03/21/09 on Hartwell

[otterdog83]

Went out with two buddies Saturday morning in search of fat stripers on Hartwell. We hit The Bait Shop of Townville for shad and herring and then put in at Broyles. We fished several spots to include Martin's Creek, Beaver Dam and Connie Ross. It was freakin' freezin' out there. The sun was out, but with heavy cloud cover until about noon we stayed bundled up. This was my first time out for striper, ever. We ran two downriggers and two topwater (?). We saw a good number of bass fishermen and a few others after striper, but did not see one person bring a fish to the boat all morning. We hit one more spot (secret of course) before heading out at 1 and got lucky on a 10 lbs striper. It was a lot of fun as you know everyone on the boat pitches in when a fish is hooked. I was at the net and had the honor. This was awesome and a heck of a way to finish a long and cold morning.

[willyworm]

Sweet! I'm not a big striper fisherman myself but hooked my first a couple years back and oh what a fight....

[Phone Man]

Love catching them stripers. Hooked one a few years ago in the flats. It never tapped the rod, it just took off. I grabbed the rod, set it, and didn't slow him down. I tightend the darg till it was bottomed out and still couldn't stop him. It took about 6 seconds for him to completely strip the garcia 6500 of all its line and pop it. It was like a 6 second ride with a pornstar, you thought you are the man then bam, its over!

[Swamp Rat]

The only I got spooled in freshwater was on a beast striper. Back when Murray had some true BIG ones. It was about 1975 or so. I was just old enough that my dad let me take the jon boat out and run it on my own (close to the house), and it was around this time of year, or a little later.

I was trolling a Bayou Boogie on a Shakespeare rod with a Mitchell 300. That fish hit and ran the spool about dry, then went shallow - shallow enough that a passing boat ran over my line and broke it. I probably never actually had a shot at landing that fish, but I bore a kid's grudge at those guys for a long time.

[huntboykins801]

I have caught several as of late in those exact places!

Fun fish to catch!

[otterdog83]

I am no fisherman and do mostly beer drinking on a boat, but helping catch that fish was pretty awesome. He splashed so close to the boat and the lines were so far out I thought it was just a fishing jumping, but then the rod doubled over. My parents have my now deceased grandparents house on Murrary. I went after some ducks once from there this past season, but now can envision some striper fishing there as well. I've heard mixed opinions on Murrary, but heck that is the nature of hunting and fishing (don't call it killing or catching for a reason).

[DRDUCK]

What part of Murray Otterdog? Murray is a great lake for stripers most of the year.

[otterdog83]

Hendrix Cove...know where that is? Spence and Bomb Islands are not too far from us.

[DRDUCK]

Yes I know where it is but along way from this shack. We up the river where the poor peeps live.

[otterdog83]

I understand that...if and when I get a group of buddies together for stripers I'll try to remember to PM you.

Oh, poor peoples with pictures of BMWs?? Sounds fishy.



Give those stipers hell out there and good luck.