A live shad rigged for trolling-up big stripers, also known as “liners.”

One of the ‘gamest’ fish at the end of a line gets especially active in the fall and is among the most widespread. Striped bass and its cousins can be found in water fresh and salt and come in sizes to suit every skill level. From pan-sized white bass to broad-shouldered hybrid “wipers” and up to lunker “‘liners,” members of the striped bass family are famous for putting up a fight far beyond what their size may indicate. When trolling in the autumn from our deck boat, for example, we always know when a white bass has dashed in to take a trolled lure meant for crappie, walleye or saugeye; the rod bends double, and the battle is fiercer than anything expected from the targeted species.

Autumn is prime time to embark on a striper safari across much of their range, where the cooling water temperature is triggering both striped and white bass into feeding mode. Hybrid wipers – white bass/striped bass crosses – are equally active in colder water and offer action through the winter months wherever open water can be found. That includes around warm-water discharges on rivers and reservoirs where the stripers congregate to feed on baitfish that seek the artificial warmth.

Wipers are a hybrid cross between striped and white bass and are stocked in many reservoirs across the country.

The largest members of the white bass family are the true striped bass, which are native to saltwater where they are often referred to as rockfish and grow to weights approaching 100 pounds. Despite the fact that they live their lives in salt water, stripers spawn in fresh, a feat not lost on fisheries biologists who successfully stock them in inland impoundments to provide a big fish option for anglers who can expect to tangle with fish in the 40- to 60-pound class. These inland stripers and their hybrid ‘wiper’ cousins don’t reach the size of their marine brethren, but no one complains about hooking a spirited striper, and the species is now a main attraction among fishing guides and sport anglers at most of the waters where they have been successfully placed.

Fall fishing methods for catching striped bass and their kin are as varied as the waters in which the species are found. White bass are pushovers for small crankbaits, spoons or spinners cast or trolled at speeds a bit faster than normally used for trout, walleye, crappie and other popular inland gamefish. The fish are usually found in schools and may be seen feeding in a frenzy on the surface, where they have forced baitfish up from below. This feeding activity can often be located by watching gulls, which dive into the frantic baitfish from above with dramatic displays that direct anglers to the action. Once within casting distance, any minnow-imitating lure matching the size of the resident baitfish will be grabbed by white bass. In some areas, agitator rigs are used to draw whiter bass, wipers or striper to angler’s baits by rigging a flat-faced, rattle-filled float a few feet above a jig. The rig is cast out and retrieved with violent jerking motions to create splashes and rattling sounds to fool gamefish in the area into thinking there’s a feeding opportunity to be crashed.

A more leisurely way to catch wipers, anglers anchor-up and simply cast or drift chicken livers along the bottom, waiting for wipers to come along and pounce on the baits. Drift fishing with live shad, swim baits or large jigs fitted with soft plastics or strips of fresh fish is a popular method among boaters who motor out into the middle of large reservoirs where stripers are found and turn off their engines to allow the breeze to push their craft quietly over the fishing grounds, where they drop their offering into the drink at various depths until they hook-up. Stripers prefer cooler water than wipers or white bass and fishing the 50–65-degree depths in any lake will increase your odds of having your bait in the stripers’ comfort zone.

Striped bass are the largest in a line of “silver” bass that includes hybrid ‘wipers’ and white bass.

Boaters seeking stripers also troll shorelines or schooling areas using in-line planer boards to take live shad or crankbaits off to the sides of the boat and into the striper feeding zones. This is a popular method both on reservoirs and in the tailwaters and rivers below impoundments where stripers have been stocked. As table fare, as long as the fish are iced down immediately, not kept on a stringer or in a livewell, and eaten soon after catching, they are as good as any freshwater gamefish you can hope to hook – this time of year or any other.

To find out if a water near you contains a viable population of stripers, wipers or white bass, contact your local department of natural resources or fisheries agency and inquire, or do a web search using striped bass as a key word and see what comes up locally. You may be closer than you think to getting a striper on that pole!