Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk AL Fishing Talk Smith Lake Stripers

Well when I got a break from planting after the turkey season I finally got to the lake, got my boat in the water and we went out after stripers. Ended up catching 6 in one 2 hour period one AM , 4 the next AM. Lost a couple as well . Biggest was over 30 pounds. Was a good time.









Here now and if I cast net enough herring tonight I'll be after them in the AM again.

Great job. Among my favorites to eat !

They are awesome to eat. I recently discovered this a few years ago.

Good hauls brother!

Yup

Thanks guys. I love striper fishing.

We kept two each from one trip and two the next one and we are good for a while. I usually catch and release but we had a triple one time and it was a mad house. I had to let two die on the deck to catch so we could catch last one. And of course with four lines out they all had to get into the only one not hooked up.

I actually did a Hat trick that one day as I caught Big Stripe, a few BIG spots , a large mouth as well.

And later that evening when I was cast netting I saw some big fish in my green lights as I threw out a few herring from the day before that had died in my tanks. Caught two huge Catfish as well. Smith Lake is no Dead Sea trust me.

The Herring these days are bigger than I would catch in Maine in the ocean jigging for striper bait. I mean long and fat. Id say 6 to 7 inches long and 3/4's to an inch thick. Every year theyve gotten bigger. And I can catch 40 to 80 a night cast netting in thirty minutes. Hardly even pick up shad in my nets now. I throw back smaller ones that I would have gone crazy for before. The stripes are eating them and getting huge IMO.

The bass too for all you bass guys. Those herring are making them big. I catch some HUGE Large Mouth and Spots. Only big bass eat those big baits I use. I catch and release them all but there are some SLOB Bass in Smith. Yall need to come catch those bait stealing nuisnaces!~

They are great eating guys. And I got more meat from that big one than from a Gobbler! Just get rid of that blood line and all red on the meat and they are great. Those slobs have HUGE filets.

I used to hit Smith lake for Stripers but haven't been in several years. We would load up on Threadfins from Guntersville or Ohatchee and haul a big aerated tank over there. I don't know if it's even worth it for me to go give it a try anymore because of the new transporting bait from one lake to another law. I've never even fished with them so I'd have no idea where to find herring or how to keep them healthy. As soon as shad start getting lipstick you may as well toss them. Are Herring as hard to keep fresh? And is there anyone that sells Herring or shad over there now? I know it used to cost a fortune to buy shad at Ryan's Creek.

Couple niceuns .congrats

No you have to catch them. And Herring are harder to keep alive than Shad. But with Salt and conditioner, an aerator and filter on my bait tanks I can keep them alive a while

Ok. I suspected as much. Thanks for the info. Oh, and congratulations on some great Stripers. Smith is one of the few lakes that I would keep them from in warm weather. The lake is so clear, and colder than most lakes in Alabama that the flesh stays firmer and still tastes good. After about April I never keep any from Wiess or Neely Henry and not long after that from the Tennessee River.

Would love to catch some of those.
Nice work.

Thanks Man.

They are a great fighting fish. Nothing like fighting Salt Water big fish in Fresh water with no waves. That is why we moved to Smith Lake. I love Striper fishing in the ocean and fished them all over. We catch our biggest right here on Smith.

The big one took over 5 minutes to land.

And one we lost was a 7 minute fight but he took us into the submerged trees down deep and we broke him off trying to horse him out sadly. He was bigger than the biggest we caught. He was taking line like crazy and my "Fighting Drag" is set pretty high. Just enough to not break off usually. He was a horse.

Great striper fishery for sure. KUDOs to the State on that at least.

Got to give credit where credit is due.

Now you gonna have all them jokers from the great gmcoming there . Bad bad bad

Maybe in a year or 2 u can take my boys, I'd make your time worth it...I would hit u up this year but my 6yr old would need help with a big one and he don't want any help, I learned that last summer with snapper 😀

That’s awesome! 👍🏻

Looks like a blast. Congrats

Thanks Guys. Theyve been biting pretty well the last two mornings too, and some big ones . Caught a few every am so far and some big spots and large mouths .

Here are a few more pics.







I love hooking those big stripes and seeing them rip off 100 ft of line on their first run. Great fighting fish for sure.

Do you ever troll or jig artificials? I am sure live bait will out fish them but I was going to put some down on Martin maybe bucktails or an umbrella and give it a try. Jigging spoons, etc. I have trouble catching the size and quality live bait I would prefer to fish. Rather not fool with it

Yes if I ever dont catch bait I run Alabama rigs or a Hyper striper trolling . Either on a down rigger or with leaded line as that usually only happens in the heat of the summer. Usually one line with each, or two A - Rigs