Stripers in the Hooch

For more than 10 years I have heard the various stories of the schools of striped bass making their way up to our part of the Chattahoochee from down in West Point Lake. I always "sour graped" them and dismissed the tales as fishermen's conjecture or wishful thinking. That is, until August 2008. Dave Henderson and I were out floating from Morgan Falls Dam to Johnson Ferry throwing streamers for trout when this guy slammed a #8 Olive Bugger on a sink tip line. The explosive fight in this small striper was incredible. He must've lasted about 10 minutes, ripping drag and running downstream and across the whole time. Dave (thankfully) grabbbed the oars and chased after him at one point. I've got to say that this is the closest fight to a bonefish as I have experienced in fresh water. You Northeast striper guys have got it good!