Spruce Run.......Hybrids

[Bicey]

Fished 7am to 12pm...........landed 8 and lost 2. All fish caught on live bait and downriggers @ 10 to 15ft. All fish 21-24" and healthy. Water stained with nice green film on top. Saw a few other fish being caught around me, they seemed to be on bait also. Thermocline not settled in yet but it will be soon. Water sutface temp was 85 to start and ended up at 88°. ETA pic is not worth posting........maybe my phone was overheated? lol

[GetANet]

Sweet, LOVE THE HYBRIDS!!!!! Sounds like you had a pretty active morning doing battle in the HEAT!!!! Nice job

[Jerseydix]

Nice report, hope they continue to bite like that when I finally get up there to Camp.

[Eskimo]

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Tell me about these Hybrid Striped Bass. I do some carp and bass fishing from my kayak at Spruce Run, but I have never hooked up with one of those hybrids.

So people catch them by drifting live bait with a down rigger? Can I freeline live bait or is that too close to the surface?

What happened when this thermocline sets in? Does it improve the fishing by sequestering the fishing to a certain depth or make fishing more difficult?

Do the hybrids ever go in shallow water?

[Bicey]

I troll ....not drifting, with my electric motor. Some guys drift livebait. I would put just enough weight to keep the bait down st the desired depth. I personally like when the thermocline sets in because i know what depth the fish are going to be at. They really stack up when they only have 12 or so feet to live in. I see guys in yaks trolling with no downriggers. I'll give you more info later.

[Fishon1982]

Is there a lot of surface vegetation if for at night trolling

[jimmythegreek]

in 90% of the lake theres no surface weeds, but a rly heavy thermocline, its a reservoir type setup, mostly gravel and rocks. I fished it once last year to no avail on stripers but the thermocline was 11 feet down, never seen anything like it. A poor mans downrigger can be 3+ oz of weight on a deep sea rod and you mark the line before hand to the depth u want, or say 10 feet. that way u can eyeball the + or - u want and use a thin rubberband to set your main line too however back you want. fish hits and rubber band breaks. Or same principal using a 3 way swivel w heavy weight on bottom snap, does the same thing. A nifty way is a jet diver or disk diver, 10 ft is a common size, they keep ur bait down there

[Eskimo]

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Very interesting.

So the most important aspect of finding the stripers is being at the right depth, or would the fish move vertically to strike a bait if they are close?

Would bait below a slip float be effective if the watercraft is moving slow enough?

[Bicey]

Eskimo.....If they are really hot and bothered they will hit anything they see.......no matter depth. When they are not feeding heavily you need to put it close to them. The slip float will work you just have to find them. Most of the battle is finding them and staying on them. They school and they move around a lot. Finding bait helps, but good electronics will help you find them and stay with them.

The thermocline will shrink the strike zone, and then depth isn't the most important factor.

I have trolled schools for hours only picking up one or two.......then all of the sudden they start feeding and you can't keep your lines in the water. Sometimes you have to wait them out.

[GetANet]

Slip floats are an excellent way to present your bait. They can be set at an exact depth which is one of the most critical things when fishing for hybrids.
One of the only setbacks with them is too much wind is NG, makes fishing them rough. I have several size's and shape's to use depending on size of my bait (Usually Herring). Hybrids are a more open water fish which feed on the roaming schools of bait. They move more vertically liking points, humps,
channels and flats sometimes. They aren't usually caught in shallow water except when feeding. Largemouth like different structure and are a mostly shallow water compared to the Hybrids. So try fishing a little deeper in the area's I mentioned. Another tip is early or evening for them is best time. We have several Hybrid Anglers on the site who can give way more info but I hope this helps you some....Once you catch a big one you'll never wanna fish for anything else !!!!! That's why they call em' ROCKETS!!!