I could sit here and write a book about striper fishing. I got hooked on it after a really bad exam my sophomore year of college and it's been downhill since! These are truly powerhouse fish and if you have ever heard anyone describe their fight like "I hooked into a volkswagon" they weren't kidding!

I can only tell you about river striper fishin, cause that's all I do! I normally find them in the tailwaters of the powerhouse, or behind rocks where the current is broken up. Late in the day, you occasionally catch them running the shad up to the surface in schools. At night, I normally catch them on the slopes leading up to sandbars.

All my striper rods are nine foot rods with surfcasting spinning reels. (I am especially fond of the new Penn powergraph series.) I use 20 lb test on all of them. As far as rigs go, I use a "standard" bottom rig, with 2/0 to 4/0 offset or Gamakatsu hooks.

Baitwise, I fish either bucktails, topwater plugs, live herring/shad, live bream, cut herring/shad, or cut bream.

For the bucktails, unless I need extra weight, I only use the lure. If I need extra weight to get deeper or cast farther, I use a swivel and egg sinker about 18 inches above the lure. I use white bucktails with a neon yellow or white rubber twist tail grub and fish them with a bump-reel-bump-reel retrieve. I am going to experiment with trolling this year, so keep your eye out for info on that.

The topwater plugs are called "striper swipers" and look alot like cut off broom handles. Normally, I only fish them when I catch a school, and then it is a pop-reel-pop-reel combination. Or, you can run a leader from the back hook to a small rubber grub/worm and tear them up, but normally you catch alot of little fellas on the grub.

For the live bream, herring, and shad, I use the aforementioned bottom rig. Live, I hook them through the lips (in lower jaw, out nostril). You can fish these either with the same retrieve as the bucktails, or just cast them out and let them sit on the bottom. Cut, I use 1-2 inch chunks hooked once or twice through with alot of hook point exposed. For this method, it's cast and wait. But as far as I'm concerned, most people don't fish just to catch fish, and this method gives you a great chance to think. I always set my drag loose with the clicker on for this to break me out of my thoughts if I get a hit.

As far as hooksets go, Striper ain't shy, but they do like to soften up a bait before they take it, and this is often misinterpreted as a hit. Just don't slow down or speed up and he'll take it from you. If your fishin below the surface and get a few bumps then a steady pulling bend on the rod, then he took it! Jam that hook home and hold on...you just hooked a VW van!!!

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