Cox said to situate yourself far enough away not to spook the big stripers. You need to keep your distance -- a good cast away, for example. In this situation, he relies heavily on small spoons and small Dahl flies because they match the size of the shad the stripers are keying on. You can also cast them long distances to the schooling action.

The veteran striper man said this renowned lake has experienced a rebound in recent years. He said Cherokee’s recent success can be attributed to the closure in the summer months of the striper fishing around the water near the dam. It’s really protected the deep summer stripers and helped to bring more of the bigger fish back into the population.

Cox said a few years ago, you could expect to boat stripers in the 10-pound class at best. Now, he said it’s nothing to boat 10 to 15 stripers in a normal afternoon using his tactic of running and gunning gulls. The best news is that you can now expect to boat 20-pound-class stripers regularly. Cox said you can find feeding stripers in the main channel and in the mouths of creeks and on up those creeks as well. Wherever the birds are on Cherokee Lake, there will be stripers this time of year.

To get right in the middle of the late-winter striper action on Cherokee Lake, you can put your boat in at German Creek Dock, Gilmore Brothers Dock, the ramps at the dam or the public ramp at the Hwy. 25-E bridge. The creel limit for striped bass on Cherokee Lake is the same as the statewide regulations at two per day with a minimum length of 15 inches.

CORDELL HULL LAKE
Fred McClintock is a legendary smallmouth guide at Dale Hollow Lake. In recent years, he’s built the same reputation as a striper guide on Middle Tennessee lakes. Don’t worry, he can still catch brown fish, but the big stripers fear him as well.

McClintock said you could catch big stripers beginning in December all the way through March on Cordell Hull Lake. After November, the water cools down and the fish head for creeks. He said the late February and March action may be some of the best, and you’ll find him running creek channels with planer boards.

The veteran angler will put out as many as four planer boards with two on each side of the boat. They’ll be rigged with about 25 feet of line as he works the channels. McClintock will seldom put the baits off the boards deeper than 10 feet, and he almost always runs them on the surface in late winter for feeding stripers.

For McClintock, big baits equal big stripers. He’s not fishing for numbers, just trophies. McClintock likes to rig his planer boards with skipjack herring that weigh at least 1 to 2 pounds. McClintock will also employ a couple of down-lines rigged with shad when the stripers are hitting smaller baits, but he will also put skipjack on these rigs. He likes a skipjack somewhere from 15 to 28 inches long for his big striper getters.