Stripers On The Prowl

By: Scott Smith

There comes a point in time on all striper lakes when everything is right. The shad are shallow, the water temperature is just right, and the stripers are on the prowl! This is the time of year when there is a chill in the air and the stripers are feeding heavily in anticipation of a long winter. These are exciting times to be on the water after dark. I love the thrill of seeing the sun go down and the moon start to rise. To me, this is striper time. There is nothing more thrilling in the life of a striper fisherman than the thump of a big striper on crank bait at night

My good friend and striper fishing companion, Todd, and I had heard all the stories of huge stripers in 3 feet of water being hooked by bass fisherman after dark. We thought it must be a fluke because stripers are a deep water fish that require special equipment. We had caught stripers on down lines which require heavy line, heavy weights, and lively shad. We would find the stripers on the fish finder then drop our shad down to them. This was a lot of fun. It did require a lot of hunting time for shad and then keeping the shad alive in a live well which can be difficult. We have tried planer boards also. This is a productive way of catching stripers and is thrilling as the planer board takes off when a big striper grabs the bait. These techniques are productive, but none of them seemed to compare to the thought of plugging for stripers at night.

As we were traveling toward our favorite striper fishing lake, I was eagerly reading articles about plugging for stripers at night. We decided to try it. Another technique we wanted to try was bottom fishing. This was going to be the technique that would allow us to rest during the day and still put fish in the boat. It would give us an idea of where the fish were so we could have a better chance at catching them at night. As we were at the ramp preparing the boat for launching, we talked with a guide who was taking his boat out for the rest of the year. We told him what part of the lake we planned to fish and how we were going to fish it. The guide assured us that we would catch fish. We were pumped! We caught our shad and proceeded to find a place to bottom fish. We set our lines, and soon caught our first "bottom fishing" stripers. This just made the thought of catching a striper on crank baits more exciting. We knew there were plenty of stripers in the area. As the sun went down, we slowly reeled in our bottom fishing rods and began preparing them for the nights fishing. We wanted to give the stripers plenty of time to adjust to the darkness. We went to a bank that we now call "striper hollow". After several casts to the bank with a crank bait, I felt a thud. I set the hook hard and the water turned white as the striper exploded in a rage. The striper went crazy thrashing in the shallow water, then ran serious drag as it raced down the bank. I was impressed with the power of the striper as it made several strong runs. I finally got the fish to the boat and Todd slid the net under it. It weighed 14 LB on the hand held scales. While I was unhooking my fish, Todd held up a lure and asked me if I thought it would catch a striper. He had been throwing a buck tail jig with no results. I said, "go ahead and give it a try". He tied on the deep diving crank bait and on the very first cast hooked a big striper. It made several strong runs and tried to get off in a submerged tree. After a few tense moments, I was able to slide the net under a striper that looked nearly identical to the fish I had just caught a few minutes earlier. We were hooked! Night time casting with crank baits has got to be one of the most exciting ways to catch stripers!

Our love for striper fishing, and especially fishing at night, has led us to develop a lure that resembles a gizzard shad more than any other lure on the market today. A big part of our success is having confidence in what we use. The water on the lakes we fish is very clear. This requires a lure that can stand the close scrutiny of a striper both day and night. The lure that we are offering on this web site can pass the test on these clear water stripers and give confidence to fisherman.

Several years have gone by since that first night time crank bait striper trip. Todd and I still eagerly anticipate the time of year when the air gets a chill in it. We still get excited when the shad are shallow, the water temperature is just right, the moon is on the rise and the stripers are on the prowl.