Denny Clapper has been fishing Raystown Lake for 35 years and working as a guide for about 30 of them. Striped bass is his primary target species.

While he said the lake might have room for more stripers, it's generally in good shape.

"There's been more striped bass stocked during the last 10 years than there has ever been," said Clapper. "The reason is, in addition to the fish stocked by the state Fish and Boat Commission, stripers are being stocked by two clubs."

Those club stockings are provided by the Raystown Striper Club and the Pennsylvania Striped Bass Association.

FBC stockings have remained consistent at Raystown for more than 15 years. The foundation of the state agency's stockings is fingerling-stage stripers.

Most years, fingerling stockings have hovered near 100,000. In 2005, the FBC stocked fry as well as fingerlings. Adult stockings augmented fingerling stockings in 1997, 2000, '05 and '07.

"The striper fishery has definitely increased during the past decade, but it can sustain a lot more fish," said Clapper. "The baitfish situation on the lake is incredible. There are two primary species: gizzard shad and alewife — and they are in there by the billions.

"You have to give a lot of credit to the clubs for helping out the Fish and Boat Commission, which only has so many dollars to operate on," he added. "If it wasn't for what these folks have done over the past few years, we wouldn't have nearly the fishery that we do today."

Over the course of the year, Clapper boats stripers of all sizes. Some of the smaller ones are taken in the spring, when the fish are in shallow water and can be caught by casting minnow-shaped plugs.

The average fish, he tells potential clients, will run from 10 to 20 pounds.

"On the upper end of the scale, we'll catch fish in the 30- to 40-pound range," he added.

Like many enthusiasts who target a certain fish on a given body of water, Clapper pursues stripers from early spring until late fall.

Things typically get off to a good start soon after the ice cover leaves the lake. Though the fish don't successfully reproduce, they do attempt to do so. This activity dictates their location in the lake.

"The early fishing usually starts in mid-March," he said. "The fish will be going through their spawning ritual. They'll be in the upper portion of the lake," Clapper said.

"Then around early to mid-May, they will begin scattering around the lake, some still in the upper end, but some on main lake points and such. At this time they are hard to catch. What you do catch are the smaller males."

Clapper said that as spring gives way to summer, water temperatures rise and most of the stripers will be located from the mid-point of the lake down to the dam. Then, when water temperatures begin to drop during autumn, the stripers often will be found in the back ends of the larger bays and coves.

"Fall is one of my favorite times to fish," Clapper said. "The fish will begin to move into those back bays. The colder it gets, the farther they move back into the bays.

"They will be in some of the shallowest water imaginable looking for big gizzard shad. The bays hold the warmest water, which draws in the baitfish. And the stripers go in after the bait," he added.

As a flood-control lake, Raystown is subject to water level fluctuations. Information on lake levels and recreation is available at 814-658-3405.

The lake has no horsepower limitations. Excellent launch ramps are well sprinkled along the lake's shoreline and can be accessed from Route 26.

The Huntingdon County Visitors Bureau at www.raystown.org can be of assistance for anglers traveling from outside the area.

Fishing Hotspots produces a map of the lake, available at many area bait shops, as well as from the website www.fishinghotspots.com.

Electronic maps, which provide detailed background maps on GPS units designed to accept such data, are available from sources like Navionics.

Visit Clapper's Web site at www.clappersguide.com.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.