Seeking Lake Striped Bass advice.

[SilverFly]

Wife and I are taking my FIL on a family visit back east in June. 3 days will be in NE Alabama, so I'm booking a day of striped bass fishing. I'm OK getting one on bait or lures, but REALLY want to get one on the fly if possible.

The guide is open to fly fishing, and has some experience, but says it will be "a real challenge" that time of year (just makes me want one on the fly even more). He says mid-June they're typically holding at 35-60' - which doesn't sound like a problem to me. That's a tad deeper than we usually fish albacore but still within range. His program is live-bait focused, so I'm assuming we'll be fishing a school at depth in open water, not entirely unlike albacore. Open to any suggestions, input from folks with lake striper experience.

Thinking a 10wt outfit with a 400gr line like the Rio Striper would be appropriate (and useful for a number of other species).

Thanks

 

[Matt B]

Cool! Which lake. Weiss? Guntersville?
I did a bit of this on Lanier in GA. We would get up early AF hoping to find schools feeding near the surface, and sometimes they were found. Good fly fishing usually ensued. Failing that, we drove around trolling stuff deep on gear, or tossed heavy jigs or spoons. People hunting the donkeys would rig up live trout to troll. I think your plans to bring a deep fishing fly line on a 10 weight sound good, but I never tried fly fishing deep for them.

 

[SilverFly]

Thanks. We'll be staying with family in Hartselle. Found a striper guide on Lake Lewis Smith about an hour South of there.

Yeah, I got the impression his fly experience is topwater so assumed that's what I had in mind. Not seeing why albacore tactics wouldn't work.

Also a good excuse to replace the 10wt I blew up in Baja several years ago.

 

[Cabezon]

Are the fish going to be that big that a 9 wt. or 10 wt. is required based on the size of the striped bass or the size of the flies that you will be using? And if there are topwater opportunities, you might want a rod that is easier to cast than a 9 or 10 wt. I can see bringing a dedicated heavy trolling rod, but having a lighter casting rod might be smart.
Steve

 

[jasmillo]

One line to consider is the Cortland Compact type 9 (int runner) if you are looking for an out of the box integrated solution. Fished it for the first time for Lings this weekend really loved how it performed. Sunk fast and cast well even with the large, heavy flies being used. That said, I know you like playing around/putting together your own deep sink line combos.

 

[Matt B]

Thanks. We'll be staying with family in Hartselle. Found a striper guide on Lake Lewis Smith about an hour South of there.

Yeah, I got the impression his fly experience is topwater so assumed that's what I had in mind. Not seeing why albacore tactics wouldn't work.

Also a good excuse to replace the 10wt I blew up in Baja several years ago.

Smith Lake is a really pretty lake (in central AL I’d say ). I lived in Decatur, just across the way from Hartselle, from 5th - 11th grade. My friend’s family has a house on that lake with a deep water dock. I recall watching good sized shad flashing under the dock and along the cliff.
I think the 10 weight might be about delivering grains to get down deep but yeah the Cortland Compact type 9 that Jason mentioned fishes really deep in a six weight so I’d assume it is good up and down the line.

 

[JimTravers¤£a!!Travers]

Applies to all lakes in general but I've said it many times and I'll say it again: like I always say, don't put your beer down on the water. Seen a lot of guys lose beers that way. Lotta guys repeatedly putting beers onto the water thinking it's a table!! Saw a guy put a whole 12 pack on the water unce.

It's water!! It's not a table!!

 

[SilverFly]

Are the fish going to be that big that a 9 wt. or 10 wt. is required based on the size of the striped bass or the size of the flies that you will be using? And if there are topwater opportunities, you might want a rod that is easier to cast than a 9 or 10 wt. I can see bringing a dedicated heavy trolling rod, but having a lighter casting rod might be smart.
Steve

Yeah, thinking a 10wt to chuck 400gr or so. Likely overkill for most of the fish I saw posted from that lake, but there are some that look worthy. Also missing having a 10. I used my old one a lot for river salmon, jetty fishing, and of course Baja.

He's saying this is a live bait show, so I'm assuming there won't be much, if any, trolling.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Applies to all lakes in general but I've said it many times and I'll say it again: like I always say, don't put your beer down on the water. Seen a lot of guys lose beers that way. Lotta guys repeatedly putting beers onto the water thinking it's a table!! Saw a guy put a whole 12 pack on the water unce.

It's water!! It's not a table!!

Thank you, sir, for bringing attention to the #1 cause of lost beer: putting it on a table that is in fact not a table. Too many gone.