Photo by Ron Sinfelt

If you're going to talk about winter hybrids and stripers in Tennessee, you're going to talk about Cherokee Reservoir. Every year, the fish get bigger and bigger, and the numbers get better and better.

Aaron Jenkins, (423/312-1128 or 423/235-5385), longtime professional guide on the lake, reports that hybrids are averaging between 7 and 10 pounds as of the late spring and early summer of 2005. Now, that sounds big enough, doesn't it, but consider this; at the same time in 2004, Jenkins reported they were averaging between 5 and 8 pounds. That's a serious improvement.

A year ago, a 10-pound fish would give you bragging rights. Now, those belong only to anglers breaking the 12- or 13-pound mark.

True stripers in Cherokee will weigh between 20 and 30 pounds with an occasional 40- or 50-pounder possible.

With most anglers and with most species of freshwater fish, those numbers would be a clear exaggeration or anomaly. Not so with Jenkins and not so in Cherokee. Jenkins is a man of integrity and Cherokee offers a rare combination of water quality, forage and environmental conditions that allows for such growth. To truly understand this situation it helps to understand a little about the fish.

Hybrids have a typical life span of seven to eight years, are very aggressive feeders and fight like the devil. On top of that, their growth rate is extraordinary. Two-year-old fish sometimes measure 14 to 15 inches and 3-year-olds will occasionally reach 20 inches.

Stripers, on the other hand, sometimes reproduce naturally in fresh water. (There's some dispute about that, but the weight of the evidence supports that conclusion.) They can't tolerate low oxygen levels and they can't tolerate warm water. Their environmental requirements are narrow. In some lakes, that's a serious problem but not in Cherokee. The waters are deep and cool. Oxygen levels are solid even in the heat of summer, thanks largely to a massive TVA aeration system.

Along with all that, the forage base in Cherokee is darn near perfect. The reservoir is full of threadfin shad, gizzard shad and alewives. That gives the bass plenty to eat no matter at what depth they live. Threadfins and gizzards live relatively shallow, while alewives haunt the depths.

With so much good news, you might think that all you need to do to catch a few is launch your boat, lower a line and hold on tight.

Well, it's not quite that simple. Despite the wonderful conditions, it's still necessary to fish for them with a plan based on knowledge, skill and experience. Even in Cherokee, the fish aren't distributed equally, aren't always at the same depth and don't always bite the same things.

For an analysis of those factors, we need to turn to Jenkins. He typically begins his search near the middle of the lake most days between Point 9 and Point 27. He's looking for warm water, at least warmer than the usual 45 to 50 degrees in the main lake. He'll find that water in the creeks. "Sometimes it'll go as high as 58 or 60 degrees," he said.

If he can find a spot where that warm creek water flows into the main lake, he's in business. Experience has taught him that those spots will attract baitfish in January and February and consequently attract both hybrids and stripers. The very best spots are those near a channel swing arching toward a point or small inlet.

Once he has a fix on the baitfish, he settles down to fish. Typically, he trolls with both planer boards and free lines. He runs the planer boards out as far as possible to help minimize the negative effects of the clear winter water.