Search for Stripers

Water conditions at Lake Hickory and annual WRC stockings have created a rockfish stronghold.

Dark and foggy with an annoying drizzle — just the type of conditions that make driving along the highway a chore but just the perfect type of weather for hooking a trophy striper. I was making my way slowly along Interstate 40 heading west to Lake Hickory, peering through by car windshield into the morning gloom to catch my turnoff at N.C. 127 and find the route through the center of Hickory.

At the lake’s bridge crossing, I’d been instructed to turn left to get to Whittenburg Landing, located at mid-lake after making arrangements with Captain Frank Maddy of Captain Frank’s Guide Service.

Our meeting was to occur at the landing about 6 a.m. From there, we’d depart in search of Lake Hickory’s trophy stripers.

At most state striper waters, a trophy striper would be in the 20-pound range but not at this 4,223-acre rockfish stronghold.

Completed in 1928, the Catawba River impoundment was first stocked with striper fingerlings in 1954. From 1954 to 1959, stripers were stocked during three occasions with the hope of having a self-sustaining population, a goal which didn’t materialize (Kerr Lake was to become the only N.C. impoundment where stripers reproduce naturally).

Consequently, since the early 1980s, Hickory has received an annual stocking of striper fingerlings to replenish its rockfish population, whenever fingerlings were available.

“There were stockings between 1960 and 1980, but I can’t say much about the stockings during that period because our historical striper stocking records are incomplete,” said District 7 fisheries biologist Kin Hodges.

Two years ago Hickory received 20,500 fingerlings from 1 to 2 inches in length.

But some of the fingerlings from earlier stockings have grown to prodigious sizes because of an ample supply of forage in the lake and because of a fast growth spurt for the first three or four years.

Hodges said Hickory’s geographical location serves as a mixed blessing with respect to producing big stripers. The lake has cooler, more oxygenated waters needed for housing rockfish than lakes farther east, yet its waters aren’t as cool as lakes to the west. But unlike the often forage-poor waters to the west, Hickory has plenty of baitfish but not quite the nutrient-rich waters of eastern lakes such as Kerr and Gaston.

Hodges also said getting a handle on the density of the striper population at Hickory is difficult, as it is at other lakes because samplings usually are restricted to gill nets rather than electro-shocking because of the open-water nature of the fish and their tendency to stay on the move.

“We don’t see very many big stripers in our samplings,” Hodges said, “but that’s because of the way we sample the striper population. We know the big fish are there because of the feedback we get from fishing guides and anglers. Our samplings target average-sized fish.

“We also lack historical striper data for comparison. Intense striper studies are fairly new, going back only 4 or 5 years. Some are in progress.”

While not many big stripers show up in the samples taken at Lake Hickorys, good numbers of big stripers show up in anglers’ catches.

For more than 20 years, Hickory held the honor of yielding the state-record striped bass, a goliath weighing 39 pounds, 4 ounces, caught by Bill Dula in 1969. That mark was broken during 1991 by a 39-pound, 10-ounce striper taken at Lookout Shoals Reservoir.

Today the state-record fish is a 54-pound, 2-ounce striper landed in 1991 at Hiwassee Reservoir.

Whether Hickory is capable of producing a monster of that size is doubtful, yet numerous stripers weighing more than 20 pounds come from Hickory each year, so it takes a fish of 30 pounds to catch anyone’s attention.

Maddy said his personal best from Hickory weighed 22 pounds, and fish of that weight class are within reasonable expectations for his clients, although not the norm.

One of his clients landed a striper of almost 20 pounds, and others have caught fish in the teens.

“On a typical day, it’s not unusual for a fisherman to catch 10 fish from 5 to 10 pounds,” said Maddy, a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captain who began guiding for striped bass at Hickory, Norman, and Rhodhiss about two years ago, although he’s fish for stripers for 12 years.

“Fish from 15 to 20 pounds are not uncommon,” he said. “The average fisherman coming to Hickory for the first time should be able to catch fish from 5 to 8 pounds. It takes some experience to catch the larger fish.”

Some friendly advice can pay off, too.

During September 2004, the Tarheel Striper Club held a club tournament at Hickory. Despite heavy rains and flooding prior to the tournament, which turned the lake dingy, the club had one of its best events of the year.

Billy Lackey Jr., Matthew and Dylan Lackey, all of High Point, took first-place honors with 20.12 pounds and had the big fish of the day with a 9.10-pound striped bass.

The Lackeys never had fished the lake before, but a friend revealed some good locations to them.

“We trolled underwater ridges in the middle of the lake, using bucktails in white/yellow/green combinations,” Lackey Jr. said. “Some of the rods were used in conjunction with down-riggers.

“We were trolling in 20 feet of water, but the fish came from about 8 feet of water where they were holding along ridges.”

Maddy said one of the best times to catch a “wall-hanger” is during late fall so that’s why we had arranged an October trip.

Perhaps the thoughts of gluttonous stripers taking my bait made me overanxious or maybe the fog and drizzle hampered my view, but for whatever reason, I missed the landing on my first pass through the area, then located it on the return drive.

Maddy greeted me when I arrived along with his fishing buddy, Tommy George of Gastonia, who often assists Maddy.

Before my arrival, Maddy and George had gathered a sufficient number of shad in waters near the landing, so we immediately headed out in the morning darkness to fish the area between Rhodhiss Dam and the Rt. 321 bridge.

That stretch, Maddy said, holds big stripers from late October through December.

“We could probably catch more stripers at other places, but they’d be smaller fish.” he said. “I’m going to gamble a little and try to put you on bigger fish, though we’ll get fewer bites.

“Several stripers over 10 pounds been caught recently from the stretch of river we’ll be fishing.”

On the way, I asked Maddy to describe what would be an ideal day for striper fishing.

“A day just like today,” the 39-year-old guide said. “Chilly and overcast with a light rain in the morning.

“A good cold snap for a week or two triggers a false spawning run at this stretch of river. The fish will stay in the area until the water gets too cold. Fishing’s best when the water temperature ranges from 60 to 65 degrees.”

By the time we reached the waters close to Rhodhiss Dam, which registered 62 degrees, the drizzle had ceased, yet the cloud cover remained.

Intermittent splashes could be heard, indicating feeding stripers among the rocky terrain that characterized the area immediately behind the dam. Maddy shut off the big motor and carefully navigated clearances between the rocks with his trolling motor.

“We’ll begin by casting flukes and bucktails among the rocks for schooling stripers,” he said. “It’s too shallow and rocky for trolling until we get some distance from the dam.

Familiar with the routine, George already had tossed out a bucktail jig and after barely starting his retrieve, cried out: “Fish on.”

But the striper broke off almost as quickly as it had been hooked, causing George to smile.

“Well, the captain should be the one to catch the first fish anyway,” he said.

Repeated casts resulted in only another strike or two.

Maddy moved a fair distance from the dam to set up for trolling.

While fishing these waters, he said he prefers to free line (trolling live bait without weights) because of the depth of the water and the irregular bottom.

“It’s mostly 8- to 12-feet deep in this stretch, and the water is a little bit lower than usual this fall,” he said. “If you look at the depth-finder, you can see how rocky the bottom is.”

For pulling free lines, Maddy runs eight lines — six Off Shore planer boards and two free lines from the back of his boat. For his planer rigs, he ties a swivel 2 to 3 feet above the hook, then adds a bead to keep the planer board from coming down and hitting the hook. No weights are added.

His equipment consists of 7-foot, 6-inch Invincible Striper Ultimate rods and Shakespeare WonderRods. He said they’re good live-bait rods because they’re lightweight and have lots of action.

For his rods, Maddy has Ambassadeur 6500 reels, all spooled with 12-pound-test Berkley Big Game line.

He follows one guiding principle for line selection.

“The smaller the pound-test line you can get away with, the better,” he said. “If the water isn’t too snaggy or if it’s deeper than 10 feet, I’ll sometimes use 12-pound-test-line with a 10-pound-test leader.”

At the business end, Maddy ties on a No. 3/0 circle hook, hooking his bait sideways through the nostril.

In the summer, he may switch to down lines, using Kahle hooks instead of circle hooks, hooking the bait through the top lip.

For bait, he favors threadfin shad over gizzard shad, both of which can be found in Hickory. He also wants the biggest baits he can find this time of year — 8 to 9 inches in length, if available.

His credo is “the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish.”

Maddy said two of the best places to catch bait are the backs of Gunpowder Creek and the Whittenburg Landing cove. Unlike some lakes, shad can’t be caught just anywhere at Hickory.

During his guide trips, Maddy follows a routine that assures he’ll be using the liveliest bait possible.

“When I have a trip booked, I’ll catch my bait early in the morning before my client arrives and fish until 11 a.m.,” he said. “Then I’ll stop fishing and replenish my bait and start again about 2 p.m. Whether it’s a half- or full-day booking, I’ll have fresh bait.”

He keeps his bait in an insulated 30-gallon Super Bait Tank II that recirculates water and has a scale-catcher and filter. He adds bait-saver, salt and foam-off to keep the bait healthy.

“Don’t skimp on your bait tank,” Maddy said.

He also said not to skimp on the trolling motor.

Maddy has a Minn-Kota trolling motor with auto-pilot. CoPilot accessories include a cordless remote control he wears on his wrist.

“I don’t have to worry about working the trolling motor while I’m working with my fishing lines,” he said. “I can also adjust my trolling speeds to keep my baits apart.”

Despite the favorable conditions for striper fishing, the fish were reluctant to strike.

Maddy had to make several pulls through the stretch of river before the first decent fish struck. It weighed about 5 pounds, a nice fish but certainly not one of the trophy fish he had hoped would take the bait.

Other boats in the area had similar luck. At times, we’d see a rod bend and a small striper come on board elsewhere, but no one was catching any heavyweight fish.

One tug on one of our lines brought an unexpected guest on board, a whiskered catfish.

Now and then, alarms sounded from Rhodhiss Dam, indicating a sudden release of water and an increase in current.

“More current seems to help the fishing,” Maddy said, hoping the run of water would trigger more bites.

While we trolled, Maddy occasionally grabbed a spare rod already rigged with a jig and tossed the lure toward the undercuts of the river bank.

“Sometimes, stripers will hold up in those snaggy places or near trees along the bank,” he said.

Numerous passes through the area yielded a few more small stripers.

During lulls, Maddy, who guides full-time, year-round, indicated his policy on clients.

“I don’t like to take more than three clients out at one time when I’m fishing this river section because there may not be enough bites to keep three people happy,” he said. “It’s big-fish water, as I said before, but strikes are limited.

“I’m also hesitant to carry more than three people because if we do fish places where we get lots of bites, it’ll work me to death trying to keep up with all those fishing rods.”

In the summer when Maddy uses down lines, he sometimes handles four clients.

During guide trips, Maddy said he supplies all the equipment, while clients should bring food, drinks, and the appropriate fishing license.

By early afternoon, the cloud cover disappeared, and the bite got even slower.

Although our trip didn’t result in trophy stripers, the anticipation of catching a fish of 20 pounds or more is what keeps anglers returning to Lake Hickory.

I plan on returning, too.