Why are hybrid striped bass so hard to catch? I keep stocking more thinking eventually they will have to compete against each other for food and become easier to catch but so far that has not happened. Does anyone have a sure fire way to catch them on a regular basis or have I just not stocked enough?

Tell me too.

We need George.

George would say...use a fly rod!
Am I right George?

James,
I have found them to be at times super aggressive and hitting basically tinfoil moved across the top of the water, BUT most of the time they are very finicky and spook super easy!

Also I noticed they learn real quick after being caught! In my lakes and ponds, they are real easy to catch the first time, a bit harder the second, and must be a perfectly natural presentation after that.

To be honest though, I am GLAD that they are hard to catch on a consistent basis. That gives some of them a chance to grow big in my lake despite heavy fishing pressure. We had well over 500 anglers in 2008.

Other baits to try that I found work real good are nightcrawlers just sitting on the bottom, chunks of bluegill or shad sitting on the bottom, and chicken livers too. Also you might want to try just free floating a big fathead or shiner without any weight or jig, that is deadly!

Hybrids are hard to catch, but I think the real problem is that most of them die in the hot summer months. I tried three different stockings with the same result, when the water temp. gets close to 90, many die. I gave up and went with largemouth.

James, HSB are the easiest fish to catch from your pond if you do not object to fly fishing, chumming around feeders, and fishing with a fly that matches the hatch…….. James, I taught you how to tie that fly – remember????
This technique drives the “purists” crazy but I’m more into catching than fishing.

Actually a chartreuse Mrs. G’s $Gill is a dynamite fly for big HSB, particular in off-colored water.



I am sure that I have had fish loss when summer water temps gets close to 90 degrees but I have never found any floaters. I have found some half eaten HSB from an otter that seemed to have an appetite for larger fish.
I don’t fish for HSB when water temps exceed 80 degrees and resuscitate stressed fish with O2 live well.

I believe an annual spring stocking “ladder” of one-year-old HSB is necessary to sustain a viable HSB program, insuring an ongoing population of 3-5# HSB.
After all, they are a “put and take” species.

I will be happy the rest of my life to be able to catch several 3# and occasional 4-5# HSB each trip to our ponds, that IMO will outfight a LMB any day of the week.

George I agree that the hsb will outfight any freshwater fish that I have come into contact with so far unless you consider salmon in streams "freshwater". I enjoy having both hsb and lmb in my pond due to their differences in water temperature preferences. It gives me something to fish for in the summer and the winter months. Right now the hsb are fishing very well and the lmb are not.

i can go out to my pond right now and catch them with chicken livers. try it

n8ly very well expresses my experiences with HSB. They are definately not a stupid fish. They, as a general rule, become more wary with each experience from anglers, thus, to catch esp the older fish, it requires more finesse whatever angling methods you are using. We have previously discussed several times on this forum hook shy fish. Reading the old posts may be helpful. I'm convinced that frequent and longer duration periods of angling strengthens their and LMB's negative responses to anglers. I think some of the new HSB stockers even learn from watching or swimming with the older fish.
Use the methods given by n8ly when catching becomes difficult; also use varied angling methods. Keep in mind that George1 is a very experienced and skilled angler. What may seem easy or simple to him or others is not so with novice or even average anglers. A 3-4 lb HSB on a fly rod is a very memorable experience of tug-of-war; every angler should have that thrilling experience.

In addition to picking up some chicken livers while at the supermarket, you might also consider picking up some raw shrimp. Although a little more costly, shrimp works very well for hybrid stripers. Oh yeah, don't get the breaded shrimp!!

Unless you want to catch breaded fish. Might save time if they are caught to eat.