Photo by Ron Sinfelt

By Ed Harp

Commonwealth hybrid and striped bass anglers should have a good year in 2004. It looks as if several bodies of water will continue to produce good fishing, while one relatively recently stocked reservoir (Rough River Lake) will move up as one of the best hybrid striper hotspots in our state. At least that is the report from Jim Axon, assistant director of the Fisheries Division for the Kentucky Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). Most local anglers agree.

Hybrid stripers are rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after species swimming in our waters. They are plentiful, feed ravenously and fight as hard as any fish out there. Hybrids are half striped bass and half white bass. The most popular cross for sport stocking is a striped bass egg fertilized by a white bass.

Stripers are less common but no less popular. In Kentucky, these saltwater transplants are found primarily in Lake Cumberland, the Ohio River and in the tailrace waters below the dams at Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake.

Both stripers and hybrid stripers are members of the temperate bass family. White and yellow bass are also included. Many anglers experience difficulty distinguishing stripers from hybrids. Hybrids look like a white bass, with their deeper body shape, but are much larger. Most have broken lateral lines. Stripers generally have continuous lateral lines and are more streamlined. Checking their tongues will also help. True stripers have parallel patches of teeth on their tongues, while hybrid stripers have two lines of teeth. In most cases, they touch or at least are so close together you cannot tell them apart. Look for one patch on white bass.

Practice will make you better at noticing these distinctions. If you have trouble, especially at first, do not despair. Even professionals argue which is which at times. For creel and length limits it doesn't matter anyway. They are grouped together.

Anglers wishing to sample Barren's hybrid fishing are further blessed with excellent facilities. Its high-quality launch ramps are complemented with excellent parking facilities as well as good access roads.

Experienced Barren River Lake anglers usually fish along the old river channel. The channel provides, in most years, consistent hybrid action for those anglers who are willing to take the time to work it properly.

Recommended techniques include fishing the inside and outside turns and bends of the channel with jigging spoons or blade baits. Anglers who are looking to catch a limit of hybrids should camp over the turns in the channel and work their spoons or blade baits with a vertical presentation. Vary your depth and speed until you find the magic combination for the day and time of year you're fishing.

At times, the hybrids will school and surface. For those who have never experienced surfacing hybrids or stripers, you will know it when you see it. Surfacing hybrids are best characterized as a large area of boiling water with small explosions coming from underneath. Always watch for birds. They move in for an easy meal of injured baitfish.

Recommended lures for schooling fish include jigs, as well as crankbaits and topwater plugs, such as walking sticks and poppers. Work your jigs in a swimming manner, crankbaits just fast enough to get them to wobble and the topwater baits as fast as possible.

The creel limits on Barren are generous. While the general rule in Kentucky is five stripers or hybrid stripers per day, with a possession limit of five and nothing under 15 inches in length, Barren River Lake is quite different. Anglers may legally keep 20 temperate bass per day - this includes white and yellow bass - with a possession limit of 40 fish. However, no more than five in the daily limit or 10 in the possession limit may be 15 inches or longer.

Anglers should check the regulations before departing. Current rules, regulations, creel limits, possession limits, length limits and licensing information can be obtained from http://fw.ky.gov.

According to Axon, the heavy and constant rains in Herrington's watershed, as well as along the Dix River, in 2003 resulted in a substantial number of hybrids washing through the dam and into the river system. He emphasizes that there are still a large number of hybrids remaining. Therefore, anglers can still expect fine hybrid striper bass angling in Herrington's waters.

Herrington is legendary for its steep, indeed almost vertical, rock shorelines and deep waters. In places, your depthfinder will show 150 feet of water under your boat while you are no more than a long cast off the bank. As a consequence, most of the fish swimming in the lake relate in some fashion to the shoreline. Hybrids are no exception.

Experienced anglers on this impoundment, like Chris Dornbusch with over 40 years of fishing experience, choose heavy, brightly colored spinnerbaits as their first weapon of choice. While he agrees that the shoreline is important, Dornbusch points out "that doesn't mean they are on the shore. It means they relate to the shore. In many cases, you will find these fish out away from the bank, well off a point or suspended over open water."

Others anglers find success with jigs. Large, heavy, white bucktails are favored. Most anglers retrieve them with a swimming action. At times, a steady, horizontal retrieve will produce, while on other days, a lift-and-drop retrieve will work best.

A third choice is a simple in-line spinner. Nothing fancy here, just a simple spinner in chartreuse, white, gray or orange. Again, heavy weights are preferred.

Herrington's hybrids are known to inhabit deep water. That is why heavy weights in all of these lure designs are your best option. Hybrids are regularly caught at depths of 30 feet or deeper, sometimes much deeper.

Currently the creel limits on Herrington are the same as those on Barren River. Once again, check before you fish.

Axon reports the population of hybrid stripers has exploded over the last seven years. Stocking rates for Rough River Lake, like most waters in Kentucky, average 20 fish per acre per year. The fingerlings are approximately 1.5 inches in length at the time of their release.

While those numbers may sound small and few, consider this: With a typical life span of seven or eight years, the hybrids in Rough River are just about at their peak. Further consider that hybrids have rapid growth rates, very rapid. Two-year-old fish frequently measure 14 to 15 inches and 3 year olds can reach 20 inches. Do the math.

Fishing information on this lake is just beginning to develop, but several anglers are reporting excellent success on the usual hybrid lures including in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, jigs and crankbaits. Crankbait selection centers around natural colors with some bright chartreuse or orange on the belly of the lure. Lighter weight wood lures in small sizes seem to work best.