Migratory Striped Bass Fly and Light Tackle Fishing

Late March signals the beginning of the migration for Striped Bass leaving Weiss Lake using the Coosa River as their expressway to the spawning grounds. Natural spawning occurs in the lower reaches of the Etowah, Oostanaula and Coosa River (just downstream of Rome, GA). These 20-30lb crown jewel fish are usually in the system until sometime around mid-June with a few stragglers that may hang on a little longer. Some years, the big fish stay until July, some years they leave early June. Truth is, the fish arrive and depart the river whenever they decide it's time and not a minute before. Reliably, the big spawners are here April, May and early June.

When the mature fish decide to go back to Lake Weiss, it triggers the schoolie Striped Bass to migrate into the river system. Schoolie stripers are just a down sized version the the early run spawning stripers. Most of which weigh in the 6-8 pound range with a big schoolie being around 12 pounds. These fish arrive in numbers with an appetite larger than their body mass. Its a fun time with lots of action on both fly and light tackle gear.

We furnish all fly rods and light tackle spinning rods and our guide trips.

 A typical fly rod rig for big stripers is a 9 or 10 weight fly rod (8 weights for schoolies) with a quality saltwater drag capable reel. A quality saltwater capable reel will have a drag with enough power to stop a 30lb striper in the current of a freshwater river. No exceptions or arguments. We keep our reels loaded with a variety of fly lines that could be floating, Intermediate or even sinking lines. It just depends on the conditions. Day in and day out, the intermediate line gets the most work.

The spinning tackle we furnish is saltwater quality rods and reels. 7' to 7'6" Medium to Medium Heavy. Again with spinning reels that can stand up to a 30lb saltwater fish in the current of a freshwater river.