Big striper

[fullmoon]

Went fishing on Lake Martin Alabama with a buddy and a guide April 2. We caught 8 fish that day, mostly 8-10 lbs. It was my turn to grab a rod and I latched hold of this monster. Tipped the scales at 36#s. Caught on 20# test using a large live bait. This one is going on the wall.

 

[robr3004]

Wow....nice stripper...I hooked into a 12 pounder on Kerr Lake in NC back a few years ago....it hit like a ton of bricks and almost took the rod right out of my hands. I could only imagine what a 36 pounder would be like.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

thats a hoss congrats!

 

[Jim]

nice catch!

 

[fish devil]

:twisted: Sweet!!! =D> Thats really big for a lake fish. Up here there getting 40-50lbers but thats in salt/tidal water.

 

[flintcreek]

Nice fish. Catching one like that makes it addictive. Went out with a buddy a little over a week ago on Smith Lake bass fishing. We saw the stripe bass busting on top, so we tied on a couple of red fins and started throwing to them. We ended up with 3 in the 10-15lb range. Lost one after fighting him for 30 minutes. The stripe bite should be good for the next 4 weeks or so early in the morning. If you get the chance try a red fin and crank it slowly so it makes a V on top of the water behind it. The smaller red fin gets more action, but the big red fin seems to get the big fish bite. Again Nice Fish!

Flintcreek =D>

 

[bAcKpAiN]

What a HOSS!!

 

[dyeguy1212]

****! Nicely done!

 

[fullmoon]

Yeah, I know about the redfin. I usually keep one tied on when we are striper fishing. I really like that bait. Big hybrids will hit them, too. I was amazed at the bait we were using. We had some pretty good size gizzard shad on 3 of the 4 flat lines, but we always had one HUGE "redhorse sucker" on all day. I wasn't familiar with this bait fish. I did a little research, and this is a family of fish that live in rivers all over the country. The ones we were using (our guide called them mediums!) were probably 16" long and 1 1/2 lbs! Well, it worked. That's what the monster hit. Also cool, we were up the river in only about 6' water. When this big girl took off it couldn't really dive down, so I could see it's wake as it peeled drag and headed for shallower water. I had previously caught a 26#er a few years ago, but this one was just FAT! A great day on the water for sure.

 

[flintcreek]

Do you know what the lake record is for Martin? The Smith Lake record is somewhere in the low or mid 40 lb. range. I would guess that would be close to the record. Surely will make a nice wall hanger! :mrgreen: Flintcreek

 

[fullmoon]

I think the Lake Martin record is in that range- mid 40's. The new lake record striper for Lake Lanier here in Georgia was caught the same day I caught mine - I believe it was around 46#s or so. Caught by a guy bass fishing with light tackle on a green rubber lizard.

 

[bassboy1]

You ever fish the Lower Etowah?

 

[fullmoon]

No, Bassboy, I have not. I want to explore the upper and lower Etowah. I'm right here in Canton so it's in my backyard. Is it o.k. for a prop driven boat? I see alot of jet drives on jon boats in the upper Etowah-it gets rocky. Are you familiar with the lower section?

 

[bassboy1]

No, Bassboy, I have not. I want to explore the upper and lower Etowah. I'm right here in Canton so it's in my backyard. Is it o.k. for a prop driven boat? I see alot of jet drives on jon boats in the upper Etowah-it gets rocky. Are you familiar with the lower section?

I live about a mile and a half from the put in to the lower section. Prop drives are A-okay when they are generating. When they aren't generating, you don't want a prop drive. I've been out a number of times when they aren't generating in a buddies 1232, with a trolling motor, and my 4 horse Evinrude. In some places, the motor is usable if you are careful, and the trolling motor will get you over the shoals, in others, the trolling motor will get you through the calm water, and wading with a line gets you over the shoals.

When they are generating, the water raises up 4 - 8 feet, so a prop drive boat is fine. I put a deep and wide 14 ft. vee powered by a 40 horse in when they are generating. 3 miles below Allatoona is a smaller (12 or so ft. high) spillway, which is the end of the run for stripers. The nearest put in is on Euharlee road, about a mile off of highway 113 in Cartersville. I don't know the mileage, but it isn't a bad little run up there. I can usually do it in around 10 minutes, when they are pulling water.

You can call 706-334-7213 for a recording of the generation schedule. However, they don't usually update the schedule until the day of during weekdays, or late evening on Friday night for the weekend schedule.

I'm pretty well going to be fishing this section of river almost exclusively this summer, and being that I'm less than 2 miles from the put in, and a student, and thus fairly free in the summer, I'm hoping it will be quite a lot. I'm in the planning process of building a jet rig, but I don't think it will be completed this season.

Let me know if you want to meet up one day. I do fish it with a certain guy quite often, but I usually am free to fish more than him, so any day I have an empty seat, y'all are welcome to it.

 

[Captain Ahab]

very nice catch, congrats!