Name:	DVan1901 -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	5/3/2016 6:45:24 PM

Having zero luck the last two days; anyone have insight into what the current pattern is for stripes? I'm seeing some bait, but nothing really around it. I've been deep in Blue Creek, all the way past the 280 bridge and the power lines by the dam, but no bites and not seeing any schools. Been trolling to try and cover more ground and search, but I just feel like I'm in the wrong locations.

Any advice/help?

Name:	Waldo -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	5/25/2016 9:16:30 AM

Wish I could offer some advice, but I have not been there since Feb. those who are catching them probably won't divulge anything. The funny thing is that stripes are being caught on topwater on Lake Lanier in the mornings. It's very similar to Martin, but you don't here of such here.

Name:	John C -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	5/25/2016 12:41:56 PM

I agree, I fished with Henry Cowen on Lanier and after talking to him, I think Martin's patterns should be exactly like Lanier. I don't think as many people try top water here at Martin.

Name:	Fly Fishing Guy -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	5/28/2016 1:16:12 PM

If y'all start catching them on top then we need to cast to them with our fly rods!

Name:	Aardvark -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/1/2016 10:05:36 PM

Do the Gulf strain stripers stocked in Martin act differently than Atlantic strain?  I hear about Lanier fishermen catching stripers on topwater and around dock lights at night, but the only thing I hear about Martin stripers is fish deep.  I also never hear about Martin stripes tearing into schools of shad when it gets cooler.  I see gazillions of shad up Little Kowaliga in the fall, but most of the time, nothing bothers them except for the occasional school of spots or white bass.  Someone needs to tell those stripers that the eating is good up past Real Island!

Name:	John C -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/2/2016 1:27:08 PM

From talking with David Hare here, and Cowen at Lanier, it's all about the shad. Find the shad and you'll find the stripes. David fishes deep for them in hotter weather but he trolls shallow for them in cool weather. Shallow, deep, whatever. Key on shad and you'll find them.

Name:	Waldo -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/3/2016 7:01:40 PM

Does anyone know if the stripes and shad have started moving back down the lake to the dam area yet? I plan to give it a try next week but am not sure where to start---uplake or down lake.

Name:	Aardvark -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/4/2016 2:33:38 PM

Finding shad is not a problem.  I can sit in my boat in the middle of the lake in October and November, and soon a school will swim within casting range.  The problem is that not much is eating them out there.  Get in closer to the shore, and the spots will chase them.  Sometimes the white bass will show up.  Stripes just don't like my end of the lake for some reason, even when the water cools off.  However, when I have fished around Chimney Rock during the same time frame, I still don't see any surface activity.  I stopped wasting my gas on those long runs because there is more surface activity close to home.

Name:	Aardvark -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/5/2016 12:28:50 AM

I just googled up an interesting fact.  Martin gets 3 stripers per acre, while Lanier gets many more striper fingerlings, usually over 10 per acre.  That could explain success rates and fish habits to some extent.

Name:	Fly Fishing Guy -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/5/2016 9:29:52 AM

Good Sunday morning to y'all!

Ardvark that is interesting.  Maybe due to stocking more fish on a slightly smaller lake it leads to more competition among the stripes... therefore they get more creative in how they feed? I have no clue but just a thought.  I actually know a fisheries biologist from Auburn who has studied stripes in AL. I will email him some of our questions.

Name:	Pontoonfisher -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/6/2016 9:34:39 AM

You need to key on areas that are shallow flat areas (10'-20') that have sharp drop offs to deeper water (30'-60').  They will tend to hang out in the deeper cooler water close to shallow areas where they can run the the bait into shallow water.  If you are just trolling aimlessly in 50 to 80 feet of water you are wasting your time.  It is true that you must find the shad to find the stripers.  But you must also find the shad in an area that the stripe can also survive in the summer.  The striper must have deeper cooler water to go back to in summer months. If you troll these areas just wher the drop offs are you will have better luck.  Also focus on the areas that the wind is blowing towards.  The wind will tend to push the shad.  So if the wind is blowing towards one side of a channel fish that side first.

Name:	Waldo -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/6/2016 7:40:45 PM

Thanks for the tip. Can stripes be caught in Martin on artificials during the summer or would you be wasting time as well?

Name:	Aardvark -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/6/2016 8:58:21 PM

Perhaps the maximum depths of the lakes has something to do with stocking rates.  Lanier had trout at one time before Georgia switched to stripers.  Trout require even colder water than stripers, so perhaps the oxygen levels are nominal at greater depths than at Martin.  I do know that Martin has trouble at times supporting trophy stripers due to oxygen levels in the summer at the depth range where stripers find their preferred temperatures.  This is why gulf strain stripers are stocked, and why the culling limits are in place.  If there is not enough useful striper habitat due to deep water oxygen levels, then maybe the biologists believe that Martin can only support a stocking rate of three per acre every year instead of the ten plus typical of Lanier.  Personally, I would like to see enough stripers stocked to come chow down on all of the shad blissfully swimming around in front of our place every fall.

Name:	Pontoonfisher -	Reply
Subject:	Striper pattern?
Date:	6/7/2016 3:18:35 PM

I would say its a waste of time unless you have downriggers or some other method of trolling artificals deep with depth control.  Surface temperature just gets too hot in the summer.  You might be able to get a few in the 10'-15' depth range around deep water dock lights at night.  Your best bet is November thru early May.  I think the best time is March thru April.  Fish any docklight or underwater light at night and its a no brainer.