# Northern Minnesota or Southern US Spring Fishing Trip



## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

Since Canada will probably be closed this Spring/Summer, my brother and I are trying to plan an alternative Spring Fishing Trip. We did a fall trip a few years ago to Voyageurs National Park, and had a great time on Kabetogama and Namakin Lakes fishing for Walleye, Bass, and Pike - so I am proposing a Houseboat Trip on Rainy Lake to fish the islands that run along the US side from Saginaw Bay down to Big Island. We both enjoy fishing for Smallmouth, Pike, and Walley.

My brother is suggesting a trip down south to fish for largemouth and stripers, but as usual, he has no suggested destinations, and I have no idea where to go for Stripers, except maybe Pickwick or Dale Hollow.

I'd love to hear from you all as to your recommendations and any experience you've had on Spring Bass fishing on Rainy Lake or other US destinations.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

We've spent some time in East Tenn on lake Norris and Cherokee after stripers, and caught some darn big large and smallmouth bass on both. Norris is more built up as far as houses, marinas etc than Cherokee, but our last few trips we have spent more time on Cherokee it seems more peaceful to us and fishing was really good, they have stripers and hybrids there. Both are TVA lakes and the scenery is fantastic. If you get serious about it pm me I have a great guide down there too. 

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## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

miked913 said:


> We've spent some time in East Tenn on lake Norris and Cherokee after stripers, and caught some darn big large and smallmouth bass on both. Norris is more built up as far as houses, marinas etc than Cherokee, but our last few trips we have spent more time on Cherokee it seems more peaceful to us and fishing was really good, they have stripers and hybrids there. Both are TVA lakes and the scenery is fantastic. If you get serious about it pm me I have a great guide down there too.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A205U using Tapatalk


 Thanks for the tips on Cherokee, I was looking the lake over on Google Maps and it looks good (lots of islands and structure, steep dropoffs, etc). Also saw there are lots of Utube videos on bass fishing Cherokee. Have to see if I can find someplace to stay down there for the week - I see you do charters on Lake Erie, may have to take a ride with you this year - for whatever reason (probably just my lack of knowledge, I've never done real well on Lake Erie (always have caught a few walletes over by the Islands, but never fished deeper waters because I don't feel comfortable out too far with my little 16' Lund). Thanks again for the info, I will pm you if we decide to go down to Cherokee.


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## ironman172 (Apr 12, 2009)

I go south spring and fall..... salt water..... gulf shores,Pensacola, Navarre okaloosa Panama city 
All piers , use to go offshore with a group for a few years but those days are over


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

PM me if you want to do stripers in East TN. I spend my winters in East TN and can point you to the best striper guide in the area for both Norris and Cherokee. on FB you can checkout the Tennessee Striped Bass Association for local info and posts too.


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## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

ironman172 said:


> I go south spring and fall..... salt water..... gulf shores,Pensacola, Navarre okaloosa Panama city
> All piers , use to go offshore with a group for a few years but those days are over


Thanks for the suggestion, but those salt water fish are UGLY I caught a shark and a bunch of weird looking fat fish with strange bumps all over their bodies off a pier near Jacksonville, FL one year. None of them looked like they were good to eat, and just handling those weird looking creatures let me know that salt water fishing wasn't my cup of tea I enjoyed Panama City during a Spring Break from college back in the 1960's but my Lund will never see salt water - but thanks for your suggestions.


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## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

privateer said:


> PM me if you want to do stripers in East TN. I spend my winters in East TN and can point you to the best striper guide in the area for both Norris and Cherokee. on FB you can checkout the Tennessee Striped Bass Association for local info and posts too.


My brother wants to try fishing for Stripers, but I've never gone looking for Stripers before so I'm not sure how you fish for them in the Spring. I know they love deep cool highly oxyginated waters, but I've never been very good at jigging deep for walleye, so I anticipate I would have problems being successful at catching Stripers. What sort of tips would you give for Striper Fishing in Spring?


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## garshark (Aug 23, 2011)

If you want to catch stripers





















why not head to the east coast and catch saltwater stripers


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## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

garshark said:


> If you want to catch stripers
> View attachment 461195
> View attachment 461196
> View attachment 461197
> why not head to the east coast and catch saltwater stripers


 LOL - Those are some pretty nce saltwater fish But if they are found on the East Coast, they are probably tainted with "progressive" values and wouldn't bite on any bait that I might present


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Backwater said:


> LOL - Those are some pretty nce saltwater fish But if they are found on the East Coast, they are probably tainted with "progressive" values and wouldn't bite on any bait that I might present


Here are a couple East TN fish - one striper and the other is a hybrid (striper & white bass). You can count on these fish having conservative values... the striper will fight with a deep pull like a big walleye on Erie while the hybrid behaves like a steelhead and will run and jump. pound for pound, the hybrid are more fun to catch.

Winter and early spring fish can be had with bait, lures, and flies. It is really fun when they school up and push bait into a small bay - you can tell as the seagulls will be swarming to hit the bait fish pushed to the surface. At those times you can cast surface gear at them as my son did with the fly rod. 1st cast fish...


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

These were on Cherokee in June, we have fished there several times in April and it was really good too. If I can find the pic my wife caught a 23" smallie on a trip in april.























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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

miked913 said:


> These were on Cherokee in June, we have fished there several times in April and it was really good too. If I can find the pic my wife caught a 23" smallie on a trip in april.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


pics look like a good size boat for TN. looks like a lake erie boat. i run my 18' alumacraft trophy in TN. oh, nice fish!!


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

privateer said:


> pics look like a good size boat for TN. looks like a lake erie boat. i run my 18' alumacraft trophy in TN. oh, nice fish!!


It's a 21' mako it does fine there, if it's really early in the year or late when the fish are up the rivers we go a different route but most of the year when they're in the actual lake it works fine, I have a motorguide xi5 and run side scan, to drive right over top of them.

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## BMustang (Jul 27, 2004)

Backwater said:


> My brother is suggesting a trip down south to fish for largemouth and stripers, but as usual, he has no suggested destinations, and I have no idea where to go for Stripers, except maybe* Pickwick *or Dale Hollow.
> 
> I'd love to hear from you all as to your recommendations and any experience you've had on Spring Bass fishing on Rainy Lake or other US destinations.


Pickwick does not have stripers. It is a Tennessee River Chain lake that is not deep.
The Pickwick tailwater does have striper which is very hit/miss in the spring due to the fluctuating water levels. 
Cumberland or Norris are your best bets for striper, in addition to those being recommended to you by others on here who know.


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## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

miked913 said:


> These were on Cherokee in June, we have fished there several times in April and it was really good too. If I can find the pic my wife caught a 23" smallie on a trip in april.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, those are nice fish - I've been looking more at Cherokee, and found many UTube Videos, but also find a lot of posts talking about how the TVA has to run a lot of water thru there in Spring because of the flooding, and complaints that the lower water levels really mess up the Spring bite, forcing gamefish into deeper water to feed. Can anyone give me an idea of the best dates for a trip to Cherokee? I know you can't fight Mother Nature, but we've never fished that far south, so I'm clueless as the best dates for planning our trip. As of now, we are planning a trip to Cherokee in late April, and a trip to Rainy Lake in late June. Heh Heh - best of both worlds


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## Backwater (Aug 13, 2006)

BMustang said:


> Pickwick does not have stripers. It is a Tennessee River Chain lake that is not deep.
> The Pickwick tailwater does have striper which is very hit/miss in the spring due to the fluctuating water levels.
> Cumberland or Norris are your best bets for striper, in addition to those being recommended to you by others on here who know.


On one of the Tennessee Bass sites I read a post indicating that Lake Cumberland had a pretty severe striper fish kill a year or so ago because of lower oxygen levels, but I don't know if that's true or just some of the baloney you sometimes find online. I think we have decided to try Cherokee, primarily because of the fact that much of the lakeshore is undeveloped, but thanks for your post, Mustang.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

I have done several trips in April usually the 1st part so I'm back here to turkey hunt, but have never had water issues while we were there and always caught fish.

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## sharp33 (Mar 30, 2015)

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