June 24, 2022
Water Temperature 71-76F
Lake Elevation 3539
My son and I traveled up lake on my weekly fishing trip trying to discern how fishing had changed since last week. We were looking at the massive rock fall which happened a few weeks ago in the main channel between Navajo Canyon and Warm Creek. The scarred rock ledge is very impressive but we were immediately distracted by the sound of splashing and the vision of schooling stripers jumping out of the water. The adrenalin kicked in and we went into attack mode as we saw a school of slurping stripers rolling on the surface. We grabbed our fishing rods and cast rattletraps and shallow running crankbaits beyond the feeding school and quickly reeled the lures through the feeding fish. We each caught a fat and feisty 16-inch striper. By the time the fish were unhooked the school dove into deep water. We waited a few minutes but they did not come back up. So, we moved on.
Stripers constantly search for shad. Both species are schooling fish which means they swim together in a large group. When stripers “boil” they surround a school of adult shad and drive them to the surface. Shad trapped on the water surface are quickly attacked by stripers and the intense splashing can be seen for a very long distance. However, early in the season the recently hatched shad are tiny and may only be a half-inch long and about the same size as fishing line in girth. There are many small pods of tiny shad all over the lake. Schooling stripers surround the tiny shad pod and feed quickly on the surface. The feeding event is often visible for less than a minute. Then stripers dive and search for another school.
We stayed in the main channel and headed up lake. The next slurping boil popped up about 5 minutes later. We rushed toward the feeding fish but they went down before we could cast into the surface feeding fish. As we continued up lake we saw surface feeding action every 5-10 minutes. If we arrived in time to cast over the school and reel back through the feeding fish, we often caught one or two stripers. If the school went down before we were in range we caught no fish. Each time the school left the surface, I would look at the graph to see if the fish were under the boat. When lucky enough to see the school swimming below the boat at 30-40 feet, we quickly dropped spoons down to the school and jigged up and down 2-3 times. Then we “speed reeled” up, stopped and jigged once more. Hungry stripers will always hit spoons. Scan the surface for slurping stripers and then watch the graph to find the resting schools that are looking for more shad.
We fished the main channel from Navajo to Rock Creek then turned around and headed back down lake. We spent 8 hours on the lake from 6 AM to 2 PM. We consistently saw slurping schools about every 10 minutes all the way up lake and half way back down. When boat traffic got very busy on the return trip the slurps subsided. Surface feeding stripers are now available over the length of the lake. The long-lasting boils will get stronger as shad grow bigger in July and August. For now, the surface striper slurping action will be exciting and rewarding on calm mornings.
Bass fishing was good as we caught occasional smallmouth bass on surface lures and on plastic grubs while bottom bouncing in rocky habitat along the shoreline.
My son Brian took the time to make a YouTube video of striper slurps and our successful fishing adventures which I will share with you now at the following address:
youtube]gB4YePcqy3A
(Copy and paste this address into your browser)
Water Temperature 71-76F
Lake Elevation 3539
My son and I traveled up lake on my weekly fishing trip trying to discern how fishing had changed since last week. We were looking at the massive rock fall which happened a few weeks ago in the main channel between Navajo Canyon and Warm Creek. The scarred rock ledge is very impressive but we were immediately distracted by the sound of splashing and the vision of schooling stripers jumping out of the water. The adrenalin kicked in and we went into attack mode as we saw a school of slurping stripers rolling on the surface. We grabbed our fishing rods and cast rattletraps and shallow running crankbaits beyond the feeding school and quickly reeled the lures through the feeding fish. We each caught a fat and feisty 16-inch striper. By the time the fish were unhooked the school dove into deep water. We waited a few minutes but they did not come back up. So, we moved on.
Stripers constantly search for shad. Both species are schooling fish which means they swim together in a large group. When stripers “boil” they surround a school of adult shad and drive them to the surface. Shad trapped on the water surface are quickly attacked by stripers and the intense splashing can be seen for a very long distance. However, early in the season the recently hatched shad are tiny and may only be a half-inch long and about the same size as fishing line in girth. There are many small pods of tiny shad all over the lake. Schooling stripers surround the tiny shad pod and feed quickly on the surface. The feeding event is often visible for less than a minute. Then stripers dive and search for another school.
We stayed in the main channel and headed up lake. The next slurping boil popped up about 5 minutes later. We rushed toward the feeding fish but they went down before we could cast into the surface feeding fish. As we continued up lake we saw surface feeding action every 5-10 minutes. If we arrived in time to cast over the school and reel back through the feeding fish, we often caught one or two stripers. If the school went down before we were in range we caught no fish. Each time the school left the surface, I would look at the graph to see if the fish were under the boat. When lucky enough to see the school swimming below the boat at 30-40 feet, we quickly dropped spoons down to the school and jigged up and down 2-3 times. Then we “speed reeled” up, stopped and jigged once more. Hungry stripers will always hit spoons. Scan the surface for slurping stripers and then watch the graph to find the resting schools that are looking for more shad.
We fished the main channel from Navajo to Rock Creek then turned around and headed back down lake. We spent 8 hours on the lake from 6 AM to 2 PM. We consistently saw slurping schools about every 10 minutes all the way up lake and half way back down. When boat traffic got very busy on the return trip the slurps subsided. Surface feeding stripers are now available over the length of the lake. The long-lasting boils will get stronger as shad grow bigger in July and August. For now, the surface striper slurping action will be exciting and rewarding on calm mornings.
Bass fishing was good as we caught occasional smallmouth bass on surface lures and on plastic grubs while bottom bouncing in rocky habitat along the shoreline.
My son Brian took the time to make a YouTube video of striper slurps and our successful fishing adventures which I will share with you now at the following address:
youtube]gB4YePcqy3A
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