December is one of the best times to fish for any type of fish that can be caught in Norris Lake. By early December, the water temperature in a normal year should be someplace in the mid to high 50s. This is a great time for inexperienced fishermen to target stripers, because they start feeding on smaller bait, which is much easier for inexperienced striper fishermen to come by.
All summer and during much of the fall, the trophy striper hunters have been using large bait, such as big “brood” or “bull” shad. These big shad are hard to catch. The larger shad require expensive tanks, with filtration systems and special chemicals to keep them healthy and appealing to large stripers.
Beginning in early December, as the water temps fall through the 50s, the stripers begin to target schooling bait, which is much smaller than the big gizzard shad they have been targeting most of the fall. This means the stripers will more readily feed on smaller minnows like shiners, available at many docks, or even the standard tuffy minnow, both of which are easy to keep alive in the cooler December temps.
Also, this drop in water temperature shocks the system of many minnows and other smaller fish, causing them to lose equilibrium and even die. Stripers, being the opportunistic hunting machines they are, will take advantage of these dead and dying fish, even feeding off the bottom. This is the time to pull your boat up on a main channel point and fish with cut bait or even a live bluegill.
The striper fishing will get better and better as the water cools. For those who like to cast, it is hard to beat the trusty doll fly, especially lifelike custom doll flies like the Cumberland Pro Prayer Jig. As the water cools later in the month, trim off some of the hair on your jig to give it a smaller profile. Early December is a great time to pull a planer board. Try dragging it right on the bank — a bonus is that you will also catch some large bass.
One more tidbit on late fall stripers: Don’t be afraid to go to the head of the river or creek. I have seen and caught stripers in creeks so shallow it is hard to believe they could swim.
Good Fishin’!