# What's up with Livingston Stripers?



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Ok, I don't have a long history fishing on the big lake, but is this an unusual year for small stripers on Livingston and if so what's up with that?

Numerous reports all spring have mentioned lots of small stripers in with the white bass schools. Today, I caught 22 fish and about 15 of them were small stripers.

The big school working the north-east side of Pine Island for the last several days is full of 15 to 17 inch stripers. Everyone is catching them. If you've fished that school you can confirm what I'm saying.

According to TP&W, last year was the *lowest*, by far, number of stripers stocked in Livingston in *over 12 years*.....and yet the numbers of small stripers being caught is really impressive(to me at least). Last year about 200k stripers were stocked in Liv and the year before about 800k were stocked. You have to go all the way back to *1996* to find a year with stocking numbers close to equal the 2008 low.

Assuming TP&W stocks according to need, have they determined the striper population in Liv is on the upswing? Anecdotal evidence sure seems to support that.

Is this also evidence of successful spawning of stripers last season? These fish are the right size to have been spawned in spring 2008.

Maybe its just wishful thinking, but is there a good chance that by next year we may be seeing some good numbers of fish over 20 inches? :bounce:

Or am I way off base?


----------



## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

It has been strange over the years. I think the spawn this year was above average for the whites and stripers. The reports up by the lock and dam were alot better than usual for stripers and hybrids. I caught some of my biggest stripers back in the early 80s one going 30+lbs. But lately my biggest has been 28" 8-10 lbs. The fish are there just finding them is the problem. I talked to a commercial catfisherman earlier this year that caught and released one that went 43" had to be 35lbs+. Im not sure what the maturity rate for the striper is maybe SS can give some feedback on that.


----------



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Your experience this year sounds fairly consistent with what I catch most years. I don't know where they go after they get bigger. Sure, I occasionally get them up to about 28 inches, but most years I catch a BUNCH of 16 to 17 inch ones.


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I am with WBF in that I catch a ton of those small ones every year and each year I think"we will have big stripers in the lake next year" but I think most go through the gates and end up in the tail race/river. They follow that current and get too close. There are big ones in the lake and a few fishermen who get on them consistantly. Most of the big ones I catch are luck. When schools are surfacing you can often see big stripers blowing up on the far outside of the school. Just try get a boat to them though, they are extrememly boat shy. A commercial; fishermen once told me about being on the South end of the lake putting out markers for his gill ntes (long ago) when a school of 20lb+ stripers came up all around his boat and stayed up for 20 minuets. He went back year after year at the same time to the plcae and never saw them agaim.
Stripers can be sexually mature at about 4 years and be about 22" at that time.


----------



## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

About four years ago I spoke with a biologist at the Athens facility while on a tour. He said that Livingston got "what's left" after they complete their stocking programs in other lake. That's why most are fingerlings since they are the end of the run. He did not have any facts or figures handy but he thought that 90% of the two year old fish leave the lake on the first big rise in the fall. The stripers are well establisted in the Gulf but at that time there was no funding to study their migration in the salt water. He also said that the warm Gulf was not the best habitate like the northern US east coast where they are native.
When I ask about spawning he said that the sandy, shollow and salty waters of the upper Red river was the only place where stipers could successfully spawn in the state of Texas. They would try in any river system but the conditions are just not right in most. The next time I go to Dallas I am going by there to ask more question.
Seem that we should have big stripers by the millions. Those little 12 inch and longer hammer handles can't have many natural enemies except for us fishermen. And we are not hurting the population.
Texoma is the best striper lake in our neck of the woods. They have not stocked a stripper since 1977. Few years back they reduced the bag limit and increased minimum size to get larger fish. It worked. We do not catch many fish over 18 inches so why don't we have lots of large fish?
The flood waters in Texoma is retained and released slowly through the electrical turbine. Maybe that is why the larger fish are retained in the lake since there is no big current to ride out of the lake.
Two years ago when the TP&W was electro-shocking stripers below Livingston for their hatchery one of the crew told my neighbor and I that they were selecting sea run fish fresh from the Gulf on the annual spawning run.
The striper question is a puzzle for sure.


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Most people that I have talked to about the situation, who have some science background education, have told me that most of those juvinel stripers exit the lake through the gates during high discharges.
I know of a few people who have a better aim on them than I do, and what they report is not much better than I do by accident fishing for white bass. 
So there just can't be many big stripers in the lake, of course someone will now find a way to find and stay with them and I'll have to eat crow. That's okay as long as they give a hint on how it's done.
I see boats that are made for striper fishing trolling along a couple of ally ways I know have big stripers aropund them and they are better at hiding a fish from view than most, or they do not catch any. Because I don't see them landing fish except on rare days.
Big stripers seem to go on feeding sprees once in a while, and folks will bring in a few, then in between there is not much action.
SS


----------



## megafish (Mar 5, 2007)

*Sounds like it's time to Slam 101*

Maybe it's time to slip them Cannon downriggers into my mounts and seeeeee where the big boY's are hanging out !


----------



## Kody Emmert (Oct 5, 2007)

I fish Buchanan alot and the bigger schools of stripers don't usually run with the schools of whites/small stripers. They tend to stack in deep water (70 ft.) and hang right in the tops of timber waiting for shad. One of the only ways we catch them is ripping hyper striper jigs off the bottom or using down riggers... You can usually also drift live bait and limit out on bigger stripers if you find a feeding group. The larger ones are usually very tight lipped and only bite at dawn and dusk. We have got into numerous groups of large (10-20lb range) and limited out. I would also suppose that there are some massive stripers below all of the highland lake spillways due to the restricted access (no fishing for 5+ years). I would suppose that the large stripers in Livingston would be similar to the fish in Buchanan. just my .02....

Kody


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Megafish, you go for it. I would, except that I am waiting for somebody else to make that investment. I do think it's the way to go for them. I once went off shore with a guide who worked Buchanan during the fall/winter for stripers. He had those nice electric return boys that were programmable to go down and come back up if hit, he said it made a teriffic difference with stripers and Kingfish. 
A commercial fisherman I know once told about going out to set some markers and had no rod with him. Big stripers(20lb+) came up all around him near the dam and stayed up for a while, of course he nothing to throw at them. He said he went back the next day and at the same time of year for years, but never saw them again.

Everynow and then I see them come up while I'm on plane going from Browder's to the island, by the time I recognize what is goinmg on I have put them down. But I have seen them there more than once.
Somebody get em.
SS


----------



## fishinglandman (Jun 1, 2009)

I am interested in stripers but I am just learning. What does..." ways we catch them is ripping hyper striper jigs off the bottom or using down riggers"... actually mean?

"You can usually also drift live bait and limit out on bigger stripers if you find a feeding group. " What is the bait? How is it presented and rigged

Downriggers?

Thanks for any Help as I need it..

Lee


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Down riggers are tools which enable the angler to precisely troll a lure/bait at a selected depth. Cannon makes arguably the best ones.










There are some really good crank baits now which run good depths...e.g. DT22's are really good and can be made more effective by running in tandem with a bucktail teaser on a dropper. Also, Mirror Lures makes a deep trolling lure which works very well in the salt and I intend to try on Livingston.

Ripping hyper striper jigs is like slabbing for whites, but using big bucktail jigs and instead of lifting them off the bottom, literally ripping them rapidly off the bottom...the hit usually happens on the fall.

Live bait...gizzard shad, big ones, are a preferred food item for big stripers. One guide told me he uses 1 pound live gizzard shad. I have used live BG about 5 inches on recent attempts at Livingston...free lined under balloons and also carolina rigged. One guide has recommended to me that you slap the water once with your rod and somehow that stirs up the stripers if they are present.

You should see the looks you get from free lined balloons....the potlickers try to troll around them, start slabbing for whites, and even pick them up.

Its good to see the interest in getting after some of these big fish on Livingston. White bass are fun, but a big striper is a huge challenge and an experience that won't soon be forgotten. Hope to see you out there Lee and others as well.

Any one who wants to join me let me know. What I've been doing lately is spending first light until about 9 or 10 on stripers and then finishing the morning off with white bass. Most days only need a hour or so to get all the whites I need.

Also, I've asked the biologists responsibile for Livingston striper management to answer some of our questions...will post any info received. Thanks.


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Fishinglandman,

Here is the rig I was referring to in above post. This is a DT22 crankbait with a big bucktail teaser above it on a dropper loop. Hasn't got me a striper yet on Liv, but I'm sure giving it a hell of a try.

p.s. the above rig has worked very well for me on Fairfield redfish


----------



## CmackR56 (May 30, 2009)

I have a buddy the lives in Trinity that has been catching them on a fairly consistent basis for about 3 or 4 years now. He is using big striper jigs and fishing timber that is right on the river channel somewhere North of Pine Island. He finds them suspended around 20' feet or so.He initially ran accross them schooling on top late one evening while returning from a bass trip somewhere around Indian creek. He reasoned that they must live in the area and spent some time graphing and found that they were suspendind in the deep timber along the river channel. He had offered me the GPS coordinates but I never took him up on it. I saw some pics of limits that he and his boy caught with the fish being mostly 15 to 17 pounds. He says that they will occaisionally hook one that will spool their reel. I'll try to run him down this week and see if I can get some more info.


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Very interesting. Almost never see a boat up there. Certainly worth a try.


----------



## Kody Emmert (Oct 5, 2007)

CmackR56 said:


> I have a buddy the lives in Trinity that has been catching them on a fairly consistent basis for about 3 or 4 years now. He is using big striper jigs and fishing timber that is right on the river channel somewhere North of Pine Island. He finds them suspended around 20' feet or so.He initially ran accross them schooling on top late one evening while returning from a bass trip somewhere around Indian creek. He reasoned that they must live in the area and spent some time graphing and found that they were suspendind in the deep timber along the river channel. He had offered me the GPS coordinates but I never took him up on it. I saw some pics of limits that he and his boy caught with the fish being mostly 15 to 17 pounds. He says that they will occaisionally hook one that will spool their reel. I'll try to run him down this week and see if I can get some more info.


I knew that the stripers were pretty consistent with all of the lakes and they always seem to suspend in deep timber....


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I fellow who works at TRA told me the same thing about them hanging out around timber North of Pine Island. I was once spooled at the jetty near the state park by a giant striper, happened so fast i could not even react. 
I dont guess these has happened to anyone else, but I have had big stripers by the Island grab my jet diver, usually chrome, and hang on to it until I get them to the boat, when they open their mouth and it flies out!


----------



## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

My neighbor was given two 25" stripers a few weeks ago that were caught on live perch in the timbered slough out from Memorial Point. For you guys familiar with that area it out from the big white rock bulkhead that has all of the newly planted palms trees. The fisherman said 15 ft down in 35 ft of water. We caught tons of good blues there this spring late in the morning when they left the bulkheads.


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Part of the mystery is solved. Big stripers are in the lake and they definitely can be caught when schooling as they are doing right now in certain spots on the big lake. 

They had to be there, common sense says they are there, and now I know for sure they are there. 

Maybe a lot of the small ones do get flushed down the river, but it just never made any sense, common sense, that all of them would be flushed down.

Now it turns out that many have not been flushed out...at least yet. I wonder how many schools of big stripers go completely unobserved...I know for fact that it is happening now and not just in one location .

How long will it last? Don't know, but I'll be out there looking for them, as time permits, until it stops. What a fantastic fishery!!


----------



## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

I have the best results on bigger striper in the fall. I plan on doing some serious Live Baiting for em this year. I am gonna try a striper bucktail with a 6" sardine on humps on the river edge and see what happens.


----------

