Big stripers really do exist at Millerton Lake. Here’s how to keep it that way

After a five- to six-year absence, I recently returned to my home lake to see if there were any of the legendary Millerton stripers left. Many think they’ve been fished out, and after four empty trips I was wondering, too.

When my fishing pole bent, I knew different.

The heavy fish finally got its bearings and began a westward run that wasn’t slowing down. Hooked up and fighting is what Millerton striper fishing used to mean to many sportsmen. Why had things gotten so tough?

I’ve fished the lake since the 1970s. The striper numbers were way up back then, and large schools roamed the lake due to plants in the late ’50s. From that time on the lake became know for big stripers. Around the late 1980s it seemed that the numbers were sliding downward. Still, in 1998 I caught a certified 50.3-pounder that’s the official lake record. Many anglers have asked me what’s happened to the stripers since most of them still fish the lake. I have a few hunches. (The big fish was staying down. Patience!)

I’ve always been fascinated with big stripers, and I fished innumerable hours at the lake from the 1980s to the early 2000s with many fish over 20 pounds. In the late ’80s it suddenly became obvious to us that it was critical to practice catch and release to protect the fishery, but many anglers didn’t agree and took the big brooders home anyway. Big fish take decades to grow and they are the genetic pool needed to get more big fish. Remove that link and the whole house slowly crumbles. Having more anglers with better techniques and electronics did a lot of damage, too.

In addition, I believe all the low-water years have impacted the fishery more than we might imagine. These lean years affect the river flows needed for stripers to spawn, as well as bringing in the inflow of nutrients necessary to keep the whole food chain going. Biologists tell me that nutrient-poor inflows affect everything and that Millerton is on the low end of the scale. We aren’t getting all the big water year flows we need to sustain the fishery, let alone grow it. (The fish was slowly coming up after 10 minutes! It was big.)

Millerton stripers have been so rare over the last five-plus years that even the mere sighting of a lineside had become newsworthy. Recently, local angler Darryl Lamonica of NFL fame got a fish that he reported was about 20 pounds on a bass lure, the biggest at the lake in a while, but other than that the only other stripers reported were a few teen-sized fish over the last couple years.

When the big striper finally came up, I was shocked to see its sheer mass. My mission changed to protecting this survivor for a gentle release after carefully and quickly taking a picture to prove they “really do still exist.“ This guy deserved to swim away.

The fish spanned 41 inches and went a legitimate 28.8 pounds on an electronic tournament scale, one of the biggest reported stripers in awhile at the lake. Its girth was one of the most massive for a fish this size I’ve seen. In addition, it was a milting male in full spawning mode, the biggest male I’ve ever caught.

I’ve caught a lot of fish that were bigger, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten one that was more significant. One bite in four trips tells you how tough it is, and how special a fish this size is.

The story this fish told was how important it is for us to learn to be conscientious stewards as well as proactive sportsmen who take our fisheries seriously. Maybe we can’t change the water, but we can take care of the big fish we catch, making sure we are able to keep a fishery as healthy as possible.

I decided to share my story in hopes that other anglers would agree that it’s imperative we put our big fish back. Once a lake reaches a tipping point due to a variety of factors it can be a long ways down, and we all suffer. Our paradigms need to change.

If you do get a good one at Millerton, be prepared to let it go — and then call me! You’ll be my new hero! Watching a big one slip away into the deep is all the reward a true sportsman ever needs. Never give up.

This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.