Nat Greene Flyfishers    February 2009

January 13, 2009 Monthly Meeting Summary

Presentation by Rob Domico

Madison River Fly Fishing Outfitters

20910 Torrance Chapel Road, Suite D5

Cornelius, NC 28031

702-896-3676

All the impounded lakes on the Catawba River (except Lake Jones) have striped bass. The Lake Norman fishery is stable. The take from sport fishing in the summer is balanced by the 200,000 – 300,000 fry that are stocked each year.

For a long time, Rob did not known that he could fish for stripers on winter nights under the lights. Several years ago, after a day trolling for stripers with live bait, a client asked if they had ever caught fish at night under the lights. This client lived in Florida and routinely caught snook around lighted docks. The client suggested an experiment that night. On the first cast, a large striper came out from under the dock to strike at a spoon fluttering downward. That was the beginning of the nighttime striper fishery.

During winter nights the thermocline (a layer of water that separates the surface water from the calmer, deeper water below) moves to within 5 -20 ft of the surface. Plankton ride the rising thermocline and are attracted to the lights. Threadfin and gizzard shad follow the plankton. The shad school like tarpon moving around the perimeter of light. In tarpon speak, this is a “poon train.” The predators (stripers and spotted bass) position themselves 10 – 15 feet below the bait fish but not in the light. Several stripers at each light (usually 2-4), being the larger and thus the dominant predators, relegate the spotted bass to the outer perimeter of the feeding zone. In fact, once a striper is removed, 10-15 spotted bass (ranging in weight from 2-3 pounds) move in closer.

The fishery runs from November through early April; Friday and Saturday nights are the usual, although not exclusive, times. A typical client’s day begins when they check into a hotel in the afternoon and enjoy a good dinner. They meet at the dock for a 9:00 PM departure. The boat returns by 3:00 AM. Clients then crash back at the hotel and leave for home mid- to late morning.

Rob will not fish on calm nights because the fish are too wary. Ideal conditions are a slight chop on the water one day ahead of a cold front with winds coming out of the west or southwest. A cold, snowy or rainy night produces well. The boat makes a circuit of 13 docks throughout the night. With lights off, the boat is positioned 40-50 away from the light perimeter with the trolling motor. Water slapping against the hull frightens the fish if the boat is too close.

Rob likes two inch streamer flies to imitate a fry-sized shad that has strayed from the school. Clousers in brown/white, blue/white, grey/white work well. Epoxy-head streamers in the same colors or mylar tubing bodies with white craft fur wings are also used. The flies are allowed to sink and stripped in quickly at 18-24 inches per strip. Adding pauses between strips lets the fly rise and fall like the trace on a heart monitor. Rob prefers 7-9 wt rods in 10 ft lengths fitted with weight forward floating lines. Leaders consist of 3-4 ft of 18 lb mono.

The excitement begins once a fish is hooked. It will quickly run 100 yards into deeper water and the black of night. The fisherman will be holding a straining rod and hearing the fish thrash in the darkness but see nothing. Stripers will usually make three runs before tiring. Rob advises holding the rod low to the side in a plane parallel to the water’s surface to exert maximum pressure on the fish. Once a fish is hooked and released, the boat moves to the next dock. An eight fish night is a good night. Large numbers of fish are not caught but the average fish is 6 pounds. The biggest striper caught weighed 13 pounds.

Charles Tuttle