I spent the weekend at Smith Mountain Lake and mostly fished from the dock at night. Me and my uncle did go out on his boat and trolled for stripers but didnt have any luck. So yesterday i set up shop on the dock with my rods, reels, tackle box, night crawlers, chicken livers, and cooler full of beer. I usually have no luck fishing with artificial off this dock located in a cove of the Craddock Creek area of the lake, but I usually throw some anyways, though i have caught largemouths on night crawlers there. This time just before dark i picked up a largemouth on a baby bass kinami flash, so i was pretty happy to get that monkey off my back. I threw that a few more times and then tossed a spinnerbait for a bit, but didnt get anymore. On to the night crawler and chicken livers to fish for cats.

I rigged one pole up to use for night crawlers. and another a different way to use for chicken livers. the chicken liver pole i was using was 6'6 medium heavy shakespeare rod with a shakespeare push button reel. i know its a cheap combo, but i love it and its been great to me. i had it spooled with 15lb big game line, put on a 1oz egg shaped slip sinker and used a 2/0 eagle claw baitholder hook with the leader line tied on to it and pegged the sinker on one side just above the leader so the sinker wouldnt slide down to the hook. while waiting for the chicken liver to thaw a bit more i used nightcrawlers but nothing was hardly biting and i missed a couple fish.

afterwhile i finally put on a chunk of chicken liver and tossed it out maybe 20 yards in front of the dock. the water is 8-10 feet deep out there and there are several tree stumps. i left my line slack and proceeded to put another night crawler on the other pole. midway through putting on the night crawler i saw my line on the other pole take off. dropped the night crawler pole and grabbed the shakespeare as the rod tip started to bend over and swung for the sky. FISH ON.

no wait its pulling out line on a run, BIG FISH ON is what im thinking. thinking about what a nice catfish this is gonna be as im fighting it. my goal is to bring it in along the side of the dock and not to lose it. i have a net laying somewhere i can reach it fairly easily on the dock. so the fish is still fighting but i get it in closer after about 5 minutes, then it shoots towards a small tree fallen over in the water about 10 feet off the dock, i use the rod power and pull it away from the tree and reel in some more line. finally she surfaces, her side breaks the surface of the water and she dives back under, OH MAN ITS A STRIPER. my adrenaline really took off then. she started wearing down as i continued the fight. as she appeared to be giving in i hold my rod up high in one hand to keep the tension on and bend over and grab the net. she shoots under the dock and strips out a little more line, now theres too much line out to net her and i dont have a free hand, so i wedge the net handle between my arm and body and reel some line back, grab the net and scooped her up. she was 24 inches, 6.5lbs on my spring scale. the slot limit at SML on stripers right now is you cant keep any 26-36 inches, so she was just barely legal. and she was full of eggs.

i cant believe i caught a striper on a chicken liver, never heard of that before. and my shakespeare push button combo stood up to the task, that really has been a lucky combo for me. it took me about half an hour to level back out, my stomach felt like it was tied in knots from the adrenaline rush. it was a really great fight on that reel, the drag on those things arent the best. but anyways, sorry for the lengthy story, here are a few of pics though

How did the eggs taste?

i wasnt aware about eating the eggs, but then again i dont even eat fish. i gave it to some family to enjoy.

nice write up glad you included pictures!

nice catch.  yes both stripers and hybrids will eat chicken livers.  i dont striper fish anymore but when i did we woulds always toss a line overboard with a liver while we were throwing topwater at night.  we usually caught hybrids on the liver but the occasional striper would hit it.   next time you go this time of year at night try throwing a cotten cordell red fin or other like bait.  just reel slowly to create a wake and hold the hell on. 

Good story.

Sorry you did not release her back into the lake.

Story points out the reason to get organized with the net and tackle before making your first cast. 

thanks guys.

Sean, thanks for letting me know that, i usually hook up a light on the dock to shine in the water right there and draw up bait fish. the alewives were in that night, probably a big reason why the striper was in there, the alewives werent in there the night before though.

Sam, i rarely if ever keep fish as i dont eat them, usually just if some family or a close friend wants them to eat. i do throw all largemouth back along with most every fish i catch. Also, if stripers could reproduce on SML i wouldve thrown her back after a couple quick pictures, measurement, and weighing.

Also, i always try to be prepared before i start fishing, makes things much smoother. Ive lost a couple fish i regret losing because i didnt have the net near by and forgot it up in the garage or something. i specifically took the net out of the boat and laid it on the dock near the side where i bring in any of the bigger fish i catch out there.

thats awesome man, an nice fish

I used to vacation for a week at Smith Mountain back in the day w/ my family. We'd rent a house on the lake for a week an ski/board an fish all week. Good times.

Nice fish man! Slot limits are applied as a specific management technique for the lake. They want you to take that size fish for one reason or another. Harvest should probably be done more then it is currently. More people now then ever practice catch and release. We will see how it effects the fisheries in the future

Great read and nice fish. 

I know you said that you don't eat a lot of fish, but, I'd rather eat a stiper than a fliet mignon. You gotta try it dude. This is definelty the time to hook up with some of those fighters at Smith Mountain right now, I'm hoping to load the freezer with some, I usually end up catching the ones not in the slot limit for some reason. Great story, thanks for sharing.

I know you said that you don't eat a lot of fish, but, I'd rather eat a stiper than a fliet mignon. You gotta try it dude. This is definelty the time to hook up with some of those fighters at Smith Mountain right now, I'm hoping to load the freezer with some, I usually end up catching the ones not in the slot limit for some reason. Great story, thanks for sharing.

im hoping to get back down there this weekend. it all depends on if i can get atleast half a day off work friday, trying to get the whole day though. whats holding me up is my boss and his son who works here are also taking off friday to go camping and fishing. my bosses wife may not want to let me have off because freaks out over stuff like that. it all depends on how the work week shapes up and if i can get everything done with nothing important looming around...