# Bream for Striper



## Pete97 (May 19, 2012)

I'm curious if a striper will take a cut or live bream or any kind of sunfish? thanks


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## Larry Young Jr (May 19, 2012)

Yep, They like bream,bullgill,cappie,red breast, sunfish, shellcacker,etc. But remember you have to catch them with a hook to be legal. Plus catfish will eat them too. If you catch some big ones and you dont catch any cats or stripers, you can always eat them bream.
good Luck and besafe
Larry


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## Dustin Pate (May 19, 2012)

Oh YES!!!! Truthfully it is one of my preferred baits.


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## Pete97 (May 19, 2012)

Thanks on the advice guys!


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## AlanShort (May 19, 2012)

yes sir. love em


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## Garner90 (May 19, 2012)

we use bream all the time. But my pops swears on the gizzard shad and he was a guide on west point for many years


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## NE GA Pappy (May 19, 2012)

aren't there laws about using game fish for bait?


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## Dustin Pate (May 19, 2012)

NE GA Pappy said:


> aren't there laws about using game fish for bait?



You have to catch them by hook and line and not by a cast net. Also you can only have as many as the state limit is in possession.


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## Noodle (May 19, 2012)

I may be wrong, but I thought I heard something about they had to also have been caught on the same body of water. I know some guys that hit small ponds for bait during the week and then take them to the big lakes for fishing. I guess I could go read up on this....


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## Farmponder (May 19, 2012)

Yea i use bream al the time for cats at oconee never new  it was against the law


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## Etoncathunter (May 19, 2012)

I asked our local dnr guy about the same body of water thing cause I was catching some gill up here in carters to stock up for a cat tourney on the hooch. He said with common fish like blue gill and such they don't particularly care. That their primary concern with those rules are aimed towards thinks like bluebacks and things that they don't want spreading.


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## Noodle (May 20, 2012)

That sure is good to know. Thanks for asking. I guess it just depends on if they wanted to charge you or not. I bet they would not questions a bucket of bream, but if you had some rainbows...


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## Dirk (May 20, 2012)

Bait has to be from same water??? Yea right... Those shiners I bought at the bait store better be from Lanier too then. lol... 

Anyway, YES, stripers will hammer a bream and so will large Catfish, bass and all other large predator fish. I have caught them with bream on MANY occasions, especially in July/August when bream is the easiest fish to use as bait to keep alive. I take the kids and catch a hundred or so and I am set for bait for several striper trips. I prefer shad, herring, or trout (in the winter), but in the heat of the summer a bream works great, especially in rivers. The Striper below came on a bream if I remember right in a rather small river, with a few rather large Stripers hanging out... If you float a lively bream down a rapid into a deep hole in a river that has Stripers in it, HOLD ON...


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## Noodle (May 21, 2012)

I was talking about bream, or a sport fish that is used as bait. Not a baitfish like a minnow.


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## Dirk (May 21, 2012)

Noodle said:


> I was talking about bream, or a sport fish that is used as bait. Not a baitfish like a minnow.



I hear ya. Not trying to stir anyone up, just seems to me that any fish is as likely to carry diseases or whatever from one body of water to another, which is what I think they want to avoid. If that is true then one person using some bream also caught in GA are WAYYYYYY less likely to be a problem than some bait company buying thousands of Shiners from out of state and selling them to huindreds of fishermen to put in every lake/river in GA. Thats all I was saying man, certainly not trying to pick on you or your opinion.


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## Pete97 (May 21, 2012)

hook em through the nostrils I assume?


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## Sultan of Slime (May 21, 2012)

This is how I hook mine in current.


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## Greg Pate (May 21, 2012)

We call them STRIPER CANDY!


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## Pete97 (May 21, 2012)

Thanks for the advice guys!


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## Redd Boat (Aug 3, 2012)

Hey Pete97, did you ever have any luck catching striper's with bream? Also, which lake do you fish for striper?


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## Coenen (Aug 3, 2012)

Before the bluebacks got into Lanier, bream were a very commonly used bait.  

Actually, Blueback Herring in Lake Lanier are a prime example of what the DNR is trying to prevent with those laws about not moving fish species from lake to lake.  Obviously, bluegills are just about everywhere, so it's no big thing.  For fish like the herring, or potentially harmful invasive species like maybe Snakeheads, Tilapia, Flathead Catfish (in Lanier at least), or Zebra/Quagga mussels, it obviously a much more serious concern.

Last time I was out with Mack Farr I asked him why bream don't get used much for bait anymore, and he gave me a great answer (as he always has), but I'm afraid I've forgotten it.


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## Redd Boat (Aug 3, 2012)

lol, wish you remembered the answer to that question Coenen. Good info though. 

I've been trying to catch a striper or two for a few weeks now using bream with no luck....but then again i've never caught a striper even when I buy herring. I've just been using tips from GON and people I talk to at the boat ramp, pretty much a trial and error thing for me, mostly error because I havent caught one yet lol. I figure one of these days I'll hook up with a nice striper.


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## brianj (Aug 4, 2012)

I'm with you redd boat. I have yet to catch a striper/hybrid on bream. Haven't triesd in over a year though, may have to throw one out sunday and see what happpens.


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## mmcneil (Aug 5, 2012)

Im going to toona Tuesday morning I think,  I will send down some bream next to some shad and I will let you know what happens.


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## Coenen (Aug 5, 2012)

Redd Boat said:


> lol, wish you remembered the answer to that question Coenen. Good info though.
> 
> I've been trying to catch a striper or two for a few weeks now using bream with no luck....but then again i've never caught a striper even when I buy herring. I've just been using tips from GON and people I talk to at the boat ramp, pretty much a trial and error thing for me, mostly error because I havent caught one yet lol. I figure one of these days I'll hook up with a nice striper.


I think it may have just been as simple as Herring are a more accessible food source so stripers don't really key on or hunt for bluegills the way they did before the herring were established.

This is especially so in the summer time, since bluegills are primarily a shallow water fish, and stripers tend to go deep to find more comfortable temperatures.  Bluebacks tend to frequent those deeper waters, giving the Stripes a ready food source.  That's why we see bigger fish now, they have more opportunity to feed during what used to be lean months for them in the summer.

As for lucking in to a striper, throw some big surface plugs starting in late March, Early April(depends on how harsh the winter is), and carry right on through July.  You'll luck in to one.  If not, you'll at least snag a few big spots and be happy anyway.


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## Redd Boat (Aug 5, 2012)

Mmcneil I'm looking forward to your update.

Coenen, thanks for the info. I will definitely try the techniques you suggeslted. I was on lanier from 4 to 8:30pm  today. Used some worms and caught about 6 small to medium bream and fished from the dam to the west bank beach area for stripers. I was able to locate some schools around 50ft to 80ft deep using my eagle fishmark 320,   no luck getting bites. Upgrading to a humminbird 898 soon, hopefully this will help a little.


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## mmcneil (Aug 7, 2012)

I droped bream right on top of this morning, and nothing got hit.  They would get real active when the hybids got close, but they never got bit.  We couldnt get them to hit shad either.  Every time the came up we caught them on top water baits though.


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## tkaz (Aug 7, 2012)

I remember at Weiss we only used them around the full moon. The guides showed me this and seemed to be dead on. They told me they spawn on the full moon and get that scent that the striper are crazy for. Not sure if that's the reason but every full moon bream would out fish shad on Weiss.


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