Guide Jerry Kotal ‘s affinity for black bass fishing bleeds over to his striper fishing, at times with excellent success.
“When I think about big stripers I visualize them as eating machines that would be willing to take as many baitfish in one gulp as they can,” he said. “That’s why I first tried the umbrella (Alabama) rig for wintertime stripers. The same reason it works on largemouth bass makes it effective on Lake Russell’s big winter stripers. But fair warning: it can take a toll on your casting arm, but I do work it in as part of my fishing technique on any given day. On some days, it seems to be by far the best technique.”
Kotal will use different size of jigheads depending on the depth he needs to reach based on what he sees on his graph. He’ll use 4-inch Skinny Dipper grub trailers with pearl, white/green flakes and disco green among his favorite colors.
He’ll use an 8-foot, heavy action rod rigged with a quality baitcasting reel and 65-pound braid.
“I’ve experimented with 20-pound monofilament, and I actually get more bites with that rig, but I’m often working the lure just above the tops of submerged trees where I’ve marked stripers,” he said. “When a really big striper is hooked, the lighter monofilament just doesn’t give you much of a chance to horse a huge fish and keep it above the submerged trees. The best compromise I’ve found is the strong but small-diameter braided line for hookups that provide a reasonable chance of landing the fish.”
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