nightheron 0 Report post Posted March 17, 2012 Just a shout out to inland striper anglers. It's on! My guide season started with a bang this week. Water temps hit 57 degrees and the fish went nuts on top all week long. Between Tuesday and Friday my clients landed 127 stripers and hybrids. Average hybrids are about 14 pounds and the average striper is about 25 pounds. No big fish yet but solid numbers and a decent average size. Most taken on crease flies, gizzard shad size early and shifting to smaller threadfin size after the first hour of light. Guys wading the points and fishing from ladders are catching fish too. I'm getting reports of similar activity from a bunch of guide buds all over the south. Time to dust off those 9 wt and 10 wt rods and hit some stripers! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peterjay 0 Report post Posted March 19, 2012 Heron, I'm jealous. They tried freshwater stripers here (RI) back in the 1960's but they didn't take. I suspect the water here is too acid for them. If you're catching 25-pound bass with "no big fish yet," you're doing better than we have here on the coast in 40 years. Maybe longer than that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nightheron 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2012 Thanks Peterjay, we truly are spoiled here in Tennessee. Thank goodness no one has told the stripers they aren't supposed to thrive in freshwater. Until they are in the sixties you won't really get attention. Forties are common, fifties are regular and sixty plus fish are far from uncommon. They are starting to get "loved to death" though and it concerns me. We are trying to bring enough attention to the resource to prevent similar declines in stocks as are being experienced elsewhere. Oh, just so you know All Tennessee State Troopers fly fish. There is a provision on the books that permits them to refuse entry in the state to anyone in possession of fishing gear. Sometimes they just shoot on sight and confiscate the gear. Might want to think about Kentucky or Arkansas. We also have nuclear plants, sometimes the stripers glow and have a frog leg growing out of their side. And banjo music... you know what that means don't you Ned! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peterjay 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2012 Well I guess that settles that. Heavily armed rogue cops and lethal radiation are all in a day's work for a lifelong ne'er-do-well like myself, but the mere thought of being subjected to the sounds of the infernal noise machine that you folks call a banjo is more than even I can take. As it happens, my doctoral dissertation conclusively proved that Earl Scruggs composed the melody of his signature piece "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by transcribing the sounds of aluminum cans being poured into a steel dumpster in back of the original Grand Ole Opry building in Nashville. I'll bet you didn't know that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chefben4 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2012 Thanks Peterjay, we truly are spoiled here in Tennessee. Thank goodness no one has told the stripers they aren't supposed to thrive in freshwater. Until they are in the sixties you won't really get attention. Forties are common, fifties are regular and sixty plus fish are far from uncommon. They are starting to get "loved to death" though and it concerns me. We are trying to bring enough attention to the resource to prevent similar declines in stocks as are being experienced elsewhere. Oh, just so you know All Tennessee State Troopers fly fish. There is a provision on the books that permits them to refuse entry in the state to anyone in possession of fishing gear. Sometimes they just shoot on sight and confiscate the gear. Might want to think about Kentucky or Arkansas. We also have nuclear plants, sometimes the stripers glow and have a frog leg growing out of their side. And banjo music... you know what that means don't you Ned! Â I better get down there soon before it gets "popular"!!! Â Good luck out there! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nightheron 0 Report post Posted March 21, 2012 Either of you two make it over to Nashville, I'll make room on the boat for you. Open invitation, but eat your wheaties before you get here...these kids don't fool around. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flyman416 0 Report post Posted March 21, 2012 nightheron, I think im about to ruin a joke, but is the thing about tenesee state troopers real? Or were you goofing around like the glowing fish? Or is it all real? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
troutguy 0 Report post Posted March 21, 2012 Prior to 9/11 I used to kayak right up to the warm water discharge from the nuclear plant on Lake Wylie. The alewives were huge. The stripers ate well. It was a great place to fly fish. Never saw a frog legged fish though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nightheron 0 Report post Posted March 21, 2012 Aw shucks, of course it was all in fun. We welcome visitors to Tennessee, we aren't as "hick" as you might suspect. We have some amazing resources, beautiful scenery and the people here are warm and kind. If you ever want to fish here reach out and I will help you work out the details for some sick fishing opportunities. Odds are if I'm not the guy, I know the guy that has the key. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peterjay 0 Report post Posted March 21, 2012 Heck, and here I was looking forward to a high-speed chase through Tennessee. I haven't had one of those since an irate turkey farmer tried to run me down the night before Thanksgiving. Oh, well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flyman416 0 Report post Posted March 22, 2012 Aw shucks, of course it was all in fun. We welcome visitors to Tennessee, we aren't as "hick" as you might suspect. We have some amazing resources, beautiful scenery and the people here are warm and kind. If you ever want to fish here reach out and I will help you work out the details for some sick fishing opportunities. Odds are if I'm not the guy, I know the guy that has the key. Â I think my dad is going to take me, my brother, and... Himself haha. On a trip this year near Gatlinberg but im sure this is subject to change. We are going to fish these small creeks for bows and brooks. And we might stop by the river near smokey mountian knife works. Dont know the name of it thoigh. What fish are in that river if you know what it is. Im 15 by the way and i think i am the youngest full time FTF member. So i may seem a little gulible at times. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peterjay 0 Report post Posted March 22, 2012 Wish the FTF had been around when I was 15 - it took us years to figure out what you can learn here in an hour. No complaints though - learning the hard way has its advantages. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nightheron 0 Report post Posted March 22, 2012 Hi Flyman416, the river by the knifeworks is the Little Pigeon River and it is full of smallmouth in that area and trout if you go above Pigeon Forge. Message me when your trip gets closer and I will give you a ton of info for the area you will be in. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flyman416 0 Report post Posted March 22, 2012 Hi Flyman416, the river by the knifeworks is the Little Pigeon River and it is full of smallmouth in that area and trout if you go above Pigeon Forge. Message me when your trip gets closer and I will give you a ton of info for the area you will be in. Ok Thanks nightheron, I think we're going some time in April. If not then sometime in the summer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
