I know where the fish in the lower Clinch are!

[Flat Fly n]

In the belly of the 35#+ striper I saw along with the other 20 stripers she was hanging out with!!! In that deep section above Cold Water and below Offut shoals in the bend. No mistaking what these were. No visible "threadfin shad" schools either so that bunk won't fly. We also saw a few stripers below Donny Scruggs's farm as well.

Maybe a bounty tournament? Big money for some stripers caught in the upper Clinch some weekend. Kill'em and grill'em tournament at 61 Bridge Ramp some Saturday? Anybody in? I will throw out the first $100 to the winner, bring the grill, and the refeshments! HA!


Disclaimer: While the above tournament probably would not be legal it is a shame that the river is coming back only to have these packs of wolves feeding off what we and the state have tried to improve over the past few years.

[Grannyknot]

They're darn good when the big filets are cut down, marinated in buttermilk, then fried just like catfish. I like a 1:1 cornmeal and flour mixture.

I do my part on the lake, but they're too hard for me to fish for on the river.
Talk about fish in a barrel.

[David Knapp]

Originally Posted by Flat Fly n

Maybe a bounty tournament? Big money for some stripers caught in the upper Clinch some weekend. Kill'em and grill'em tournament at 61 Bridge Ramp some Saturday? Anybody in? I will throw out the first $100 to the winner, bring the grill, and the refeshments! HA!

Man if I had a boat I would be over there! I love fishing for stripers but really hate seeing them in perfectly good trout water. There are some monsters over on the Caney and while water quality issues plague that tailwater, I have to also think that the stripers aren't helping the situation. Got some live rainbows at a bait shop and drift them through that area during generation. I'll bet you could catch a good number of stripers and "accidentally" hit them pretty hard on the head...

[Flat Fly n]

Tennessee allows you to use gamefish to catch gamefish! That makes sense, huh? I've seen the striper guys fishing above the weir, putting trout into 5 gal. buckets and then walking back and hopping in their rigs with striper boat in tow.

Bowfish for stripers? Is that legal?

[Rockyraccoon]

I saw the same pack of Stripes last Thursday. Big and blue, with at least 15 in the school. Same place too. I've seen a few other smaller schools and a few loners.

I don't care what anybody else thinks.....I guarantee any stripes that are caught will have at least one trout in them, but more than likely several will be in their gut.

A few years back, a 32lb striper was caught on the Hiwassee around the Devils Shoals area. It had 9 trout in it's gut, including a 14" brown trout.

Sure would be nice if we could keep them out of the tailwater. Whether it be by a kill'em all tournament, electroshock, or anything else that would work. Count me in.

[waterwolf]

Your guardian angel is working on the problem currently....

[MadisonBoats]

Most of my striper fishing buds fish for them with 10-12" trout on balloons. One of my friends came close to breaking the state record on the Clinch last year with a big boy striper. I see them all the time and they don't take a second look at my flies. However; it is almost always on low water. I actually got my GoPro within a foot or two of a few of them swimming around.

[Flat Fly n]

That would be in the mid-60's # range then. OOOOHHHH yeah, the Clinch is just full of threadfin shad!

Kill 'em all!

[waterwolf]

Here are a couple of the culprits, they no longer have a pulse. My head is gone to obscure the section of river where they came from.

[MadisonBoats]

Jim,
Those are impressive catches. It looks like you took them on low-flow. Did you get them on a fly rod? That would be a fabulous battle....