Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Catching pellet fed hybrid stripers

Hello,

I have been to a lake/pond that has decent fishing pressure. They have schools of 4-6lbs hybrid stripers that are pellet fed. It is a spring fed, deep and clear lake and the stripers are very hook smart. They will bust the chum but will be very picky when you try to throw your pellet on a small 8/10 size hook. I used clear line 8/10lb test and small hooks but the fish still would swim up to the bait and go the other way. My group managed to catch a few in very hot weather but would be open to suggestions.....

We are going to try in the Spring, maybe in the cooler weather the bite will be more aggressive?

I even bought some stubby steve's for the trip thinking it would be the perfect bait....no luck.

Our tactic was to chum a bit where the schools fed and then throw our bait into the feeding fish.... It worked a couple times but overall seemed to be pretty tough to get them near the hooked pellet.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

If it's legal to do so, a 2"-3" BG fished under a bobber in that chum area should get hammered.

Imitate the pellets as close as you can, including the presentation. Lighter line, flurocarbon, getting the pellet to float like a real pellet, etc.

george1, should have some good advice on this. I think I remember seeing something about how he tries to mimic a pellet for his HSB.

I have heard people tried minnows without much luck, you think the bg would be much better? Thanks for the advice...we might try some 6lb line. We always used clear line because of the clear water but had trouble getting our pellets to stay floating, after 15-20 seconds it seemed the pellets would be floating but maybe inch or half inch under water.....just enough for the stripers to have no interest.

Would you cut the blue gill or just fish them naturally in the feeding freenzy? We did watch the stripers swim after smaller bass trying to feed on the pellets but they wouldn't 'eat' them. Maybe the smaller blue gill theyw ould if they didn't clear out of their feeding area?

First a question – do they just reject the pellet fly or hit the fly so hard the wake pushes the fly away from their mouth?

I have never fished for HSB in clear water but if they are truly hook shy there are a couple of things I would try. Use a fluorocarbon leader to make less visible and to help sink the fly using a heavier hook.
I catch more HSB deep than surface. Use Stubby Steve lure or sometimes Purina AquaMax 600 pellet encased in panty hose and let it sink and I betcha you’ll get a hook-up

If you are a fly fisherman try a ~3 inch Clouser or Spinster in a BG pattern and see If that works – strip it fast and don’t give them a chance to look at it….
They are a blast to catch on a fly rod – good luck!

If you can fish for them with a fly rod, then I think you might have more success.

I'd let the BG swim naturally, to mimic a small BG that was attracted to the food. Smaller BG than what you'd use for a LMB due to the smaller mouth of the HSB.

George- the one's we've caught have all been at the surface while feeding on the chum. From what I saw most would feed but reject the pellet on the hook, they would swim up to it pretty quickly and then dart to the side and not bite. We tried Stubby Steve's with no luck. The only one's we caught were on baited dry/ or semi wet pellets that they ate while feeding on the other pellets nearby. We did fish in very warm weather and while they were eating the chum pellets maybe in the Spring they would be more aggressive and less picky?

I believe this lake is very deep in certain areas, do you think dropping one sinking pellet in the location of the school would work? I believe we did try this but seemed the pellet wouldn't sink that far down but maybe with a split shot we could get it in the strike zone.

Try the PH pellet fly – it will sink with a 12# fluorocarbon leader with a Mustad #6 bait hook whereas the SS has more flotation. You need a flyrod for this technique – split shot makes the pellet sink too fast. Throw out a hand full of pellets and let the HSB begin feeding – cast beyond the feeding fish and strip slowly just enough to keep slack out of leader …. watch your line and set the hook on any movement - you may need to use a 10ft leader with intermediate fly line to get the pellet to sink slowly and deep enough ….. again, I have never fished clear deep water – we don’t have any around here …

If a fly rod not feasible you might try UL tackle with same rig under a small bobber. Good luck – I sure wish I could help in person – sounds like fun to me!!!!

Get them eating LM Aquamax. Then while feeding slip a piece on a hook, cast it out, and they'll hammer it. Done it many times, but in my pond they are very difficult to catch.

The molded minnow lures (storm, creme, etc.) Seem to work.

Couple points off question. They hit hard and will break your line if too light or bad spots so check your line and drag. They reportedly frequently die when caught in hot weather and they are too neat to lose / expensive to replace so we specifically try to avoid catching them in hot weather.

Thanks for the tips and advice....

The stripers seem to be trained to hit the floating pellets, is there a certain fluorocarbon that is really clear and that floats with a small hook? I hadn't noticed if the fish were eating the sinking pellets but they seemed to have no interest in the pellets that were just below the water? I will be using spinning gear, no fly fishing although that option probably would be easier to mimic the floating pellet.

Thought about even painting the gold hooks we used to match the pellets ( light brown ) ? Worth trying? the hooks were mostly covered but it seemed even a small amount showing deterred the fish.

A free swimming BG has always been my choice.

As far as lines, this past year I began using Seaguar Red Label Fluorocarbon and love it. Best fluorocarbon line on the market these days in my opinion. A lot of fluorocarbon lines struggle with knot strength, not this line. Tie onto the hook using a standard Palomar knot and you're set. It is also very abrasion resistant but for the style fishing you are doing, that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I would invest in the highest quality hooks you can find. The break offs that occur when hard hitting fish like HSB take a bait are often from dull hooks which cause more pressure to be put on the line in my opinion. For the style fishing you are looking at, I'd recommend an Octopus style hook in size 8 or 10. Get it from a hook maker that is quality. The hook really is an important part to the set up. I like Owner, VMC or Gamakatsu. The new VMC Fastgrip Octopus is nasty sharp and leads to fast hook sets without the need to jerk the rod and break the line.

I am also a huge fan of noodle rods.Noodle rods came to fame for fisherman chasing after big trout and salmon in clear streams during their spawning runs. It enabled the fisherman to utilize light lines in clear water to increase hook ups but not lose the fish to break offs. I have a few that are in the 9-12' range. The longer rod takes a lot of the shock off of the line. I started using them when using light line for hard hitting American shad that also make reel burning runs similar to HSB. I now use them to utilize light lines when chasing after other hard hitting fishing using ultra-light tackle. People often think of expensive when you think of Noodle rods. Not always the case... I like the Shakespeare Agility IM-8 Graphite Freshwater Noodle Rod, which is 10'6" in length. You can pick one up for about $50. Don't forget a quality reel with a good drag. And set the drag correctly!

A lot of guys up around Erie use the noodle rods for steelhead. I never got down that way. I use a 6' St. Croix Ultra Light and have no issues. But I don't disagree.

When my HSB were hitting pellets, you would catch one every time by throwing a shiner in the mix.

Their mouths are really small, so consider the size of bluegill if you try that.

I use Owner #10 mosquito hooks. Lightweight and brown in color. Super sharp, I have yet to break one. I fish it on 4" fluro.

CJ, I'll have to try that brand this coming year (fluro).

When I fished in the Pacific for slightly bigger fish, we had problems with breaking Gamagatsu hooks (5/0 - 9/0 size). I switched to Owner and never broke another one.

Here is a key to consider when fishing for smart hybrid striped bass in clear water. If they can see you, game over. Even when throwing chum in the water, they know your there and they are smart. You can catch those fish on natural looking lures and baits all day long as long as they dont see or hear or feel you near. Think Boone and Crocket deer hunting, not button buck hunting when targeting smart fish in clear water.

Oftentimes a shiner or fathead or nightcrawler fished with no weight or bobber is deadly when the fish dont know your around. Also stick baits, spinners, topwater chugs, etc.

Now if you must let the striper know you are in the area and you want to catch alot of them, than you should use a chunk of chicken liver with no weight. Just gently loft it out into the zone and they will demolish it on impact. Then the chicken liver breaks up into little pieces once the first fish hits it acting as a major chum for the rest of the school to be in feeding frenzy mode. When you cast the second time they are ready to eat and so on so forth. When fishing with multiple people on the same school of striper I recommend just using one rod at a time because you can catch them all day long one at a time, but if you all go out chucking liver you will spread them out and all will catch one or two, but overall you wont be nearly as effective as one at a time from the same spot about every 3-5 minutes.

N8ly - Great advice for catching HSB.

We use topwater chugs or topwater lures that make a lot of noise. The most effective colors that look like small bass or shad.

Thanks for all the advice...Noodle rods, different hooks, fluro. line etc...I appreciate it.

Nate- is chicken liver basically a guarantee with hybrids? We did try some nightcrawlers in the middle of the feeding fish but they didn't even look at it. Interesting about sneaking up on them...we did feel they were well aware of us. How would you recommend using a jon boat on this pond/lake? Basically cast from as far distance as possible one at a time? They did seem to stop feeding if we got too close.

Just seemed they were addicted to the pellets and wanted nothing to do with anything artificial or worms....although I have heard others catching them with nightcrawlers and chunks of polluck or other dead fish.

It is true the fuller they are the more picky they will be, but the liver I havent seen them be able to resist very often when schooled up. You still got to be as discreet as possible though.

They will eat all kinds of baits, lures, etc but not when they know your around. They get very smart, especially the pellet trained ones who interact with humans regularly. They get caught quite a few times when they are young and then they start catching on.....

Nate- what time of year are best for catching the hybrids? Would mid May be a good time for midwest pond fishing for them?

I had gone over a few reports , and one person did note he tried a 2 inch blue gill and they wouldn't bite it?, just an fyi for others that had mentioned it. Like I said, this does get decent fishing pressure and are used to only pellets in terms of relating to a food source.

When I feel like cheating, all I do is stick an Auquamax Bass pellet on a hook and hold on. What size pellet are you using?

Great feedback on a great subject here! George taught me the pellet fly trick and it takes 10x more HSB, SMB, YP and BG than any other fishing method I use. For HSB I use Aqua Max LMB pellets and need to use my "noodle" rod [9'6" ML IM6 Graphite rod] spooled with 8/20 fireline and 8# floro leader tied to Gamkatsu 10. I use a small Thill float as a strike indicator which is probably not necessary as the pellet casts fine on it's own without additional weight. Once the pellet becomes saturated it will sink, and as George stated I tend to get more strikes on a slow sink.

I prefer using a 6 wt fly rod for AM 500 or 600 pellet flies.

I have an overpopulation of BG in my pond, and wanted to test whether or not my SMB or HSB were using them as forage at all. I used my noodle rod with float indicator and used 2-3" BG and indeed caught many fish using this method. I was pleased to see the BG were apparently a preferred forage item - they simply have a long way to go to put a dent in my BG population.

I have heard about HSB being caught by catfishermen often with livers on the bottom of a pond. Nate has a LOT of experience with HSB so I'd definitely employ his chicken liver method.

In NE and KS reservoirs the HSB fishing really heats up in Mid May through early June. Wind blown points are the places to target. Bucktail jigs are easy to fish, inexpensive, and hard to beat. You'll catch white bass, walleye and smb/lmb fishing this way, too.

When I feel like cheating, all I do is stick an AuquaMax Largemouth pellet on a hook and hold on. What size pellet are you using?

"Cheating"????