Originally Posted by
seal
I have had very good success when they are active (early and late) on schoolies with both clouser and wooly bugger patterns. *The buggers I like in all black and large, these will work for LMB's as well but I prefer stripping the buggers from a tube as opposed to the clousers which I use when wet wading from shore. *The school sized fish will come close to shore in the evening or morning and that's when you will have most success fishing from shore.
As far as lures I've mentioned it before but one of the more fun bites that has been very consistent recently is a bubble and fry combo, same setup as a fly and bubble but I use a tiny fluke or Lakefork fry imitation in a shad or silverside type pattern. *They have been slamming that setup for a couple months now and when I get tired of tossing the bigger swimbaits and want to fill up the freezer with fillet's this is kind of a no brainer. *Bite is normally about 1.5 hrs. before dark or early morning but with the lake opening after sunup now the best bite is over before the lake opens thus nighttime is my preferred fishing period also if overcast the bite can turn on much ealier. *So many lures will work but the fry is small right now so that's why I think the bubble setup is so effective on the smaller schoolies (some bigger ones are possible but usually stripers hang in like sizes, it's safer that way!) and since the baits are so small the bubble allows you to get it out there to them and also suspends the bait in their feeding zone.
I rarely if ever use bait so no advice on that one and if you want to target bigger stripers with lures that's a whole different story. *The setup I mentioned you will only need 6lbs. test type setup with like a 6.5 ft. rod, so light bass gear or even a trout rod would work, more fun that way.
Just wait when they start chasing the schools of shad up shallow (boil season!) or are attacking the LMB fry shallow, will start in a month or so, my favorite time of the year. *I just keep it simple and toss super spooks, you will be hooked as soon as those stripers start batting the bait up in the air, too much fun! *All that bite takes is a decent bass rod with not too stiff of a tip 6.5 to 7.5' rod and 6-10 lbs. test, this bite will usually have bigger models than you will see right now anywhere from 2-8lbs. is the norm..
PM for more "detailed" info..