In the summer months of July and August, stripers seek deeper ocean waters on reefs and ledges, where the water is cooler. Breachways, inlets, points, reefs, bridges, mouths of rivers, and boulder fields are all prime locations to intercept migrating stripers. Every spot and location fishes differently depending on the weather conditions, time of the year, wind, water temperature, moon cycles, tides, and bait in the area.
Logbooks are an important tool for long-term success—they will help you understand why and how stripers feed under certain sets of conditions, making it easier to predict their patterns. A logbook can be a rudimentary notebook, or something more advanced, like an Excel spreadsheet. There is no right or wrong time to striper fish.
But you can put yourself in a better position to catch stripers by learning what time of the day stripers are feeding, based on conditions, bait, and their activity. Skinny cuts on the bottom create channels and chokepoints for feeding stripers.
Moon cycles can kick striper fishing into high gear, or it can mean the end of a consistent bite. Many people consider the new and full moons to be the best time to fish for stripers because they create strong ocean currents, which bass thrive in. Generally speaking, three days before a new or full moon, and the three days after produce the best fishing, because there is more vertical water movement.
Stripers are opportunistic fish, feeding whenever they can, especially at the specific time periods and windows during a tide.
Some locations fish best when the current is cranking, other spots are better around slack tide, when there is little or no current movement. Learning what stage of the tide a spot produces is crucial to catching stripers consistently.
Learning how winds affect the behavior of stripers is an important component to finding and catching bass. A hard blow can also shut down a striper bite because of decreased water clarity, particularly because the bottom gets stirred up, creating brown water and patches of weed and mung.
Bunker is a great color option for striped bass. This baits jointed design with a forward buoyancy allows the bait to have a natural swimming action.
The magic swimmer is now on its second generation with better hardware and a reinforced body. There is a corkscrew on the back of the bait to add a teaser tail. The video below provides more information about the Majic Swimmer.
This is a slow sinking lure that can be twitched or retrieved with a subsurface walk the dog style. The lure looks similar to peanut bunker and can be a good lure to use when fishing from the shore.
The Deadly Dick is a spoon-like lure that is commonly used for striped bass and bluefish. Color options are silver, blue, green, and red.
The lure can be fished by casting and retrieving. It can also be cast and allowed to sink like a vertical jig and then retrieved. This allows for the entire water column to be fishing. The lure is a good imitation of sand eels, squid, and spearing.
These lures are rigged with strong split rings, strong crane swivels, and Mustad treble hooks. Having a small and large version of the lure can come in handy depending on the fishing conditions. The video below is of anglers surf fishing for stripers in New Jersey in the fall. Sand eels are around and Deadly Dicks and Kastmaster spoons with tube tails are the lures of choice. The anglers are using surf fishing reels.
The Kastmaster is similar to a spoon and works well for striped bass and bluefish. There are over 30 color patters available for this lure with chrome, chrome-neon blue, and chrome-neon green being the most common to use for striped bass.
Kastmasters also come in versions with bucktails and tube tails. This lure can be cast and retrieved quickly or allowed to sink deep and then retrieved. The 2-ounce version can be cast a far distance from the shore when surf-fishing. If fish are high in the water column this lure can also be trolled. The Slug-Go is another popular classic striped bass fishing lure.
It comes in 9-inch and inch sizes. Color options are albino shad and black. This listing is for a factory rigged lure with double hooks connected with a pound dacron line.
These can be fished down deep on a jig or cast weightless in shallow water with a slow retrieve while twitching the bait. The Tsunami holographic sand eel is a great jig for striped bass. What anglers call a sand eel are long slender fish and are also called sand lace and needlefish.
These baits work well for catching most types of fish including striped bass. Features include 3D body, durable soft-vinyl body, and black metal hooks. Color options are black-back and olive-back. Typically it is good to have the heavy jig sizes to get down near the bottom where sand eels are commonly found. Gulp Swimming Mullet is a very popular bait in the northeast.
It is definitely the best bait for fluke and works well on striped bass. For striped bass it is typically placed on a jig. For fluke, it is tied to a teaser hook about 18 inches above the jig. Pearl white and chartreuse are the most common colors used. The 3-inch and 4-inch size work well on teasers while the 4-inch to 7-inch works well on jigs. Gulp is a great bait for two reasons. First, is it has a very strong scent. This is the most unique feature of gulp that makes it so effective and popular.
Make sure to keep the bait in the scented liquid tubs. The second reason Gulp works well is its action in the water. The curly tail provides good flutter on a jig and on a teaser. The Strike King saltwater jig works well with Berkley Gulp. Color options are red, pearl, chartreuse, and clear coated. Key features of the jig include a black nickel chemically sharpened hook, 3D eyes, and chip-resistant paint. A half-ounce jig with a 4-inch body is a good combination to fish in water less than 20 feet deep.
These baits can be cast and retrieved or jigged near the bottom. The Berkley Powerbait Powe Minnow is a small scented jig. The package comes with two jig heads and eight bodies. Technically this is a freshwater bait but it is effective in saltwater as well. Select the 3-inch 8-count from the dropdown to get the correct bait. This is a good bait to use at night for small striped bass or during the day when there are spearing and silversides in the water.
If the striped bass are feeding on small minnows it is typically best to match the hatch. A light tackle setup with 20 pound braided and a fluorocarbon leader is best for these jigs.
If you see spearing in the water open the spool and try and get the bait deep where the fish are located. Sizes are 3. Color options are chartreuse, blue, gaga, herring, hot olive, pearl, smelt, smoking ghost, and volunteer. The package comes with one jig and two bodies. The extra bodes are handy if bluefish are around which frequently tear up soft plastic baits.
This is another good jig to use when there are small baitfish like spearing in the area. Gulp sandworms are made to imitate live sandworms which are known to be a great striped bass bait. These come in sizes of 2 inches and 6 inches. Color options are motor oil, camouflage, natural, new penny, white, and bloody. These baits can be placed on a jig or with the bait on a hook similar to live bait fishing.
This is a great bait to use around structure like rocks, ledges, pier piling, and bridge pilings that might be holding striped bass. There is also Berkley Gulp Bloodworms. These are 6-inch scented baits that look like bloodworms. If you can get live bloodworms they make great baits and if not this is good alternative.
These can also be fished on a jig or live bait setup. If you made it this far you must really want to catch striped bass so I will tell you my favorite bait for striped bass which is a live bunker.
All the lures above work great but if I had my choice I would pick a live bunker. Sometimes the bunker is so thick you can walk across them and it is easy to net or snag fresh bait. Other days there are not any bunker around. When there is some but not a ton of bunker around is when fishing with bunker works best.
Fiding a school of bunker that is being chased by predator fish is ideal. Circle hooks are required by law in many locations and these hooks are a great way to catch and release striped bass safely.
If the pole is set up with a braided line a fluorocarbon leader is needed. A 50lb leader with a pound braided line is a good setup. Seaguar is a top-quality leader line but is also expensive. Any type or fluorocarbon leader line is better than a braided line and will work. Tying the braided line to the leader line is best achieved with a line-to-line double uni knot. There are other line-to-line knot tying methods but the double uni knot is the easiest to tie.
If you do not know how to tie two lines together a barrel or cane swivel works to attach the leader. A bunker is my favorite but any bait will work on the hook. Typical fresh baits for striped bass include chunks of bunker, clams, bloodworms, herring, mackerel, and eels. These have different levels of success depending on what the bass are feeding on in the area and the time of year. A circle hook works well with all of these baits. As mentioned above there are two ways to catch bunker which are a snagging rig or a cast net.
Using a snagging rig the bunker can be snagged and fished immediately for striped bass using the treble hooks as the fishing hook. The bunker can also be reeled in and then set back out on a circle hook. Snagging a bunker and then letting it sink is the best way to fish with bunker as there are often striped bass under the bunker.
If you let the bunker sink after snagging it there is a good chance a striped bass or bluefish will take the bait. The second way to catch live bait is with a cast net. Below I show a video catching bait with my dad and friend Ryan. To learn more about the best cast nest and how to throw them check out the cast net page. One important thing to mention is that any fish used as cut bait should have the scales removed first. My friend and I were fishing from a pier and kept having bass run and then spit the hook when using a cut piece of bunker.
We were told that striped bass first scales a baitfish in a process that keeps the mouth of the striped bass open. If it is not scaled they will not clamp down hard to eat the bait and may spit it out of their mouth.
If it is already scaled there is a better chance the fish will bite down and the circle hook will properly secure in the corner of the mouth. Baitrunner spinning reels are typically used with striped bass so that poles can be left in holders while waiting for a fish to bite.
For a circle hook, firm tension needs to be added to the line in order to hook the fish. The fish can always release the bait if it realizes something is wrong before tension is added. Try to quickly add tension to the line once it the fish starts running and the line is peeling off the reel.
Of course remember not to set the hook when using a circle hook, just apply steady pressure. This section provides information about bait, and how to rig bait, for striped bass fishing. Bunker should be cut into chunks as shown in the picture on the right. Use all the chunks except the tail. Do use the head. Some of the biggest stripers are caught using the head.
Bunker chunks are usually fished on a fish-finder rig or a three-way-rig. I usually don't use circle hooks when fishing with bunker chunks because they have short shanks. Even though you might be fishing for stripers, bluefish often hit the bunker and can cut your leader with their sharp teeth. Use a longer shanked hook, and heavy leader when using bunker chunks.
To find out more about bunker, and how to rig bunker bait, follow this link: Bunker Bait Rigging. To see about fishing bunker live follow this link: Fishing Live Bunker. Clams are an excellent bait for catching stripers from the surf. These tubes are often called tube lures or tube bait. It is a soft plastic lure that is hollowed out and may measure several inches or several feet. When trying to catch striped bass, most anglers use the longer tubes.
The tube alone is not likely to hook a striper. However, hooking a live sandworm gives the tube an enticing scent to help lure the stripers. You should also never use sandworms that have spoiled. The bass may not go for the dead sandworm. When using the tube and worm technique for trolling, boaters should maintain a slow, steady speed. Typically, a speed of 2 to 2.
This speed allows the tube to slowly move through the water, helping to mimic the movement of an eel, which is what the long tube is designed to imitate. Using the worm works best in shallower waters. If you get too deep, the scent of the worm and the appearance of the tube may not be as effective. Try to stick to 20 feet or less. The tube and worm technique may also be used for shore fishing. For those that prefer artificial lures to live bait, there are a variety of options.
Some lures work better in shallow waters or fishing along the surface, while others are best suited for deeper waters. When fishing the open waters, lakes, rivers, and inlets from the surface, surface minnows, stick baits and prop baits are the preferred choices.
The surface minnows are best suited for daylight fishing when the bass are more likely to spot the white underbelly of the artificial minnow.
If fishing at night, dusk, or dawn, there may be less light to catch the reflection of the minnow. Stick baits are useful in moderate light. However, stick baits require the angler to create movement, as these baits do not include any action. The walk the dog technique is often effective with a stick bait. This technique simply requires the angler to move the rod from side to side to create movement.
In shallow waters, there are other lures to consider. The soft jerk bait is a popular choice, as it has a realistic appearance that helps attract stripers.
Like the stick bait, this bait works best when the angler creates erratic movement, such as twitching or skipping the bait below the surface. Jigging spoons and trolling spoons are recommended when fishing in deeper waters.
The jigging spoons can be used in waters that are at least 15 feet deep. Crankbaits are also useful for catching striped bass. They are often used in the fall when striped bass may be found in shallow waters, but not the surface. If fishing at night, it is important to use a lure that makes noise. Along with the right bait, anglers also need the right rod and reel for catching striped bass.
Fishing for striped bass does not require a long rod, especially when trolling or casting from a boat. Typically, a 9 or foot rod should suffice. Many anglers make the mistake of choosing a rod that is bigger than they need. This can make it difficult to control the line, especially with a big catch.
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