With stripers, you will use bigger baits because they feed on bigger bait fish. Large crankbaits, minnow plugs, jigs and swimbaits are very effective for stripers and hybrids. Small crank baits, minnow plugs, jigs and spinners catch lots of white bass.
Catching these fish during the spawn is easier than any other time of year. They are easy to find. Just target any dam or spillway that prevents them from continuing upstream. They will migrate to these areas and stay here until they are done spawning. Casting fast-moving lures are very productive. Some anglers prefer using jigs, while other prefer using live shad. All methods will catch fish during this time.
As fish move into open water, trolling is the best way to catch these fish. Crankbaits, minnow plugs, and live shad are the top choices of baits for trolling for summer stripers, hybrids or white bass. Experienced anglers will use yellow birds to get the bait close to the structure along the shoreline and far away from the boat. If you see a school of fish surfacing and feeding on shad, stop trolling and cast shad-imitation lures into the schools. You will be able to catch fish in a hurry without spooking the fish. Whenever you are trolling for these fish, you must have a couple of rods set up with lures to cast just in case you run into a school of fish feeding on the surface.
Some other techniques that work are fishing jigs with a straight retrieve rather than jigging it. Vertical jigging in deep water is productive with jigging spoons. Balloon fishing works well with live shad. This is probably the best method for taking very large stripers. Topwater lures are effective when the fish are feeding on shad on the surface. White bass fishermen will attach a strip of belly meat to their jigs when fish are finicky. There are many different methods for catching these fish. If you know how to target the spawning fish, schooling fish on the surface and also troll for the suspended fish, you will have a lot of success.
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