Top targets for June stripers

Catch your share of striped bass at these lakes

Striper fishing patterns are stabilizing by June, offering productive and dependable opportunities from now and throughout the summer.

The most dependable action is live bait fishing in deep water, but the potential for topwater schooling in low-light periods is realistic. And nocturnal fishing can be excellent on some lakes as forage moves into shallower water, and the stripers follow for the feast.

Here are some of the top summertime striper fisheries to try in 2025.

Lake Murray

Lake Murray ranks as one of the most consistent striper-producing lakes in South Carolina, and that’s particularly true in June and continuing into the remainder of the summer.

William Attaway from Pomaria guides for catfish much of the year, but loves guiding for stripers during June and July.

“The fishing is excellent in June, and the regulations change on June 1, when anglers have to keep the first five fish they catch,” he said. “These regulations continue through September. The fishing is excellent, and the action is fast-paced.”

Attaway said the key to catching stripers is finding forage and good oxygen content in the water throughout this time of year.

Attaway (803-924-0857) said he finds the largest concentrations of summer stripers in water depths between 30 and 60 feet, from the Dreher Island area down to the Lake Murray dam.

Attaway said electronics are essential to finding stripers, regardless of their location.

“I may have to check multiple areas to find fish, but when on the right spot, I’ll use the spot-lock on the electric motor and vertically fish live, blueback herring at the depth, or just above, where the fish are marked,” he said.

Attaway said he learned schools of stripers occupy a depth range in the water column, not always a specific depth. To target bigger fish, he’ll drop baits through the top level of fish to reach stripers near the bottom of the range. The pace of action may be slower, but the stripers are usually larger.

Another Lake Murray striper guide is Capt. Mike Glover, aka “Striper Mike.” He said stripers will surface school in June and throughout the summer.

“When they blow up on the surface, it is great fun and exciting fishing,” he said. “But it’s not an every day, reliable pattern. So I stay rigged and ready with live blueback herring for the deepwater live bait bite. But I have the topwater rigs ready for service, and we’ll look and listen for the surface schooling action.”

Glover (803-609-0066; Capt. Mike’s Guide Service on Facebook) said the possibility of surface schooling action makes it imperative to be on the water early.

For additional information on Lake Murray, visit www.lakemurraycountry.com/.

Lake Hartwell

June produces sensational striper fishing on Lake Hartwell in terms of quality and quantity of fish. Anglers can enjoy fast action using live bait and artificial lures.

Guide Preston Harden of Bucktail Guide Service said live bait fishing is the “go-to” tactic for many anlgers in the early morning.

“Blueback herring are the preferred bait,” Harden said. “The key is to keep fresh bait on the line and adjust the depth to keep the bait at or above where stripers are marked on the graph. Stripers are often foraging, and they are moving targets.”

“Some fish will still be up the rivers in May,” Harden said. “By June, most of the stripers and hybrids will be found in the lower half of the lake.”

Harden (706-255-5622) said his favored targets include mid-lake humps with deep water access. Long points in the large creeks and coves are prime areas, and are among the first places he checks at dawn.

“When I see a reasonable number of fish on the graph that I believe are stripers, I’ll usually drop bait,” he said. “I don’t need to have a screen full of fish to set up, because once we hook a couple of stripers, the fish-fighting activity seems to attract every fish in the area to my boat.”

Harden loves overcast and misty rain days for topwater fishing. They improve fish-catching action and keep the fish active longer.

Working artificial lures, such as the Sammy and Zara Spook, are effective. And Harden is always watching and listening for schooling fish activity.

He said this topwater action can produce stripers, hybrids, or hefty spotted bass.

For more information on the Lake Hartwell area visit www.lakehartwellcountry.com.

Kerr Lake: Day and Night

Kerr Lake on the North Carolina and Virginia border holds plenty of stripers and abundant forage. And by June, fishing can be good, day or night, in this deep, clear lake.

Pete Jordan fishes Kerr Lake for several species and employs multiple tactics to catch stripers.

He said working deep water with jigging spoons by day is a productive tactic, and he uses electronics to locate forage and stripers.

“With the clear water of Kerr Lake, the deep water is the prime daytime target,” he said. “Jigging spoons and power reeling produces quality fish.”

Long points dropping into deep water, and open-water humps, are productive targets. Also, anglers trolling umbrella rigs, or deep diving lures, can effectively fish these targets.

“My preference is to fish at night because the stripers move shallower to feed at night,” he said. “The combination of being shallower and more aggressive produces a more consistent bite.”

Jordan said the herring spawn is one key to triggering striper action from mid-May through mid-June.

“Spawning herring will be shallow at night, and that attracts stripers,” he said. “One favored target is working points with crankbaits, and swimbaits are ideal.”

“I’ll motor into an area near a point, shut the motor off, and listen for schooling fish,” he said. “If I hear them, I’ll use the electric kicker to get me into position to cast. And even if they’re not schooling, I’ll work the point anyway.”

Light up the night for stripers

A highly effective night-fishing tactic is using powerful LED green lights to attract forage to a specific area.

“When herring are spawning, I’ll set up near the shallow-to-deep transition and use a powerful green LED light to attract forage,” said Pete Jordan.

Jordan is an expert in this field, and he’s in the LED Green light business. He uses a powerful 70-watt Ultimate Green Lights LED (www.ultimategreenlights.com) positioned on a float and anchored in deep water. He’ll back off to easy casting distance and work the edge of the circle of green light.

“The light attracts herring and shad, and stripers in the area come to the forage,” he said. “It’s not unusual to catch multiple stripers, along with some bonus largemouth bass up to 7 pounds.”

He said stripers linger in the dark shadows just outside the green light, and he’ll cast a shallow running, minnow-imitating lure around the circle of light to get the attention of stripers.

Fishing at night with green LED lights is productive on many lakes in the Carolinas.

Capt. Jon Mercer (910-734-3845; No Mercy Fishing with Capt. Jon) uses green lights from an anchored position on Lake Moultrie, on the Santee Cooper lakes. Mercer works this pattern at night from May through Mid-June when the Santee Cooper season closes on June 15. Mercer fishes live blueback herring vertically under multiple lights around his roomy pontoon boat.