One nice thing about the Midwest is that we have so many different species of fish, to fish for. Over the last several years I have become a big fan of the hybrid striper. There have been a lot of instances when a slow to average day of fishing turned into a good and even awesome day due to these incredibly strong fish. Sleek and built for speed, the hybrid striper is a combination of two other great fish, the white bass and the pure striper. Both of these fish combined you have one fast swimming, hard hitting and strong fighting fish. If you have these fish in a body of water near you, please do not pass up the opportunity to pursue them, as it will be worth your time. A hybrid can just about rip the rod from your hands with a strike, bring a smile to anyone's face and on top of all that, taste awesome on the grill or the smoker. Grab a cup of coffee and join me for some short stories, tips and tactics for this great fish.

Recently I had the opportunity to fish with two fans of Midwest Outdoors. Tony Fidanso and his young son AJ joined me for a day on Powerton Lake, a 1400 acre reservoir just outside of Pekin, Illinois. We had hoped to catch some small mouth bass which the lake is known for. After a couple of fronts had blown through and a tornado warning the night before, the lake was a little churned up and the small mouths were not cooperating. So, after Tony caught a nice size hybrid, I decided that we should try for some of them to see if they were willing to play ball. Another front had started to move in and with the wind blowing in yet another different direction, I decided to go try a point up the lake from where we had fished most of the day. Sometime a change in location is good for a number of reasons including your attitude!

I noticed some fish on the graph as soon as we came close to the point and with all three of us using crankbaits it was a good chance we would hook into something. AJ and I had on Rapala DT 6's and Tony was fishing a Storm Hot-n-Tot. AJ was standing next to me when the first hybrid hit and almost knocked me off balance. I set the hook and handed the rod to AJ as the waves made our boat a dance floor. We rocked, and we rolled. We ended up on the floor of the boat with AJ fighting the fish over his back, me trying to get the net and Tony laughing at both of us. The fish was under the boat, and then it went to the front of the boat and then came back around again. Rods all over the deck, fish splashing water, little AJ laughing and me just hoping I could net this fish. With all the chaos we finally managed to land the six pound tail of furry! It was not pretty, but man was it fun!

Hybrids as I mentioned before are a cross between a white bass and a striper, so they have qualities of each. While pure Stripers never feed on the bottom, hybrids feed like white bass at times. So they feed up in the water column as well as on the bottom at times. During a summer outing two years ago, I discovered how these fish can relate to the bottom, especially when a lake has been drawn down. I was fishing Lake Bloomington during a low water period catching some white bass on 3 inch Storm swim baits. I noticed some fish near the bottom of a rocky area I had found in about 9 feet of water. At first I figured they were walleyes, so I made a cast letting the swim bait fall to the bottom and made slow deliberate upward jerks of the lure so it would jump off the bottom about 6 inches and then fall back to the bottom. On about the third jerk, my rod doubled over and the drag screamed. I got the fish to the boat and was pleased to see about 3.5 pound hybrid had engulfed the little wild-eyed swim shad. So I proceeded to try this again and was thrilled to boat close to 20 of these great fish in the next hour.

Here are some tackle choices to try that I have had some excellent success with. The Rapala DT series in 6, 10 and 15 are excellent choices depending on depth. The Blue/Chartreuse patterns as well as fire tiger are winners! My line of choice in most cases is 10 pound Fireline Crystal, spooled on a spinning reel and 7 foot medium action spinning rod. Cast or trolled this rod, reel and line set up adds to the power and speed of these fish. It allows the lures to get down to them with enough power combined with a well set drag to handle just about any size fish in open water. Top water lures such as prop baits and poppers like the skitter walk and skitter pop will also receive crushing strikes when these fish are feeding top side.

What also makes the hybrid an awesome fish is that it is excellent table fare. I have a simple receipt that I love on the grill and here it is. Simply fillet the hybrid and then take Cajun seasoning or blacken seasoning and sprinkle on either side of the fillets. (I use Louisiana Fish Fry Products seasoning. Good stuff!) And then either lay on a plate in the fried, or if you have a ZIPVAC, (www.zip-vac.com), use it for this. After you season the fillets, pit them in one of the ZIPVAC bags and suck out the air to completely seal the fillets in the air tight bag. This will enhance the taste of the fillets by sealing in the flavor. My mouth is now watering as this is an incredible tip to try with any fish you bake or put on the grill. Next use Olive oil on paper towel to coat your grill top. Charcoal grilling these fish with sliced red onion or grilled banana peppers is the way to go.

Now that I am hungry, I hope you can see why I have increased my time and pursuit of these awesome fish. Try some of these lures, or lures that you already have in pursuit of the hybrid striper. An awesome fish to hook, fight and catch that will not only bring a smile to your face but a tasty meal to your family. That is the hybrid striper in all its power and glory.