STRIPER FISHING ~ Guides, Outfitters, Lodges and Free Information

Choose a State:

Arizona
 

Striper fishing can be addictive!  These powerful fish are not only aggressive and exciting to catch, they taste great, too!  Look at these feature Striper fishing Guides below, but check other states for a complete list of our excellent Striper fishing guides.

More about Striped Bass...

Striper fishing in Arizona

Description:
Non-native. Introduced in 1959. Body has six to nine black horizontal stripes on silvery-white sides. Dorsal fins are distinctly separate, unlike yellow bass, which are joined at the base. Pelvic fins in large adults, white with anal fin edged in white. Lower jaw protrudes beyond upper jaw. Generally two patches of teeth on tongue. 2nd anal spine distinctly shorter than the 3rd. Tail is slightly forked. Length: 10 to 56 inches. Weight: 1 to over 59 pounds.

Location and Habitat:
Found throughout the Colorado River between Lake Powell and the Mexican border and more recently in Lake Pleasant. Prefer open, clear water. Spawn in spring over shallow, rocky areas in a lake or in the fast moving waters below dams.

Food:
Opportunistic feeders on dead or live fish, but prefer threadfin shad. Like white bass and yellow bass, striped bass move and feed in schools.

Angling:
Stripers can be caught on shad, anchovies, "cut" bait, spoons, plugs, jigs, crankbaits, and streamer flies.

Table Quality:
The meat is white, firm, flaky and excellent eating.
 

Years of controversial restrictions on striped bass catches in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast have paid off as fisheries officials recently declared that rockfish stocks are fully recovered from their depleted levels of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The striped bass was introduced to the West Coast in 1886, with fish from the Navesink River in New Jersey transported via rail to San Francisco Bay. The West Coast range of the species is from Los Angeles north to the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington state border.

The striped bass is a classic perch type fish, predominantly silver in color with seven to eight dark lateral bands giving the species its name. It's proclivity for reproduction is surely what brought the striped bass back from the verge of extinction. According to McClane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia, four-year old females produce 65,000 eggs; 13 year-old females produce nearly five million.

Most striped bass along the Atlantic coast are involved in two types of migrations: an upriver spawning migration from late winter to early spring, and coastal migrations that are apparently not associated with spawning activity. Coastal migrations may be quite extensive; striped bass tagged in Chesapeake Bay in winter and spring have been recaptured during the summer in the Bay of Fundy and fish tagged in the Hudson in spring have been recaptured off the coast of North Carolina during the winter.

During spring and summer New England offers some of the finest striped bass fishing on the East Coast. During the month of June fish swarm like bees in coastal waters. The northern neck of Virginia, lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, produces the most Stripers during the fall and winter months. The best quality fish are caught by hook and line or in pound nets, a traditional American Indian method of fishing whereby fish are entrapped in a net or stake corral then harvested by hand-brailling with scoop nets.

Back to Top                        see top of page for striper fishing guides.

Please visit our special partner sites:
Learn-Taxidermy.com - Learn the Art of Taxidermy on Video
Taxidermy101.com - Taxidermy for Beginners on Video

Site hosted and developed by:
World Class Outdoors
219 Ridge Circle
Brandon, MS  39047
(601) 829-3203