I am Joe Prinzinger and I love to striper fish. I have been fishing for stripers since the summer of 1992. I can remember well the minute I became addicted to striper fishing. A good friend and I were bass fishing in a cove near the dam when there was an old time blow up of stripers in the cove. There are very few of us old timers left that remember what those blow ups that occurred in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s were like. It was violent and thrilling all at the same time. The sound was like at being at the bottom of a very big waterfall. We had light line and bass lures. We caught only two fish as our light line was broken like sewing thread. Of course the next morning we were there again. Yes indeed, it was an addicting experience.
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(Click the "Read More" link to the right for the rest of the article)
Sheelin P - Joe's wife & fishing partner
Now a day’s fishing for stripers is different. My wife, Sheelin, is my fishing partner. We try to bring our boat down from Goode once a week. The weather does not always cooperate but we do a pretty good job at being on the water a lot. Fishing after the kill off is a lot different than in the early 90s. In the early 90s I was pretty much a top water lure fishermen. Back in those days we use Red Fins as the primary lure used on the lake and we fished the lake early in the morning then went home. There is nothing like seeing that huge swirl and having that feeling that you have hooked into a log that is swimming away.
I caught my biggest fish ever on a Red Fin. When my children were little we used to boat camp on Saturday nights and I would fish first light. They would be asleep in their sleeping bags and I would be throwing top water lures down around the dam. Those were good days! One Sunday morning my wife had just woke up and was imploring me to head off to Campers (back in those days Campers had a great breakfast) so she could get a cup of coffee. I said, “Just one more cast please.” I sent the lure over by the shore, there was a big swirl, and the swimming log headed into deep water. It took a long while to get it in the boat. Both of my children slept through the whole thing, but when I finally had it weighed it was near 25 pounds and 43 inches long. I had it mounted and put it over the fireplace. But of course wives are wives and it now hangs in my pole barn.
Today’s fishing is quite different then “back in the day.” I now use live bait with down lines and planer boards although there are always poles with top water lures on them ready to go just in case there is an old day’s blow up. I still have a couple of the old red fins in the tackle box although they don’t get used when I fish with artificial lures.
I have been in and out of the Striper Club since the early 90s. I had never really been much involved till last year when I asked to be on the Board of Directors. I serve as the Assistant Treasurer and have found out that running the Smith Mountain Striper Club is really quite hard. I guess you would not see that from just coming to the meetings but a lot of hard work and planning has to take place to keep the club running.
I am an economics professor at Lynchburg College, and yes it really hurts to see so much of Washington’s policies hurt our economy. Sometimes I wish I did not know how much damage those politicians are doing to my America, but being a professional economist I am just too aware of the negative consequences of their actions. I love to restore old things. I restore tractors, farm equipment, and tube radios. Anything that is old that can be brought back to life is a thrill to work on.
I am always handing out the tickets at the Striper Club meeting. Come on by and say Hi. I just love talking with people about anything. I especially like telling tall tales about fishing.
I caught my biggest fish ever on a Red Fin. When my children were little we used to boat camp on Saturday nights and I would fish first light. They would be asleep in their sleeping bags and I would be throwing top water lures down around the dam. Those were good days! One Sunday morning my wife had just woke up and was imploring me to head off to Campers (back in those days Campers had a great breakfast) so she could get a cup of coffee. I said, “Just one more cast please.” I sent the lure over by the shore, there was a big swirl, and the swimming log headed into deep water. It took a long while to get it in the boat. Both of my children slept through the whole thing, but when I finally had it weighed it was near 25 pounds and 43 inches long. I had it mounted and put it over the fireplace. But of course wives are wives and it now hangs in my pole barn.
Today’s fishing is quite different then “back in the day.” I now use live bait with down lines and planer boards although there are always poles with top water lures on them ready to go just in case there is an old day’s blow up. I still have a couple of the old red fins in the tackle box although they don’t get used when I fish with artificial lures.
I have been in and out of the Striper Club since the early 90s. I had never really been much involved till last year when I asked to be on the Board of Directors. I serve as the Assistant Treasurer and have found out that running the Smith Mountain Striper Club is really quite hard. I guess you would not see that from just coming to the meetings but a lot of hard work and planning has to take place to keep the club running.
I am an economics professor at Lynchburg College, and yes it really hurts to see so much of Washington’s policies hurt our economy. Sometimes I wish I did not know how much damage those politicians are doing to my America, but being a professional economist I am just too aware of the negative consequences of their actions. I love to restore old things. I restore tractors, farm equipment, and tube radios. Anything that is old that can be brought back to life is a thrill to work on.
I am always handing out the tickets at the Striper Club meeting. Come on by and say Hi. I just love talking with people about anything. I especially like telling tall tales about fishing.
 Joe's 2004 Polar Kraft Kodiak V 198 Walk Through Console |  |
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