Our best fighting fish is a pretty apt description to anyone who has ever hooked one. These shad eating machines prowl a number of Illinois waters providing excitement for any angler who is lucky enough to hook one. A wonderful fighting fish, this transplant to Illinois waters spends most of his day roaming deep water in pursuit of threadfin shad. Stable water conditions, clear skies, and the presence of shad cause this wolf of the water to move into more shallow water and dam tailwaters. Once there, their presence is visible by the action on the surface.
Stripers will force shad to the surface and then crash the surface as they goggle up the hapless bait fish. In tailwater situations the striper takes advantage of the injured shad that wash through locks and over dams. Most stripers and hybrids bite on live threadfin shad or skipjack. Some people have good luck with cut bait while others prefer artificial lures.
The Illinois State Record is 31 pounds 7 ounces for striped bass and 20 pounds .32 ounces for hybrid striped bass. The average fish from these species range from 2 to 15 pounds.
Most anglers refer to both the hybrid striper and the pure strain fish as “Stripers.” The hybrids are not able to reproduce and have some different physical features that make identification possible.
A saltwater relative of the white bass, stripers resemble them in appearance but have a more elongated and less compressed body. Stripers have a more straight back and they are dark greenish is color on top with a brassy tinge that becomes lighter on the sides. The underside is a silver color.
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