Takes salinity and current for striper to reproduce. They can live in any freshwater (that has oxygen), they just cannot reproduce. There are many lakes around the southeast that have striper not hybrids. They were put there by hand. Texoma is the striper capital of America because we produce millions in the wild every year. We have a 10 fish limit with 2 over 20"

True, but 10 to 20 lbers all day is pretty fun for freshwater fishing.