Fishing For Striped Bass

Fishing For Striped Bass Other Names striper, rockfish, rock, line sides
Striped bass have silvery sides with seven or eight dark horizontal stripes that are not broken. The stripes extend all the way to the tail. The body is more elongated than that of the White Bass, and there are two patches of the on the tongue, rather than one. The striped bass is also a saltwater native that was inadvertently trapped in a freshwater reservoir in South Carolina years ago. Learning that stripers could flourish in fresh water, biologists began stocking them in other impoundments. Striped bass are more temperature sensitive and fishing is usually best for them in winter, spring and early summer. Drifting live bait, trolling deep-running lures or fishing vertically are the most common fishing methods. Also called rock fish or stripers.

The best striper fishing occurs from fall through spring, when fish are actively feeding. Live shad are very effective, particularly below Jim Woodruff Dam on the Apalachicola River. Stripers may weigh up to 60 pounds; use heavy tackle with 3- to 4-oz. weights in high flow areas. Live menhaden, golden shiners, croakers or eels are good choices as bait for Saltwater Stripers. Lures, like rattletraps, that resemble baitfish also produce impressive strikes, including heavy jigs, as well as sinking and floating lures in white, chrome or chartreuse.

The Striper has been widely introduced in numerous lakes, rivers and impoundments. Stripers prefer relatively clear water with a good supply of open-water baitfish. Their preferred water temperature range is 65 to 70 degrees.

Description: The striper is the largest member of the temperate bass family. Body coloration is olive-green to blue-gray on the back with silvery to brassy sides and white on the belly. It is easily recognized by the seven or eight prominent black uninterrupted horizontal stripes along the sides. The stripes are often interrupted or broken and are usually absent on young fish of less than six inches. The striper is longer and sleeker and has a larger head than its close and similar looking relative, the white bass, which rarely exceeds three pounds.

Spawning Habits: The Striper Spawns in March, April and May when water temperatures reach 60 to 68 degrees. Stripers are river spawners that broadcast millions of eggs in the water currents without affording any protection or parental care. During spawning, seven or eight smaller males surround a single, large, female and bump her to swifter currents at the water surface. At ovulation, ripe eggs are discharged and scattered in the water as males release sperm. Fertilized eggs must be carried by river currents until hatching (about 48 hours) to avoid suffocation. Fry and fingerlings spend most of their time in lower rivers and estuaries. Because striped bass eggs must remain suspended in a current until hatching, most Oklahoma impoundments are unsuitable for natural reproduction. Freshwater populations have been maintained by stocking fingerlings, and, despite initial difficulties in hatchery procedures for obtaining females with freely flowing eggs, a modern technique of inducing ovulation with the use of a hormone has been successful.

Feeding Habits: Stripers are voracious feeders and consume any kind of small fish and a variety of invertebrates. Preferred foods for adults mainly consist of gizzard and threadfin shad, golden shiners and minnows. Younger fish prefer to feed on amphipods and mayflies. Very small stripers feed on zooplankton. Like other temperate bass, they move in schools, and all members of the school tend to feed at the same time. Heaviest feeding is in early morning and in evening, but they feed sporadically throughout the day, especially when skies are overcast. Feeding slows when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees but does not stop completely.

Growth: Stripers are fast-growing and long-lived and have reached weights of over 30 pounds in Oklahoma. Sexual maturity occurs at about two years of age for male stripers and at four years of age for females. They can reach a size of 10 to 12 inches the first year.