# The Wipers Are In



## Trophy Hunter (Dec 7, 2007)

I was way to busy to go out today . . . but I did. 

I haven't fished the white bass run on the lower, Little Miami in a long time, so I went there first. I caught so many whites, I got tired of reeling them in. The only thing that kept me there so long were these little guys:















It's really hard to see the medial tooth patch(s) on the smaller fish, but these fish, and I'm almost positive, looked like juvenile striped bass. They certainly were not whites. Maybe they were wipers, if wipers are super long and slender with unbroken, distinct stripes when they're small. I caught ~5 of these. It seems there's a breeding population of pures on the Little.

Having caught these little stripes gave me the fever. After a couple hours, I decided to try the Big O for some wipers. I hadn't caught any in years. Well, we got some!





































I ended up catching about 12 or so in a few hours. My novice fisher buddy out-fished me! My biggest fish, roughly ten pounds, hit a 5" Berkley Swim Shad. All the other fish were caught on a 4" hot pink grub with a 3/8oz head. Get out there. They're hitting.


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## SeanStone (Sep 8, 2010)

Nice. I do believe the first 3 pictures you posted were true stripes....the others look to be hybrids....wipers. Congrats i'm still looking for my first true stripe.

posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


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## Trophy Hunter (Dec 7, 2007)

SeanStone said:


> Nice. I do believe the first picture you posted was a true stripe....the others look to be hybrids....wipers. Congrats i'm still looking for my first true stripe.
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Actually, SeanStone, look again. The pictures of the juvenile stripes from the Little didn't post the first time. I had to edit them in. 

The first one that you commented on, the first picture in the series of hybrids, was actually a hybrid. It had two distinct medial tooth patches. It does look like a stripe, though. That was the biggest one. She crunched a 5" swim shad. It was all the way down her throat.


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## BigFishHunter (Dec 14, 2011)

The long, slender ones are true stripes. Unbroken lines extend to tail and their width is 1/3 their length.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

No matter, it looks like you had a blast!! They love those swimbaits. Been hitting them up here at Greenup too.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

The first two are obviously true striped bass... 

and this one:










is very likely to be a "true" as well... though it could also be a hybrid/true back cross. 

Either way, heavy in the striper genealogy & unlikely a hybrid straight from the hatchery.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

fallen513 said:


> The first two are obviously true striped bass...
> 
> and this one:
> 
> ...


 All kinds of variations


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

True striped bass from hatcheries frequently have broken stripes up front like that... And that is the tell-tale torpedo shape too. More and more trues have been showing up as of late. A good sign of things to come.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

fallen513 said:


> True striped bass from hatcheries frequently have broken stripes up front like that... And that is the tell-tale torpedo shape too. More and more trues have been showing up as of late. A good sign of things to come.


 I've read that the true Stripes out west have a really good "checkerboard "pattern. Seth, I think we both have caught a few Wipers in our time and they are a truly beautiful fish. Seems like no 2 are the same. Some of the ones I caught yesterday had no pattern at all on one side and all crazy on the other! Some with very little pattern at all but they were Wipers. The beasts yesterday had very little pattern but you knew they were Wipers just from the sheer size and shape. We caught more true stripes at Greenup last year than I remember in a long time, Blue cats too. The only thing certain now are the dull, patternless White Bass


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