Anybody here know how to fish for stripers in the St. Johns. I usually fish inshore for red,trout, and flounder. Any tips on how to fish the Buckman, Shands, or downtown bridges for stripers would be greatly appreciated.
Basically...an umbrella rig is wire frame with soft plastic baits attatched to it...it gives the illusion of a school of bait. Usually one of the baits will be set back a little bit so it looks like a stragler (thats the one that usually gets bit)
An Parachute Jig is more-or-less an oversized bucktail jig that you troll with...you go at about 2 knts and drop your jig back...one you're just off the bottom you jig the rod up and down. It gives the illusion of a struggling bait fish...
Hi Bill welcome to the site. :lol: Love to see you southern guys onboard. This info is from Fla. Dept of Wildlife.
Catching sunshines is a matter of locating them, for the most part; they're not hook-wary. One tactic that's effective is to motor slowly across deep, open portions of a stocked lake or river and look for balls of bait on a depthfinder.
They also frequent mid-lake humps and drop- offs. And they're attracted to flowing water, so areas below flowing dams are always a good bet. And at times, they chase bait to the surface and attack, much like Spanish mackerel in saltwater.
When they're deep, the best offerings are small jigs, jigging spoons fished vertically and small diving crankbaits or vibrating lures like the Rat-L- Trap. Topwaters work when the fish school on top.
Even better are small minnows - the Missouri minnows used for crappies work fine - and surprisingly, fresh-cut saltwater shrimp. The latter is fished in pieces about 2 inches long, right on bottom. The sunshines scarf it up like bottom-feeding catfish. And at Medard Reservoir, you may catch as many channel cats as sunshines with shrimp on the bottom; the lake is loaded with them.
Read more here http://www.stripers247.com/floridaplaces.htm
Now as for stripers its pretty much the same. Match the hatch. That river has a huge shad population and I would bet that the stripers are feeding on the shad. Any type of live bait or minnow would work. Look for dropoffs and humps on your fishfinder. Or fish near inlet feeds like creeks that empty in or jig or float bait around the bridges. Check to see if the local tackle shop will offer up any info. :lol:
Just put your time in and experiment. I wish it was me. Its below zero and Im not looking forward to my heat bill this month.
Another alternative is to fish with a guide. Its worth the few hundred bucks for what you can learn about the river alone. Buddy up with a couple of guys and split the costs. The tackle shops know ther local guides. Me I like to clown around on my own. 8)
I appreciate the info guys. I went out on Sunday but it was so darn windy and cold it was like a torture chamber out there. I'm gonna try again this weekend near the bridges. It's supposed to be almost 70 degrees!! I'll post how I do.... Go Patriots!!!!!!!
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