Striped Bass Feeding on the Surface





It surprises me how many people who fish do not understand the basics of fishing.  They wouldn’t even think of driving right up on a herd of grazing elk in an old loud truck and try to take a picture.  But these same people race up to a school of stripers feeding on the surface and think the fish won’t notice the noise and spook!  Sound travels much faster and much farther under water, so the fish know you’re coming far before you get within casting range. 

One evening in September I was fishing at Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico when the stripers “blew up” feeding on the surface.  As I cranked my trolling motor up to 5 and headed their way, two other boats cranked up their big outboards and ran as fast as they could toward the feeding school.  And of course the school went down long before any of them were even close enough for a cast, but they commenced to beating the water to a froth with top-water shad imitation lures. 

So I stopped and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally, after catching no fish, they gave up and went back to beating the bank.  My trolling motor slid me in on top of the school like a stealth fighter.  When I checked the depth finder the water was 92 feet deep.  My weapons of choice, were a 4 and 1/2 foot ultra-light Berkley Cherry Wood Rod, Pinnacle Dead Bolt reel loaded with brand new 4 lb. test and a 1/4 oz sinking “baby shad rap. 

With that light line the little crank bait sinks at about 18 inches per second.  Make long casts, and don’t close the bail for 30 seconds while watching the line for a pick-up twitch.  This is one of the toughest presentations in fishing.  It’s tough because people don’t have the patience.  After those grueling 30 seconds have passed, that little shad-rap is at around 45 feet.  Close the bail, crank, stop, crank, stop.  That evening I caught and released 4 fish and hooked a couple others in 2 hours.  They were all pretty small though, the biggest one weighed about 10 lbs. 

But the next morning I was back in the same spot surrounded by tournament pre-fishing bass boats.  After I caught a solid 4 lb. smallmouth in 20 feet of water, one boat came over and inquired as to what I was fishing with.  The fire tiger pop ‘R didn’t surprise them but the tiny tackle and 4 lb test line did. 

A few minutes later the stripers blew up and went down, I was on ‘em like ugly on an ape.  Half way back on the first cast my little lure hangs up.  Hung up in 92 feet of water!  Wait a minute, I don’t think so.   Then, slow movement to the west.  I have a fish on that doesn’t even know she’s hooked!  Then the reel started screaming, I started laughing and several bass fishermen started watching and cheering.  “Stick with him”, “Hang in there”, “Who’s got who”, they shouted.   20 minutes later a 26 lb. (on a digital scale) monster came into the net and out of the lake.  They couldn’t believe it.  On 4 lb. test?

The reason I like to fish with light line and small lures in deep water is because nobody else does.  The fish never see lures that small fished that deep, so they suck ‘em up.  So the next time you are trying to approach feeding fish, if you want to catch them, think stealth.  Run Silent, Run Deep and Hang On!