More Cumberland river
- This topic has 10 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated May 16, 2006 at 12:27 pm by
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Did a Striper trip Sat on the Cumberland River. We started before sunup with 10 wt fly rods and big streamers but we were unsuccessful. As the sun got high we decided to mess around with the Skipjack and Sauger. The Sauger bite was on and we landed rough estimate, about 100 of them in about four or five hours. Interestingly I was able to out fish the spin fishermen with my secret Sauger fly on a 7wt sink tip. At first we were casting to them, but after about 3hrs of casting 350 grain nonstop, I decided maybe trolling would work. It worked very well! This is the second or third time I have Sauger fished and I really enjoyed it. One guy who after watching us for a couple of hours came up to the boat and said he had been fishing for Sauger for 30 years and he had never seen anyone catch them on a fly rod before.
Later in the afternoon a large front approached and I told David we should start getting ready for Striper again, this time with bait.
I lost a few pics (crappy $4.00 camera) but I think this is the one. My hand placement kinda negates the football shape of the fish but follow the top line of the fish and you can see the curve up near the head and curve down towards the tail also the Head/gill plates are a bit smaller.
My immediate impression when I saw this fish was, wow, this is a big Hybrid. Other then the countless Hybrids I have caught to compare with I know of no way to positively identify or differentiate between the two.Zach Sat was a good reminder of how mean these fish really are. The two that got away were able to pull a saltwater grade drag system set by Boga’s to around 40 pounds like it was nothing. Your pretty much at the mercy of the river. I stand by my statement that if hooked, a very large Cumberland Striper would simply take your line on a fly rod.
A 20 pound “schoolie” class fish would “maybe” give you a chance since they tend to head for deeper water but the larger fish always seem to head for the bank where they spend so much of their time. The Percy Priest lake fish would be a much easier target since there is so much room to run. That will start in a couple of weeks.
Mike,
Is that a hybrid? Aren’t you supposed to be able to tell by the broken lines vs. straight on a striper?
Yes Bryan that is also a good indication of a Hybrid. The fish pictured above has all broken lines. Here are a few pics of Striper where the lines are straight and not broken. Very clearly a Striper as soon as you see them. Note the lines above and below the lateral, all are mostly straight and not broken.
A friend of mine caught one of these Hybrid looking fish and had TWRA confirm it was not a Hybrid (would have been the world record if it was). ). He said the answer they gave was that TWRA did not thoroughly clean the vats when they were fertilizing the Striper eggs and there was Hybrid sperm left in the vat? I have no idea how true that is or even if it’s possible but that’s how the rumor began.
The fish from Sat. all have broken lines but still have the long Striper body except one. I think it needs to be investigated further. If indeed these are Hybrid that have locked thru then the next world record is just waiting to be caught. We might have even released it Sat.
Here is a pic of the fish my friend caught. Should be a record as far as I am concerned. If it’s a Striper, Hybrid, Hybrid. then it would still be a record.
Mike, I wish I had seen that fish in person. Broken lines or not, it sure looks like a striper to me. Granted, you’ve caught a lot more hybrids than I have since you fish Priest, but look how streamlined that fish is, especially toward the tail. Every hybrid I’ve ever seen had a very broad mid-body that narrowed significantly around the area of the anal fin.
I dug up a few pics of big hybrids off the net for comparison. See how thick they are and how abruptly the body narrows from belly to tail?
Fishing Old Hickory over the years, I have seen many, many stripers with very broken lines – but they were definitely stripers. I don’t know if I believe the explanation from TWRA – since it only takes one sperm and one egg to produce fertilization, it seems like you should either have a striper/striper combo or a striper/white bass combo. Since the hybrids themselves are sterile, they couldn’t influence anything.
I suspect that somewhere along the line, TWRA got hold of a few brood fish that happened to have broken lines (genetic aberration or whatever), and we’re just seeing the thousands of offspring from those broken-lined fish as they cycle through the hatchery.
bd
I sure hope no one thinks I care one way or another about the genetics of Mike’s fish. I’ve caught both in limited numbers, and nothing as big, and felt almost punch drunk from the experience.
Mike, do you think something like a tarpon setup would help with catching those river fish with a fly. Something like a 10 or 12lb class leader with 3 feet of 40 or 50lb flouro for a shock tippet for the runs to the trees?
Hey Cameron thanks. BTW, SC is a Striper Mecca with Santee Cooper, Murray etc. As for the floats, yes it takes two to float them. I think I got them at Wal-Mart but I haven’t seen them there in awhile. Check your local Pool Store for the rope floats or google Boga floats.
BD my hand placement conceals the sagging belly on this fish. Look at the upward curve on the top of this fish and look at the top lines on the Striper pics. The Stripers curve down from behind the head where this one curves up. Same grip same size fish. Look at the pic from TK’s site. If that don’t look like a Hybrid then I don’t know what one looks like. Something to also keep in mind regarding body shape is that these are river run fish and not the lazy well fed lake pigs. Also they were hitting like Hybrid. We had a Double once and a few other double opportunities where the second fish spit the Skippy. I really don’t know the answer but I do plan to look into it further.
Bryan You ready for that trip I promised? You can see for yourself if a particular rig would work. You just might get hooked and forget about that salty water…I did try a fly during the later part of the day but casting a 10 wt while pulling 2 planer boards in generation with trees and buoys everywhere is not ideal. I lost my intermediate line when I had it coiled up on the floor and a fish hit. The line got wrapped around everything in the boat including the trolling motor so I just cut it. :'( :'( Yea I had a little temper tantrum. ::)
First it was the Da Vinci Code and now you trying to test or diminish my faith in saltwater fishing. I think I hear an echo from deep inside.
Say when and I will hammer it out with the Mrs.
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