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Name:	The Sundance Kid -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B
Date:	6/11/2010 11:09:18 PM

Anyone seen a fish?

Name:	Aquadelusional -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B
Date:	6/11/2010 11:59:57 PM

About the only way to catch fish at martin in the hot summer months is to fish at night or bream fish.There is a reason why big boys of Bassmasters,FLW dont like to fish here its just bad TV to ride around in $60,000 boats with no fish.

Name:	Mack -	Reply
Subject:	Sittin' on the porch>>>
Date:	6/13/2010 7:00:14 PM

in the cool shade, just like the rest of us who don't like to sweat.

Name:	Mountain Man -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B
Date:	6/14/2010 8:49:58 AM

Lots of folks have been hunting stripes for the last couple of months, but darn few are catching. Even when you can see them breaking on top, it has been all but impossible to get them to hit a cast lure. They seem to ignore most trolled spoons and swim baits. they thumb their noses at live shad on down lines. What's even more difficult to understand is the fact that they rarely, and I do mean rarely, show up on the graph.
Something very peculair is occuring. A friend boated a 29# stripe last week near the dam. It was all belly. When she was cleaned we wanted to learn what she had been feasting on. It wasn't bait she was full of. She was full of eggs. In mid-June? What the...???

Name:	Lee Gantt -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B
Date:	6/14/2010 11:54:37 AM

I've had a theory that this year because of the numerous cold fronts, high water floods and then drastic season changes that many of the stripers in Martin never spawned because of the lack of ideal spawning conditions. I have personally seen a couple of big fish lately that still had eggs in them. The eggs will eventually be digested into the fish's system resulting in a fatter fish than the usual long, skinny post spawn fish.

Name:	Caht1 -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B
Date:	6/14/2010 2:03:27 PM

Knock on wood, but I found them this weekend (2nd time out this year). Caught 10 to 15 on Saturday and around 20 on Sunday using live bait. most were in the upper teens with a few low teens and a handful in the low 20's. The early morning bite (4:45 to 6:30) was non-existant. However, at 6:30 both mornings it fired up big time. I tried some of my traditional spots for this time of year with no luck. Some a couple of stipes busting the surface near one of my areas so I tried it and it was much shallower than I thought they would be. I was getting them in 33 to 45 feet of water with baits pulled around 30 to 35 feet. Only one came on a flat line. I was fishing mid-lake. My tip is to try spots that you wouldn't expect them to be this time of year and to watch for the occasional stripe hitting the surface.

I am going to try some night time stripe fishing this Thursday for the first time in years. Rarely tried it at Martin so we will see. Good luck!

Name:	The Sundance Kid -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B
Date:	6/24/2010 10:26:28 PM

How was that nite bite?

Name:	Caht1 -	Reply
Subject:	Striper Striper where you B - Nite Bite
Date:	6/26/2010 3:03:16 PM

The nite bite was not good for me. We only got one (around 20 lbs) and had one other bite.

Went Saturday morning and it was slow too. We got 3 and missed probably 6 bite. They were not taking the bait very well. Did manage one that was high 20's to low 30's. Didn't want to take a chance of it not making it so I just cut the leader when I got it to the boat. A boat pulled up next to us and seemed to do pretty well. I saw him get at least 4.

One thing I have learned is if you want to release the stripes, don't net them or let them turn upside down. If you can cut the leader immediately, they usually swim away pretty well. If they do turn upside down, I puncture their belly with a small slit with a fillet knife. This releases a big bubble of air and they will swim away. Whether they make it after that, I don't know but it gives them a better chance that floating on the surface or laying on my fish cleaning table.

Name:	Lee Gantt -	Reply
Subject:	Purging Stripers Does Not Work!
Date:	7/3/2010 10:14:38 AM

After reading the last post, I feel as though I need to inform you that purging striped bass is not a successful catch and release tactic on Lake Martin during the summer months. Last year Auburn University tried to do a delayed mortality study during the summer to see how many stripers died after being caught and released during the summer. The results were 100%. Purging a fish like a red snapper works fine in the Gulf of Mexico when you are bringing them up from 100 ft deep but it is not the air bladder that is keeping the stripers from going down or even living, it is the lactic acid build up that increases the longer you fight the fish, the longer the fish is above the thermocline and the longer you keep the fish out of the water. Let me stress again that there is no such thing as catch and release once the surface temp rises above the low 80's. This is why many guides stop at their limit this time of year to keep from killing a bunch of unnecessary fish. It should also be observed that using a knife to put a hole in the fish instead of the conventional purge tool with the needle opens the fish to infection as well as a much bigger hole that is more likely to cause more harm than help to the fish. Bottom line...be responsible and stop at your limit during the summer to prevent killing fish as catch and release has been shown to not be successful this time of year.

Name:	RecordBreaker -	Reply
Subject:	Purging Stripers Does Not Work!
Date:	7/6/2010 7:01:41 AM

I Agree with Lee, 5 of the fish tagged last summer were caught on my boat, It was around July 1 and the water temp was 86 degrees at daylight and all the fish were dead within 48 hours after release. These were the fish that swam back down own there own. We tried to get two of the fish in the boat, in less than a minute from the time they were hooked, (around 7 pounds) and they still died. Its tough this time of year for the stripe. The fish were tagged in the boat in an aerated stock tank.

Name:	stripernut -	Reply
Subject:	Purging Stripers Does Not Work!
Date:	7/8/2010 9:38:05 PM

I concur with Lee and Kyle (recordbreaker). This time of year, put what you catch in the box, and quit when you get a limit if not before.

Tight Lines!
Wes

URL: http://www.lakemartinstripes.com

Name:	Caht1 -	Reply
Subject:	I am not disagreeing but would like to see data
Date:	7/12/2010 9:24:48 PM

Lee,

Please understand that I am not trying to start a debate. When will this report become available? I just can't believe that 100% of the fish died, especially when you see these fish busting the surface and swimming throughout the water column. I agree that the larger fish are much more susceptible to the heat, but cannot believe that the small ones are. I catch 5 to 15 pound stripe on Logan Martin in 90+ degree water that is only 10 feet deep which means that they live in it.

I question the way the study was conducted as I have found that if you release the fish immediately by cutting the leader, without removing it from the water or keeping it from turning upside down, they swim away. However, if they turn upside down at the boat or if pulled from the water, they do not swim away. That is when I have tried to bleed the air (not in air bladder). I cannot vouch that the small puncture I create with a thin fillet knife does not create and infection, but I think it gives them a better chance. And once the air is released, they swim away just as strong as when they came to the boat.

Like I said, I would love to see the report. As a scientist, I believe that the outcome of the data is highly dependent on the way that the data were collected.

Name:	stripernut -	Reply
Subject:	I am not disagreeing but would like to see data
Date:	7/13/2010 9:38:02 AM

Caht1,
I know your post was addressed to Lee Gantt, but I'm interested in this topic and did some research this morning on Google Scholar. Steve Sammons, the Research Fellow at AU working on striped bass at LM has not yet published the results of his hooking studies (at least they don't show up on Google Scholar yet). I did find another study done on Tim's Ford Reservoir in TN that indicates that striper mortality increases greatly as water temperature increases. Below is the reference and the abstract. The full article, which has a lot of good information cited from other similar studies, can be found at http://afsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1577/1548-8675(1998)018%3C0609%3AHMABOS%3E2.0.CO%3B2
North American Journal of Fisheries Management 18:609–615, 1998

Hooking Mortality and Behavior of Striped Bass Following Catch and Release Angling

PHILLIP W. BETTOLI* AND RANDALL S. OSBORNE1
Abstract.—Concerns over the use of minimum-size regulations to increase the average weight of harvested striped bass Morone saxatilis in Tims Ford Reservoir, Tennessee, prompted this study of hooking mortality. To estimate mortality and examine behavior, striped bass longer than 508 mm total length were caught with conventional angling gear, tagged externally with ultrasonic transmitters equipped with floats, and released back into Tims Ford Reservoir. Over a 15-month period 89 fish were tagged and tracked for a minimum of 3 d. Mortality rates ranged from 14% in November and December 1993 to 67% in both August 1993 and July 1994. Although the confounding effects of tagging could not be separated from the effects of being hooked and released, disparate mortality rates among seasons, as well as observations of feeding and swimming behavior of tagged fish that survived, suggested that tagging effects were modest compared to hooking effects. Mortality rates were linearly related to air temperature (P ?? 0.012) but not to landing time, handling time, bait type, fish total length, or water temperature. Characteristics that differed between striped bass that survived and those that did not were air temperature at capture (t-test; P ?? 0.007) surface water temperature (t-test; P ?? 0.081), and handling time (t-test; P ?? 0.06). Nine striped bass were caught, tagged, and tracked intensively following release in late August 1994 to document their short-term behavior. All six fish that survived remained in warm surface waters for about 2 h following release before descending to the top of metalimnion. The three fish that died, surfaced within 1.5 h, from which we inferred that they were unable to regulate air bladder pressure. We concluded that a proposed year-round size limit of 610 mm total length would probably not improve the size structure of the population because of the high mortality of released fish that occurred during summer months.

Hope this helps. I'm also interested in Dr. Sammon's results on LM, and hope he publishes his results soon.

URL: http://afsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1577/1548-8675(1998)018%3C0609%3AHMABOS%3E2.0.CO%3B2

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