I felt like I had pretty much figured out the stripers during the winter and now spring rolls around and feel like novice all over again. I have managed to catch 6-7 stripers fishing with live bait and down lines but have had ZERO success trolling with planer boards or down riggers using live bait. It seems I spend most of my time searching for them in areas that I did not fish this winter. I have been told they are in a transition stage. Well I am about ready for them to transition because gas is getting to expensive to spend all day running from one of the lake to the other hoping to find a few stripers.
I even decided to book a trip with a local guide and he didn't fair much better than I have on my own as we only boated 3 fish and that was with the live bait that I brought along. I have been all the way up the river and tried trolling there with free lines and live bait, NOTHING. Now with the recent storms it is probably too dangerous to try and navigate up the river with all the trees in the water.
Any suggestions, other than fishing for spots or crappie.
