Yeah, I'd agree with that. Around here in winter, the striper season is ridiculous. You get a thousand boats right up against the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel islands. Guys just casting against the rocks all day. Then they have the ocean season where they troll up and down the beach. There are so many idiots who don't know how to drive that it seriously gets dangerous to be out there.
Use that teaser. Even on slow days the teaser can make a skunk go away. Try to retrieve your plugs very slowly. And when the plug first hits the water, let it sit for about 3 seconds before retrieving...the initial splash is the most dramatic to a nearby fish.
I've caught a few strippers in my time, usually Its crab season a few days later. All Quell, whatcha gonna do. Stripers go down to the local bait store spend $40 on whatever the asshole there tells u they r biting on, then go to the beach and cast, sit, wait repeat about a thousand times. After years of this practice u might actually catch one, make sure to repeat this hero story to anyone who will listen for the next 30 years always making sure ur fish is bigger and bigger than the last time u told the story. Sadly, now u will have to listen to somebody else tell u how they caught a bigger fish than u, so next time just make urs larger.
I don't fish bait. I only fish lures, and only from the beach. The only exception is... I always keep a snagging rig in my box in case I happen on a pod of bunker. You should do the same. Some other must haves in your box are some plastic baits (Storm shads, bunker, etc.), some surface plugs (pencil poppers, danny plugs, etc), bombers (school bus and black are musts... make sure they're the right weight, and use them with a teaser), and plenty of metal (Hopkins and diamond jigs). When the water is warm, fish fast. When the water is cold, fish slow. I've always found a rising barometer is better than a falling barometer. "The color of the fly should match the color of the sky" seems to produce consistent results. In other words, dark plugs at night, shiny metal in the day, lots of pink and blue and orange for your teasers at dawn and dusk. There's lots of reasons for this... so just trust me, even though it may sound counter-intuitive. Bass like to sit and ambush prey... live or dead. Fish moving water (rips and currents) and if you don't have good luck at one spot, move up the beach and keep moving until you hit fish or need a beer. Last piece of advise... "You ain't gonna get 'em sittin' on the couch." Meaning... put your time in, and pay attention to what works and what doesn't.
http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/forum.php There are over a million posts there, mostly in the mid-atlantic area. Good luck. Don't get caught without a license or under/over sized fish. Feds don't fck around.
with these: http://www.striperspace.com/large_storms.html And with these: http://www.thefisherman.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.fishingrig&Rig_ID=27
i use bunker.fishing is all about patience,theres really nothing to it.theres days u will sit on the beach for 12hrs and not get one bite,then another day u might get 10 bites in an hour.if ur a beginner fishermen or a kook fishermen I guess would be the correct logic,go practice casting out with a weight on down the beach.u don't want to cast out when ur not quite ready and ur line snaps and u loose ur gear and bait.happens all the time.and use a surfcaster pole too
Fixed that for ya. Wait.....are we talking about something that looks like a fish or smells like one.
Great advise from LBcrew. I also only fish artificial. Unless it's the spring and there is bunker everywhere. Then snag one and let it sink. Generally this time of year they are eating a lot of rain fish (minnows) and peanut bunker and sand eels. Not so many full size bunker around as in the spring. So choose a bait that looks like the real thing. A few that I like are - vision sand eels (rubber), diamond jigs with colored tubes on the tails and my fav is the yozuri crystal minnow (black and silver). Remember to keep moving. Your not going to catch much just standing or sitting- unless you have lot of time and are lazy. I don't like to sit and throw clams... It's kinda boring. Fish the rip currents off the beach. Pay attention to the different currents. Bass like currents cause they can handle it and bait fish can't. I have caught plenty of big bass in shallow water- like a foot or so. My fav set up is when the deeper water between sandbars empties out into the ocean. Remember that bass generally swallow their food head first since they don't have teeth and blue fish usually bit the back. So if your using the rubber vision sand eels and you keep missing them and your bait is always chewed in half- switch to metal cause it's blue fish. Also- at night is some of best times to fish. On a moving tide. I love fishing at dark from the beach, some of the best time. The yozuri really works best then... Just get out there and try it! You'll run into ppl and learn a lot on the way. As long as your interested in what they have to say, they will share.
Another point- don't waste much time at the end of the jetty trying to cast to china and deep water. There are probably more fish on the inside in shallow water- and you don't have to worry about the jetty. Unless that is that you see a pod of fish out there..
I saw the title of this thread and thought it said how to catch a stripPer. I open it and there is reference to using bait and lures and still it too my mind a few seconds to switch gears. I thought "these guys are effed up" for a minute.
