The BIL and I launched at Antelope for a 5 night trip rudely cut short to a 3 night trip after 4th day carelessness resulted in a hook embedded deep in my thumb and a trip to the Page hospital for removal (The BIL thinks I'm morphing into a BIL... hard to dispute his claim). Prior to that, striper slaying was going better than expected.

Night Fishing: Though this year there aren't any shad to attract, the night light draws plankton and in the past we have had some great plankton-only bites. First night we tried a never-before-failed spot near Dominguez Butte and basically struck out...caught only two. The other two nights we fished in the main channel near Rock Creek, kept 20+ each night and tossed back any that even smelled skinny. Comparing to other trips, the night fishing was only mediocre at best.

The second morning we met up with Wayne and he demonstrated his trolling over reefs technique in the main lake channel. We milked and massaged that for all it was worth and ended up catching lots of extremely healthy stripers before the early trip exit. Healthy stripers were just the opposite of what I had expected (one weighed over 5 lbs. and was not just healthy but actually fat).

Here was the pattern: Skinny stripers were in the canyons, fat ones in the main lake channel, at least from Rock Creek up. We trolled Rattling Rapallas, Wally Divers etc. along all shorelines other than straight up and down cliffs. Time of day didn't seem to make much difference. They're evidently feeding and fattening up on bluegill and sunfish. The water was clear and usually a hooked fish had 6-8 others following. An occasional Walleye joined the other stiffs in the ice chest. The key to success was trolling the main lake shoreline rather than back in the canyons.

What surprised us most was fish condition. From reports prior to trip I expected to toss most back. Instead we tossed any that even hinted at being skinny and still kept 3 out of four...we kept none with the white meat fillets you can roll up like a tortilla.

Again, the keys that worked... fish the main lake channel, except along cliffs... Canyons are harboring mostly skinny stripers.