Lake Jocassee trout anglers surprised by striper catch
Lake Jocassee trout anglers surprised by striper catch First known striper caught in Lake Jocassee GLENN CORLEY
Believing they had a tournament-winning trout on the line, two Lake Jocassee anglers were surprised to see it was a striper, which are not known to exist in the Upstate lake. Photo courtesy of Jocassee Outdoor Center
Lake Jocassee is known for trout, great smallmouth and largemouth fishing, but anyone in the Upstate will tell you the lake does not have stripers. But Evans and Brent Lalas found out last week there was at least one. They found the 26-pound 14ounce striper on January 28, while trolling for trout on Jocassee during a trout fishing tournament. The father and son fishing team, who hail from Charlotte and Four Oaks, N.C., were fishing a “Dog Fight” tournament along with twenty-six other anglers. It was a bright and sunny day, and the Lalas team already had one good trout in the boat. They had just pulled out of the Three Rivers area and were trolling around the Jumping Off Rock area when the striper hit around 11:30 am. Unlike most Jocassee trollers, who fish at 1.5-1.8 miles per hour for trout, the Lalas team was fast trolling per their usual at about three miles per hour when the striper hit a two-inch custom made spoon. The fish hit on two colors of 27-pound lead core line with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader and a ball bearing swivel. The lure was running approximately 6 to 8 feet deep in about 120 feet of water when the striper hit. “We set a light drag to detect stockers when they hit, so when the striper hammered the spoon it screamed out about 300 yards of line,” Evans Lalas said. The elder Lalas handed the rod off to his son, Brent and started clearing lines as need. They were running 12 lines, which consisted of in-line planer boards with lead core and copper line, downriggers with free sliders, and braid slide divers when the fish hit. Finally cranking the fish close to the boat, the big fish made another big run. “We have caught a lot of 20-pound salmon on Lake Michigan so after our first glimpse of the fish we are thinking that is was a 20 plus pound trout – a state record.” The South Carolina state record was caught at Jocassee, a 17-pound 9-ounce brown by Larry Edwards of Pickens in 1987. It was at the point, after seeing the fish for the first time and thinking they had a state record on the line, that Evans Lalas pulled the rest of the lines and turned the boat to close in on the fish. Finally, after a forty-five-minute fight, Evans Lalas was getting ready to net the fish when he noticed that it was not a big brown trout, but a striper as he dipped the net to bring the big fish into the bot. Evans had lost his old landing net on an earlier fishing trip, and he had just bought a new, big salmon net. Before the tournament, the other anglers were making fun of the huge net, but the big net came in handy while landing the large striper. “To be honest, we were kind of disappointed when we got the fish in the boat after thinking we had a possible state record for a while. It was a neat fish, but not what we were after.” The Lalas team finished second in the trout tournament, but they did catch the biggest fish. The Lalas team said that this was the first big striper that they had ever caught, and they certainly did not intend to catch one on Lake Jocassee. The pair has won the Jocassee Outdoor Center Trout Tournament series in 2014 was second in the series in 2015 and third in 2016, while currently leading this year’s series. The other tournament anglers stated that, “the guys from the Great Lakes know how to catch fish on Lake Jocassee.”
There was some speculation as to where the big striper came from. Did it swim down from one of the feeder rivers or did someone illegally release the fish? Either way, when Evans gutted the fish, he said that he found three 12” trout in the striper’s belly. Stripers are definitely not good for the Lake Jocassee trout population. Even though they didn't know it was there, Upstate trout anglers are happy to have one fewer striper in Lake Jocassee and they hope that was the only one.
Believing they had a tournament-winning trout on the line, two Lake Jocassee anglers were surprised to see it was a striper, which are not known to exist in the Upstate lake. Photo courtesy of Jocassee Outdoor Center
Lake Jocassee is known for trout, great smallmouth and largemouth fishing, but anyone in the Upstate will tell you the lake does not have stripers. But Evans and Brent Lalas found out last week there was at least one. They found the 26-pound 14ounce striper on January 28, while trolling for trout on Jocassee during a trout fishing tournament. The father and son fishing team, who hail from Charlotte and Four Oaks, N.C., were fishing a “Dog Fight” tournament along with twenty-six other anglers. It was a bright and sunny day, and the Lalas team already had one good trout in the boat. They had just pulled out of the Three Rivers area and were trolling around the Jumping Off Rock area when the striper hit around 11:30 am. Unlike most Jocassee trollers, who fish at 1.5-1.8 miles per hour for trout, the Lalas team was fast trolling per their usual at about three miles per hour when the striper hit a two-inch custom made spoon. The fish hit on two colors of 27-pound lead core line with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader and a ball bearing swivel. The lure was running approximately 6 to 8 feet deep in about 120 feet of water when the striper hit. “We set a light drag to detect stockers when they hit, so when the striper hammered the spoon it screamed out about 300 yards of line,” Evans Lalas said. The elder Lalas handed the rod off to his son, Brent and started clearing lines as need. They were running 12 lines, which consisted of in-line planer boards with lead core and copper line, downriggers with free sliders, and braid slide divers when the fish hit. Finally cranking the fish close to the boat, the big fish made another big run. “We have caught a lot of 20-pound salmon on Lake Michigan so after our first glimpse of the fish we are thinking that is was a 20 plus pound trout – a state record.” The South Carolina state record was caught at Jocassee, a 17-pound 9-ounce brown by Larry Edwards of Pickens in 1987. It was at the point, after seeing the fish for the first time and thinking they had a state record on the line, that Evans Lalas pulled the rest of the lines and turned the boat to close in on the fish. Finally, after a forty-five-minute fight, Evans Lalas was getting ready to net the fish when he noticed that it was not a big brown trout, but a striper as he dipped the net to bring the big fish into the bot. Evans had lost his old landing net on an earlier fishing trip, and he had just bought a new, big salmon net. Before the tournament, the other anglers were making fun of the huge net, but the big net came in handy while landing the large striper. “To be honest, we were kind of disappointed when we got the fish in the boat after thinking we had a possible state record for a while. It was a neat fish, but not what we were after.” The Lalas team finished second in the trout tournament, but they did catch the biggest fish. The Lalas team said that this was the first big striper that they had ever caught, and they certainly did not intend to catch one on Lake Jocassee. The pair has won the Jocassee Outdoor Center Trout Tournament series in 2014 was second in the series in 2015 and third in 2016, while currently leading this year’s series. The other tournament anglers stated that, “the guys from the Great Lakes know how to catch fish on Lake Jocassee.”
There was some speculation as to where the big striper came from. Did it swim down from one of the feeder rivers or did someone illegally release the fish? Either way, when Evans gutted the fish, he said that he found three 12” trout in the striper’s belly. Stripers are definitely not good for the Lake Jocassee trout population. Even though they didn't know it was there, Upstate trout anglers are happy to have one fewer striper in Lake Jocassee and they hope that was the only one.
