The fish of 10,000 casts

[MikeA]

I've caught them behind planers, on surface plugs, using downlines with live shad. The most fun I ever had was catching a 15 pound Cumberland River 2 generator Striper in a surface blitzs on a tiny torpedo using a med spinning rod with 6 pound line. It was the only rod I had at the time. You can't see it but I'm smiling big just typing about that one.

Now I get my kicks catching them on the fly and I'm convinced that fly fishing has taught me alot more about these fish then any other method. But there are times when I miss watching that predator prey relationship unfold in front of me knowing that the prey had my hook in it. Hearing that loud POP of a Stripers jaws snapping shut while partially out of the water is a sound that makes any anglers heart skip a beat every time you hear it...

[bd]

The most fun I ever had striper fishing was watching them crash redfins on top.  I had one night bank fishing where I had a 37 and a 25 hit topwater on the last 7 or 8 feet of the retrieve - close enough to throw water on me.  I won't ever forget that.  I imagine a muskie taking a lure off the rod tip on a figure 8 must be almost just like that.  If muskie would just bite occasionally I would hate them so, sooo much less.

The main thing I have learned from fly fishing for stripers is that a 6-inch striper fly is the hardest damned thing to cast in the world.

bd