Stripe Fishing Headquarters

Party size shapes how this Smith Lake striper service works. Bill Vines takes a maximum of three clients on his own boat, a Pathfinder 2200V rigged with Lowrance electronics that will hold three or four anglers. Larger bookings are covered by bringing in other guides he works with each year, and with advance notice the service can assemble a trip for as many as 15 people, which is how it handles corporate outings, church fellowship groups and family gatherings.

The fishing is striped bass on Smith Lake, which the site places in north central Alabama roughly 40 miles north of Birmingham off I-65. Live bait and artificial techniques are both used, and at the right point in the year the fishing moves to topwater. Fly anglers are accepted, and the operator notes that some have taken stripers over 20 pounds on fly tackle.

Vines publishes a USCG license number and states the operation is commercially insured. Trips are booked with a deposit and the site asks anglers to call early for the dates they want. Clients bring their own food, drinks, warm clothing, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, a camera and a cooler if they intend to take fish home. An Alabama fishing license is required and is not included in the trip.

Trip lengths are fixed rather than open ended, at seven hours for a full day and four for a half day, both priced for a party of one to three. Start time is daylight for most of the year, with night trips run in the summer. Gift certificates are sold and are pitched for birthdays, graduations, retirements and corporate use. Client catch photographs are published on the site, and a camera is listed as standard equipment to bring.