Black went the extra mile to get the estimates by using take and mean daily catch for winter months of all the years of available data for each reservoir and divided it by the mean daily effort for the same years. Black didn’t calculate monthly averages, since in several cases the creel clerk didn’t encounter any striper anglers on given lakes in one month, and he was worried the information might be misleading.

He found in the data that Norris Lake and Old Hickory Lake were sampled all five years (2001-2005) and Cherokee was sampled in 2002 and 2004. Based on his research, the five-year average wintertime striper CPUE’s (catch-per-unit-effort) estimates looked like this: Norris = 0.05 fish/angler-hour, Old Hickory = 0.11 fish/angler-hour and Cherokee = 0.23 fish/angler-hour.

For comparison, the Annual CPUEs for the same reservoirs in 2004 and 2005 were: Norris = 0.11 fish/hour (in 2004), 0.14 fish/hour (in 2005), Old Hickory = 0.14 fish/hour (in 2004), 0.10 fish/hour (in 2005) and Cherokee = 0.18 fish/hour (in 2004), with no sampling done in 2005.

Black said that all of the estimates are based on anglers who stated that they were actively fishing for striped bass at the time they were interviewed. Also, the values are estimates based on random sampling and as such are subject to some degree of sampling variability (that is, a difference of 0.04 from one year to the next within a reservoir doesn’t necessarily constitute a real difference in angler success).

That ought to meet our quota for biological striper data for the year, so now let’s turn our attention to the heart of winter striper fishing and the how and where of catching rockfish on four of the best striper lakes around. To top it off, our list of anglers that helped us hash out fishing these lakes could be called a “who’s who” of Tennessee striper guides.

CHEROKEE LAKE
Noted guide Ezell Cox said January and February are good ones to be on Cherokee Lake. He said the area of the lake from the Hwy. 25-E bridge downstream is where you’ll find stripers wintering. They could be from there to anywhere on down the lake, but Cox added that from German Creek to the dam is a good starting point.

The way Cox locates late-winter stripers is by following the birds feeding on shad. He said the gulls have been depending on stripers for years in helping them to feed on baitfish. The stripers get below shad and push them to the surface; the birds know it, and you’ll know it, too.

All the action is dependent upon water temperature. Cox said once the water temperature gets below 50 degrees for more than two weeks, Cherokee stripers will size down on what they’re eating. It’s all related to metabolism and what they need to eat to survive. When the water gets cold, Cox said they key on shad that are 2 inches long or less for the most part.

Local anglers who key on the gulls are cocked and ready when the birds start to swarm over the schools of baitfish forced to the surface by schools of stripers. Cox said it’s basically a waiting game as you stay near the biggest concentrations of gulls and wait. When the gulls hit the surface to feed on shad, the idea is to run to them but not right up on the feeding activity.