Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

When most casual fisherman think of fishing for freshwater stripers, their thoughts usually involve cold wintertime outings when stripers are easily located chasing bait on the surface -- or springtime spawning runs when the fish make long migrations to upstream spawning grounds. True striped bass fishing fans know the striper is a fish for all seasons. Armed with the right knowledge and equipment, striper anglers can enjoy productive fishing trips that rival any winter schooling or spring spawn trip.

Probably the most important thing to understand about stripers is their water temperature tolerance level. While a striper can and does roam an entire lake during cooler months, suitable habitat is severely reduced during the summer. Unlike black bass, crappie, bream or catfish, striped bass cannot survive in water that is much warmer than 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Armed with this knowledge, the observant striper angler can eliminate at least two-thirds of any body of water during July. A second important factor to understand about striped bass is that they require a suitable degree of dissolved oxygen in order to survive. Armed with that knowledge, the striper angler can remove an additional 15 to 20 percent of the intended fishing grounds that can’t hold stripers. What’s left is a very manageable 15 to 20 percent of a body of water that will hold stripers. This 20 percent of the lake that striped bass inhabit are the thermocline layers that set up in the lower lake areas and upstream tributaries that provide cooler water released from upstream impoundments.

Mike Lundy is a professional striped bass angler and fishing guide who understands the constraints that summertime weather puts on stripers and how to use that knowledge to find striped bass. Lundy recommends two great summer striper lakes for North Carolina anglers to try this month.

LAKE JORDAN
Lundy favors fishing for thermocline-oriented stripers on Lake Jordan. According to Lundy, the summer thermocline will set up about 40 feet deep and may vary in width from 10 to 20 feet. The places to look for these fish include all of the intersections of major tributaries to the main lake basin as well as the basin itself. Because much of the standing timber in Jordan was either left standing or topped when the lake was impounded, many areas of the lake have forests of trees still standing below the surface. The primary tactic used to locate and catch thermocline-oriented fish is deep-water trolling. Since deep trolling and standing timber don’t mix, it’s best to locate relatively clean bottom areas to troll for summer stripers.

Lundy’s favored trolling tactics include crankbait trolling, trolling downriggers and lead-core line. When deep-water trolling with crankbaits, he will use extremely deep-diving crankbaits that can reach depths down to 40 feet. An alternative approach to reach the thermocline is to troll with lead-core line. Lead-core line has a weighted centerline with a color-coded protective coating. Depth control is attained by recording the number of colors that are played out from the reel. Typically, one color of lead-core line equals 10 feet. A length of clear monofilament line is attached as a leader to the tag end of the lead-core line. To this leader is attached the trolling bait.