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17K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  Striperjim 
#1 ·
I would like to add some information for your home page. This is concerning striper migrations and seasonal travel.
I don't think you will find any offshore migration during the seasons below (or South of) Nags Head, NC. True there stripers caught in the rivers in South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern Florida. These fish are called riverine stripers. They live their entire lives in the river systems that are unobstructed by dams. They range from the tidal waters in the upper ends of the estuaries in fall and winter to the shoals of the "fall Line" and the tailraces of upstream dams in spring and summer. Some of the populations in Georgia are supplemented by stocking programs but South Carolina's approach is to let the population naturally reproduce.

There are several studies available that were done by Clemson University graduate students that tracked the fish with radio telemetry. One of these studies was done in the ACE ( Ashepoo, Combahee, Edisto ) Basin in South Carolina. None of these rivers is dammed and none of them reach out of the coastal plain to the fall line. The fish were found to spawn in late winter and early spring DOWNSTREAM in the strong tidal currents near the Intracoastal Waterway and to spend their summers in the deep, cool, spring fed holes in the upper reaches of the rivers. Biologists can now tell a genetic difference in thes fish from river system to river system.

This has been an eye-opener to many of us long time striper fishermen that have fished for the river stripers for years. We read about the Outer Banks stripers, the Chesapeake Bay, The Roanoke River, and Long Island Sound. We just naturally thought for years that our stripers came in out of the ocean. Maybe they did thousands of years ago. But the piece of the puzzle that we now realize is that nobody ever sees huge schools of stripers off the South Carolina or Georgia coasts. They aren't caught offshore at any time during the year.

We are now struggling with the issue of creel limits and size/slot limits for riverine fish. A restoration of the population in the Savannah River after the ill fated installation of a tide gate near the I-95 bridge is almost a reality. The gate is now permanently open and the moratorium on stripers is set to lift in June of this year. Currently the creel limit is 10 fish with no size limit. Hopefully South Carolina and Georgia will settle on a more restrictive situation before the moratorium is lifted.

You are welcome to research any and all of this information. Much of it was written about in articles in South Carolina Wildlife Magazine. The Clemson Studies are available on-line. I just thought that you may want to update your home page. Anyone is welcome to fire back any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. I am not a biologist or do I have anything to do with policy on this, but I am a devoted striper fisherman of over 50 years and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.
 
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#5 ·
Thanks Ed. Even before getting half way through the first link some facts become clear. Rainfall amounts will influence the range of the spawn and the smaller bulls will show first.

Bulak said:
According to Bulak (1988), if a striped bass spawned at 70 degrees F in a low rainfall year, approximately 36 miles of flowing water is necessary for the eggs to hatch. But if a striper spawned at the same temperature during a high rainfall period, about 72 miles of flowing water from the spawning area is required
One can perhaps interpolate from this data and apply it to a northern system like the hudson. The huge amount of rainfall can predict a longer and wider spawning area effectively doubling in size of range
The fish caught in last weekends Hudson tournament were 20 pound early arriving bulls.
 
#6 ·
The southern striper

Thanks again Capt. Ed. It is a real eye opener. I assumed incorrectly that there was a schooling SC and Georgia coastal population that took part in the migration.
www.csc.noaa.gov/acebasin/specgal/stribass.htm
"Only two East Coast reservoirs have self-sustaining populations: the Kerr Reservoir in Virginia and North Carolina, and the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina.
Striped bass are native to the ACE Basin. They belong to the southern strain and behave quite differently from their northern relatives. Southern fish, unlike northern fish, never leave their riverine environments. Northern fish spend a considerable amount of time in near-shore waters and then ascend the rivers to spawn. Striped bass in the ACE Basin never enter the ocean, and it is strongly suspected that they never leave the river in which they are born. Striped bass are found in all the large rivers of the ACE Basin, and they over-winter in the estuarine areas of these systems near the saltwater-freshwater interface. Summers are spent in the cooler waters of the upper river, where springs and a dense canopy of trees keep water temperatures lower. They are often found in deep holes in the river or around structures such as old pilings.
Bass from North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay are known to undertake coastwide migrations in addition to annual spawning migrations. They move north to New England and Canada during early spring and return between September and December. Bass inhabiting waters south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, typically do not take part in coastal migrations. Recent advances in molecular genetics have allowed researchers to investigate differences in populations of striped bass. Evidence strongly indicates that the rivers of the ACE Basin contain a population of striped bass that is unique to the basin".
 
#7 ·
ACE Basin Stripers

As soon as the water temp drops below 70 the stripers start showing up the tidal waters. Menhaden, finger mullet, and live shrimp are baits of choice. Bucktails with plastic trailers and topwater plugs are used where fish are breaking. November to New Years, cut mullet on the bottom on the down tide edges of sand bars. May through July we take the jon boats up the rivers to the deep holes on the outside of bends in the river. Trapped live eels are the bait of choice. Ever catch a 40 pound fish in a river 30 feet wide ? Add to that, pitch black dark and you are really deep in the swamp with overhanging trees, snakes and alligators. It's a blast !

There are small populations of stripers in other coastal rivers that are completely overlooked by anglers. Truly I have NEVER seen another angler fishing for stripers while we are catching one after another. I choose to keep these places to myself but I will say this. If you travel I-95 to Florida, honk when you go by.
 
#10 ·
Hey Lomax

I see you are from Columbia. Are you a Midlands Striper Club member? If not we'd be glad to have you at our next meeting. Go to our website WWW.midlandsstriperclub.homestead.com. In answer to your question about genetics, I believe that the fish have been isolated in the river for so long that they have developed a unique DNA through breeding. Like I said in the first post I am not an expert, but I read everything I can and I study the fish I am addicted to.
I just wish we could get some fishermen on board to protect these fish like the redfish. Really you catch monster reds and stripers from the same hole on the same bait. You can keep 10 stripers any size but only 2 reds in the slot limit. NOT GOOD AT ALL.
 
#14 ·
Re: Georgia stripers

Raven I think they are founds as far down as cape fear along the coast. In numbers worth targeting but the Georgia and South Carolina riverine fish stay in the ACE basin. Hope some of the southern coastal guys will add some facts.
 
#15 ·
Re: Georgia stripers

read through these they should help answer some questions...

http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/species_profiles/82_11-118.pdf

also...

http://afs.allenpress.com/archive/1548-8659/106/4/pdf/i1548-8659-106-4-314.pdf

Movements of Adult Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) in the Savannah River, Georgia

RICHARD G. DUDLEY, ANTHONY W. MULLIS, and JAMES W. TERRELL
School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
Abstract.-During 1973, 1974, and 1975 movements of 33 striped bass [Morone saxatilis (Walbaum)] in the Savannah River, Georgia were followed through the use of ultrasonic and radio transmitters. During March through May striped bass congregate and spawn in a tidally influenced, relatively shallow, small branch of the river (Little Back River) near Savannah, Georgia, about 30 km upstream from the river mouth. During the spawning season striped bass do not exhibit any specific movement pattern, but remain in this particular sector of the river. Immediately after spawning, all tracked fish moved upstream, some as far as 301 km from the spawning area. Fish remained in the upstream areas at least 4 months. We detected no fish moving downstream during this period. Our data and those from previous work strongly suggest that individuals in this population of striped bass spend the majority, if not all, of their lives in the Savannah River.
 
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