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Post 16 May 2023, 21:39 • #1 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/02/16
Posts: 515
Location: Georgia
The fishing gods were on my side yesterday, and I finally connected with my first striper. My buddy and I have been skunked several trips over the past year in search of striped bass, but all that changed when we ditched work yesterday and took his boat up the river that feeds a large lake nearby.

First things first - here’s the McFarland GTX 8’6” 8wt that I built a few months ago specifically with striped bass in mind. I’ve said it before, but I can’t believe how much line speed I can generate with this rod. The butt section is almost as thick as my thumb, and it came in handy when I needed to put the wood to the big striper yesterday. The second picture shows the GTX bent with the striper running upstream.





The fly - Galloup’s Bangtail T&A I tied with barred chartreuse on top and yellow on the bottom with a rust/red accent on the throat. This example shows the aftermath of the predatory striper thrashing the fly.



We floated by a few kayak anglers and one of the top local fishing guides, and the consensus was the stripers had already migrated several miles upstream to cooler water. As a backup plan, we were hoping for a few largemouth and/or spotted bass. I made a cast under a shady bank in about 3’ of stained water, and the striper turned on my fly more aggressively than I’ve ever seen. After an exciting fight with several runs and tightening the drag on the old Gunnison G-4, my friend got the net under this 31”er. I think we’re starting to crack the striper code, but I’ll need to go back to this section of river soon for confirmation.





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Post 16 May 2023, 22:56 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 01/26/07
Posts: 1385
Location: Ada, Oklahoma
Great catch on a great outfit Dude. I really like that streamer also.

Larry


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Post 17 May 2023, 01:17 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 11/11/13
Posts: 774
Location: US-CA
Seth, what a great fish to catch on the fly rod. That must have been very exciting awesome.


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Post 17 May 2023, 03:07 • #4 
Guide
Joined: 05/13/20
Posts: 250
Location: Lake Junaluska, NC
Wow, thank you for taking us along! Keep us posted on your striper research.


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Post 17 May 2023, 06:50 • #5 
Master Guide
Joined: 07/26/21
Posts: 383
Location: North West Georgia
Congrats! Glad you finally made the connection! Thats a really nice fish too. I like the thread color on your GTX!


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Post 17 May 2023, 07:48 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/07/18
Posts: 428
Location: US-MA
Excellent report on the fishing and loved the pics of the rod, fly and the action shots!


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Post 17 May 2023, 10:00 • #7 
Guide
Joined: 04/18/20
Posts: 169
Location: Far Western 'burbs of Chicago
What an outing, I imagine that fight was something you will remember for a long time!


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Post 17 May 2023, 10:45 • #8 
Sport
Joined: 02/09/23
Posts: 63
What a great catch and a great reason to skip work. Thanks for sharing.


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Post 17 May 2023, 12:23 • #9 
Sport
Joined: 04/08/22
Posts: 33
Location: Northeast Pa.
Great post and pics. The rod looks awesome.


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Post 17 May 2023, 12:25 • #10 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/22
Posts: 56
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
That's just awesome !


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Post 18 May 2023, 09:03 • #11 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/22/16
Posts: 1760
Location: SJC
Wow !!


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Post 18 May 2023, 09:06 • #12 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
There are several inland reservoirs reporting spawning of the stocked anadromous salt fish, and wild river stripers, including the Red River on both sides of Lake Texoma.

for pretty, though, I gotta show 7-wt Fisher Sterling with Young Revolution and 2 that washed into our trout tailwater during floods.
Though they out-classed the pawl-clutch on this reel a couple of times, and required palming with drag.

Image

In the river, stripers are the one fish that charges downriver first, and you must stop and turn them before they come back up.
When you get them to hand, one of you will be expired.


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 18 May 2023, 10:45, edited 2 times in total.

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Post 18 May 2023, 10:07 • #13 
Guide
Joined: 09/10/18
Posts: 161
Location: Alberta, Canada
Wow! Great post. I love the look for that rod (and fish)!


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Post 19 May 2023, 09:39 • #14 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/02/16
Posts: 515
Location: Georgia
Thanks guys! Happy to share the story with you all after all the help I’ve received from FFR members over the years.

To Bulldog’s point, the striped bass is an interesting example of reintroduction by stocking. Unlike other locally stocked gamefish species (ie. rainbow and brown trout), the striped bass would have inhabited Georgia rivers for thousands of years during their migratory spawning runs. Unfortunately, manmade dams have blocked the traditional striper migration routes here in Georgia. In my view, there is holistic value in reintroducing fish to their native habitat, as opposed to stocking non-native fish for the sake of simply catching fish.


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Post 19 May 2023, 16:04 • #15 
Guide
Joined: 04/26/19
Posts: 179
Location: L'Étoile du Nord
Nice Dude, I'd be totally swinging flies for those fish on my two handers.


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Post 19 May 2023, 17:24 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
terrific !

I caught a couple small stripers out of a river in S. Carolina once, they would run up and get stuck below the dam. The guys really catching them were either in boats, or using long rods to throw plugs 100yds or more, the fly rod couldn't compete. That's one of my bucket list fish for sure, still haven't caught one over 2lbs..

Apparently it used to be possible to catch big stripers right in Atlanta on the Chattahoochee.. April Vokey had a great podcast interview with an old guide from there, excellent stories.


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Post 23 May 2023, 13:12 • #17 
New Member
Joined: 04/21/23
Posts: 22
Man that’s good stuff!!


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Post 24 May 2023, 20:46 • #18 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/31/15
Posts: 1238
Location: Northern Rockies
Fantastic! What a great fish. I love how one fish can turn a day around and give you memories for years.


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