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View Full Version : Cherokee Lake TN 3-9-12 to 3-13-12


Mean Morone
03-25-2012, 02:59 PM
Well my buddy and I pulled the trigger and made our way to Cherokee Lake for some striper and hybrid stiper action. First day we got on the water just as the sun was going down. We went to Point 8 and fished back in Panther Creek. As we started fishing, it got dark and we put on our night plugs. I was throwing a shallow diving Gizz 4 grey back and hooked this beast. 18 lb striper.

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My buddy hooks a good hybrid on a Smack Jack but it takes one more run after coming to the boat and gets off. We call it quits around 11:00 pm and head in for an earlier start the next day. We get on the water and go to point 8. We don't see any fish or birds so we decide to head up to point 11. We get there and see birds working. We fish this area and I put two stripers in the boat burning Flitterbaits. A 17 lber and a 14 lber.

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We fish this area at night, but it is flat dead. We call it quits around midnight. Next morning we pull the boat and trailer over to near Rocky Hollow. We get out there and don't see any action so we head over to Macedonia. We see birds working back in there and catch two stipers on Flitterbaits.We have figured out that the key was to burn the Flitterbait back fast and trwitch the rod at the same time. The action died down there so we went looking for birds and find them diving at the back of Macedonia. We catch stripers, hybrids, largemouths and smallmouths. We end up catching 11 largemouths and smallmouths up to 4 1/2 lb. The bass died down so we headed back to Rocky Hollow before dark. We get there and see birds dipping. I start casting and hook two hybrids. It gets dark and we start plugging with Gizz 4's again and we get a couple of bites. One is a nice largemouth and the other is this big striper.

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We went in early so we could get an earlier start next morning. We get out next morning and go to Rocky Hollow. We see birds working in the back of the creek and start casting Flitterbaits and my buddy catches two nice stripers. The bite dies down and we head back to Macedonia. We get there and it is dead. My buddy gets one small smalie. We decided to go back to Rocky but on the way my buddy see's birds over by point 18. We go over and birds are circling as far as you can see. We start chunking Flitterbaits and I put a Smack Jack out the back. It doesn't take long and I get a double header.

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Right before dark my buddy puts a Smack Jack on and catches a nice hybrid. Then it was time to try our top secret night time weapon, the Gizz 3 Chartreuse Pearl shallow diver. My buddy catches one nice striper, a big hybrid and a nice largemouth. He hooked another big fish that we think was a striper, but it got off. We caught 10 or 12 hybrids all in the point 18 area during the day. We could have caught more after dark, but we had a long drive ahead of us the next day. Had a blast and can't wait to go back when the alewives shad are spawning.

nomad60
03-25-2012, 04:51 PM
Wow, those are some nice fish there. If you don't mind me asking, what type rods/reels do you use for those and what pound line? I could just imagine hooking into something like that with my regular bass rigs. It would be a short yet fun fight, that's for sure.

MNfisher
03-25-2012, 07:13 PM
Great Job! Looks like a blast!!!

Mean Morone
03-25-2012, 07:49 PM
Nomad, I use normal med. heavy bait casting or med. heavy spinning rods with 12 to 15 lb test line when casting at night and casting Gizz 4's. For casting the Flitterbait, I use lite to med spinning rods loaded with 8 to 10 lb test line. These big stripers will make some serious runs, but you just need reels with a good smooth drag. That 17 lber was caught using a lite action rod with a good back bone and 10 lb test line. We just put the trolling motor on high and chased it. Still didn't take more than 5 minutes to land.