I was fishing the other day on Granbury while trying to fine tune our electronics. Deadsticking, for the first time in my life, a medium sized roadrunner type maribou chartreuse jig and had a large striper nail it. Assume it was in the 10lb range and using a medium-light spinning rod with a Stradic Ci4+ 2500 reel with 8lb fluorocarbon line. After fighting this beast for about three to four minutes, it finally tied me up in a tree and got off. We’ve caught large stripers before but not in the trees where I really need to haul them up at a decent pace. I also normally fish G Loomis NRX medium-heavy rods with Metatanium DC reels for bass so I’d like a quality rod/reel combo that you can horse these beasts up and out of the trees (or are these ok.) I felt helpless whenever it ran because I couldn’t tighten down the drag. In hindsight, I guess I should’ve just tried to bring it up and if the line broke, que sera, sera. Line sizes/type would help too. We usually catch small 1-2lb stripers by the dozens but every so often, there’s a big one like this mixed in. Thanks for your advice

Forgot to add, this was in 30ft of water across from Stumpy’s and would crank up about 5ft above the bottom. I don’t have a LiveScope.

I go the cheap route and use Ugly Stik GX2 in heavy action. Works well for me... I use 17-20lb line though...

I use the same. I use the 7 foot solid one piece rod in medium/medium heavy. They are unbreakable!

A big nice NRX is just fine LOL just use proper line, when you’re used to the sensitivity and action of a high-end rod like that the ugly stick Let’s just say will not impress you :-)

I’m using 20-30 lb braid by the way.

20-30lb braid sounds good. And so do the ugly sticks med hvy. Fluoro size? Or do you just use braid?

I only use braid. Got in that habit after fishing with guide Bob Maindelle. I’m sure anything fluoro or mono would work so long as it is sufficiently heavy enough.....everybody one here will give you different opinions on string and how light or heavy tackle should be. I prefer over kill cause I catch a ton of fish and don’t like babying them or worse breaking off and a fish having a lure stuck in its mouth and swimming around.

Your rod and reel is perfect. I personally used 15 lb braid with 20 lb flouro or mono leader.

If you are fishing close to obstructions it might be wise to use braid and a fluorocarbon leader. I've never done that but lost lots of fish at PK when they tangle in dock cables or trees. I use 7 foot ugly sticks in those obstructed areas with 12 lb test suffix and a 20 LB test fluorocarbon leader. The mono will stretch a lot if you have some line out and you can put enough pressure on to horse a fish away from obstructions unless its a whopper.

Yu can get this out if they are this big. This one was caught in a deep dock slip surrounded by cables. Stripers love those docks as they eat the perch and shad that hide in the cables and love the shade.

Our fish hide in the submerged trees here in Granbury. We have 1500 docks too but haven’t given them a try for stripers since most are in very shallow water. Our docks, unlike most lakes, are not floating but fixed since we have a “constant” level. I was thinking a 20-30 lb braid and a 15-18 fluorocarbonleader and a heavy rod 7’6” spinning rod and Stradic 3500. I felt helpless with that 8lb fluoro as it just kept going and eventually ended up in the trees. I know the lake record is 20lbs but I’ve never seen one bigger than 10-12 personally. Our big fish average 8-12 and usually caught by accident when we’re bass fishing. I’d like to just honk down on the drag and fight back hard at first to get it up and out of the tree area.