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Tennesee Stripers

PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:03 am
by dmidea
Larry,

Just watched your show on a large tail water in Tennessee where you guys were beating up large stripers, below the dam on your Mr. wiggly. Way out fishing the live bait (Trout) that the guide had....It looked like many of your "eats" were fairly close to the surface. do you feel that had you been throwing flies, you could have had the success you had?

The reason I ask is that I keep hearing how tough it is to get those striper to eat a fly but that is being said by the guides who tend to use live bait....

I look forward to your response.

Thanks,
Dan

Re: Tennesee Stripers

PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:16 am
by dahlberg
I don't think you'd have had a chance with a fly. Whiggs works because of super fast speed combined with super erratic movement. also super long casts to provide both room and time to get the fish charged up. Even at the very fastest speeds a fly cant even come close to the speeds achieved with conventional gear, not to mention the distance.
best,
L

Re: Tennesee Stripers

PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:31 am
by dmidea
do you feel those fish can't be caught on a fly?

Re: Tennesee Stripers

PostPosted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 8:25 am
by dahlberg
Depends on what you mean by "those" fish. Of course stripers can be caught on flies, but when they are really tough and require very high speeds and crazy erratic action to trigger them, flies are not the ticket!
If our live bait had been super hot and active, and strong enough to react in a frightened way to the presence of the stripers, I'm sure it would have been attacked also.
When approaching any species being able to "read" what trips their trigger as conditions change is often the key to repeatability.
Sometimes it's the "bug world" trigger things like dead drifts and insect or crustacean type movements, other times it's "fish eat fish" type triggers which are 180 degrees opposite! Still other times it could be as simple as appealing to the instincts of curiosity or natural selection.
best
L

Re: Tennesee Stripers

PostPosted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 9:11 am
by dmidea
Great. Thanks very much for your thoughts....I'm headed out this week to a large tailwater in Tennessee, armed with streamers from 3" long Puglisi type shad flies to 11" long rainbow trout like hair flies.....Gonna give it the old college try!
Best,
Dan

Re: Tennesee Stripers

PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 4:55 am
by dahlberg
Good luck !