Coosa River 5-31-14

[CardsFan]

Catching bait is getting a little easier now that were heading into the typical summer pattern on the Coosa. Loaded up the tank with 140 shad and hit some holes on the river. Monster kitties didn't visit us but smaller Stripers picked up the slack, and they fought just as hard as the big kitties.

We managed 18 fish and caught a variety of Blue cats, Flathead cats, Stripers, and a Drum to end the day. Usually cut bait seems to produce more fish on the river but yesterday didn't seem to matter, although the Stripers tended to hit live shad. Biggest cat was 15 pounds, and we caught a few Stripers in the 7 to 9 pound range. Even the baby Stripers fought hard. The river is heating up so I expect Stripers will be heading to cool water refuges very soon.

It was a gorgeous day to be out there, made even better at the end of the day by leaving the Brushy Branch ramp just as a storm hit us.

 

[DinkyDau]

Thread Fin?

 

[armedplinkster89]

Nice fish, they look good eatin'

 

[8675309]

very nice!

 

[BackWoods]

Awesome!

 

[Blskypilot]

I love catching striper that way, my favorite freshwater fish and good eats too

 

[CardsFan]

I love catching striper that way, my favorite freshwater fish and good eats too

My favorite method for Striper is pitching live shad using spinning reels. Either by slow trolling or just flowing with the current, or by anchoring up and letting the current bring baits by ambush points, Julie and I pitch to blowdowns and occasionally watch our line shoot across the river while the drag sings - that is tops in my book, and if it's a narrow tree lined river that's even better.

Once the water temp gets in the low 70's (as it is on the Coosa now), the bigger Stripers will start seeking those cool water refuges. We had so much fun catching catfish on the main Coosa last year we didn't chase Stripers much, but this year we'll be back to fishing some cold feeder creeks on Weiss as the water warms up. I just hate paying that much for an Alabama fishing license when they expire at the end of August

Several years ago we took a guy Julie works with to a little creek you can easily cast across and mostly very shallow. But the water is cold even during dog days. We anchored up in the shade and pitched to a tiny little bush in the middle, and caught 40 most little stripers around 1 to 3 pounds and a few in the 5-7 pound range - and lost more. It was quite cool on a blistering hot day, and we had action for most of the day. The dude was spoiled, he thought Striper fishing was like that every trip! But you can't beat that kind of fishing experience.

 

[Beerman]

Very nice..

 

[CardsFan]

Thread Fin?

Mostly Gizzard shad but there were a few threaddies as well. I can't say gizzard vs threadfin makes a huge difference on the Coosa, especially this time of year. If you're fishing Carters, Stripers have definitely been showing a preference for alewifes over either type of shad or even trout over the last few years. I haven't fished Lanier in years but when I did bluebacks were the primary forage. The point being, Stripers may have different preferred bait preferences on different bodies of water.

 

[USMCDAWG03]

Very nice looks like you had fun.