Still sipping Starbucks, we ease out of the New York Skyport Marina, the primary seaplane base for Manhattan, tucked in next to FDR Drive at East 23rd Street. It’s a gorgeous summer morning, just one day before the July Fourth holiday — the sort of morning when one wouldn’t mind a long run, but that’s just not necessary. In fact, in little more than five minutes, Capt. Tony DiLernia is anchoring up his boat in the East River.

Although we’re there to fish, we out-of-towners can’t stop gaping at the magnificent skyline view of the Big Apple against the clear blue sky. Meanwhile, DiLernia has idled down in the gentle current in one of his favorite go-to spots, just off the United Nations building. As he ties off the anchor and the boat swings tight, he points to the top of one of the skyscrapers. “That’s where the big fight scene in Spider‑Man was filmed,” he says.

But immediately, he turns his attention to the task at hand, chunking up fresh bunker (menhaden) and threading them onto circle hooks. The fact that DiLernia’s been doing this for not years but decades is evident: Within an hour or so, we have missed a strike and had two good fish on, one coming off midway through the fight and the other right at the boat. Fortunately, our fourth time was the charm, giving us the chance to admire in the net a striped bass just south of 30 pounds.

Pogy Pointers

DiLernia’s Rocket Charters offers anglers a unique experience both by virtue of its prime location (the dock is accessible to anglers via a short taxi ride from most of Manhattan; then, the fishing grounds are but a very short ride away) and by its skipper. No one knows the busy, current-swept waters around New York — after so many years of navigating and fishing them by day and night — better than DiLernia.

DiLernia is not only a consummate skipper, but a savvy master of striped bass fishing as well. On that basis, I thought I’d see if I could pick up a few pointers on how DiLernia connects with some very hefty bass (he’s caught them better than 50 pounds).

Bait accounts for roughly 80 percent of the stripers taken on Rocket Charters. When we fished with DiLernia in early July, the options were menhaden, menhaden or menhaden. The oily baitfish remains his offering of choice until eel fishing starts in the fall. And it was very fresh. That, says DiLernia, is key.

“Frozen bunker’s okay for blues, but not so great for bass,” he says. You can, however, use your fresh bait a second or even third day by putting them in a brine with kosher salt.

Breakaway Baits

The skipper prefers chunks to whole fish and, at that, always likes the head best. His hook of choice: an Eagle Claw 10/0 circle sea hook. What DiLernia especially appreciates about circles is that they allow him to fish with reels in gear. Often currents get strong enough that the coefficient of friction of a reel in free spool with clicker on isn’t enough to keep lines from running out. With circle hooks, that’s not a problem, nor is hooking fish, as a rule. DiLernia runs the circle hook through the top of the head where it was sliced from the body.

“Lots of guys will put the hook through the lips,” DiLernia says. But when a fish grabs the bait, he explains, it’s likely to stay on the hook. DiLernia hooks it to come off and get out of the way. “It ought to tear out easily so the hook comes out of the bait’s head when the striper is swimming away with it. Then the hook should slide into the fish’s jaw hinge,” he explains. “And that’s just what usually happens.”

When no head is available, he’ll go to a body chunk — but his pièce de résistance is adding the pogy’s heart onto the hook. “I’m convinced the blood in the heart attracts stripers,” he says simply.

Timing the Tides

According to DiLernia, spring through midsummer is prime time for bunker fishing. Tides are always a prime factor for him, and in this case, he wants to be anchored up and fishing about a half-hour after the high slack tide: The next couple of hours, with boat and baits sitting still in the moderate current, will produce the hottest bite.

Then, well into the ebb, the current will be running too fast to hold bottom without ungodly amounts of weight. “That’s when we drift and bounce lead-heads on the bottom until late in the ebb when the current slows. Then we’ll go back to fishing bait at anchor.”

Once the tide nears slack, and the boat starts swinging on the anchor “so the baits slide all over the bottom,” it’s time to troll deep divers. DiLernia’s choice of lures: big Mann’s Stretch or Stretch Plus and Yo-Zuri Hydro Magnum Deep Divers. Usually, he’ll do this just until shortly after the tide turns: Then the cycle begins again with a couple of hours fishing bait.

DiLernia notes that tides vary tremendously around New York. For example, depending on the tidal pattern, he might fish the East River for the first hour and a half of the ebb, and then run quickly down to the Hudson River to fish off the Statue of Liberty, catching the early ebb there. By the time the current’s starting to get too strong there, the East River is just ­beginning to slow down again.

DiLernia proudly holds up the big, complex-looking watch on his wrist. “It’s a Reactor Graviton,” and he says it’s been a huge factor in maximizing his efficiency fishing the area per tidal flow. It’s programmed to tell him just what the tide is doing at any day, any moment, in the East River, the Hudson, Sandy Hook and West Sound.

Fall for Eels

Though early July is a great time to fish the Big Apple for bass, DiLernia’s season continues through early November (after which it’s too cold and “time to go hunting,” he says). As summer wanes, DiLernia drifts mostly eels. “They’re migrating then, so it’s a good time to match the hatch.” This is a drifting show and somewhat less tide-critical. And not anchoring allows DiLernia to fish productive areas that include shipping channels.

DiLernia offers eel fishermen a tip regarding the inevitable struggle to get a hook through a writhing eel: “Snap its tail on the rail. For whatever reason, this disables it momentarily but doesn’t kill it.” Some anglers give that love tap to the eel’s head; that will disable it, but sometimes for good.

“This area around New York is highly productive because it’s at the nexus of some stripers’ ­migration routes, and it’s ecologically productive in its own right,” says John Waldman, professor of biology at Queens College (and author of Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life and Environment of New York Harbor). “Also, adult spawners of the Hudson stock, which winter in the open ocean, come into the Hudson to spawn, and so are available in New York Harbor.” Bass from Chesapeake and Delaware Bay stocks migrate north in spring and also enter the mix, Waldman says.

The post NYC Striper Hunt appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Recent emergency regulations from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources have canceled the striped bass trophy season in 2024, affecting the Maryland portion of Chesapeake Bay. Currently, anglers can continue to catch-and-release fish for striped bass in Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries until the end of March. From April 1 to May 15, fishing for striped bass is now prohibited.

The changes, approved by the Maryland General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review, were made to bolster striped bass spawning populations. Chesapeake Bay is a crucial spawning and nursery area for 70 to 90 percent of Atlantic Coast striped bass, so the emergency measures aim to safeguard mature fish during their spring spawning migration.

More Striped Bass Changes

These Maryland-specific actions are in addition to coast-wide recreational measures set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). In January, ASMFC approved an addendum (PDF) to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass that aims to reduce fishing mortality in 2024. For Chesapeake Bay anglers — which includes charter boats — the addendum implements a 19- to 24-inch slot limit and a bag limit of one fish per person, per day. For anglers fishing in the ocean, the addendum implements a 28- to 31-inch slot limit and a coast-wide daily bag limit of one fish.

What Caused the Emergency Striper Closures?

To be blunt, five years of below average spawning success for striped bass has been disastrous. In 2023, Maryland’s annual striped bass young-of-year index had a value of 1.0. That’s significantly lower than the long-term average of 11.1. This key index measures reproductive success. Unfavorable environmental conditions, such as warm winters and low water flows, were identified as contributing factors to the decreased spawning rates.

“The recent recruitment numbers of juvenile striped bass show that additional management efforts are necessary to protect the overall population,” said Lynn Waller Fegley, Maryland’s DNR Fishing and Boating Services Director.

The repercussions of these lowly spawns are expected to really show in the adult striped bass population over the next few years, as the juveniles mature, leading to reduced abundance of legal-sized fish. A comprehensive striped bass stock assessment is scheduled to be released in 2024 to determine how the species responded to previous management actions made by Maryland and other coastal states.

What’s the Future Hold?

Don’t be surprised if the emergency trophy season closure becomes an annual occurrence. Maryland is considering establishing these new rules permanently. In past years, the striped bass trophy season has taken place during the first two weeks of May. This is when large female striped bass typically make their way up the Chesapeake Bay to spawn in the same rivers where they hatched.

Maryland is also considering extending the recreational and charter boat summer closure by an extra week — from July 16 to Aug. 7 — and closing the commercial hook-and-line season during the recreational and charter boat summer closure. Data show this period is the hottest part of summer when striped bass are most vulnerable to dying after being caught and released. 

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Spend much time on the waters of North Carolina’s Crystal Coast and the origins of that moniker should be pretty clear. The waters here are some of the clearest in the Mid-Atlantic. The Crystal Coast, what can be described as the Southern Outer Banks, is a designation for roughly 85 miles of beaches (56 of which are protected) and coastal towns from the New River north to Cape Lookout. This includes Beaufort, Morehead City and the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

There’s no shortage of fishing opportunities on the Crystal Coast. Many are seasonal, but whatever the season, there are fish to be caught. While many destinations require bringing or hiring a boat, the coast of North Carolina boasts some of the world’s best surf fishing. Among the many species taken on beaches here, the two high-status game fish are red drum and striped bass. Very large reds prowl along the beaches in the fall. How big? Consider the IGFA all-tackle world record that angler David Deuel landed on an Outer Banks beach in November, 1984 — a fish weighing an extraordinary 94 pounds, 2 ounces.

Those without a boat can also hit the piers that jut out 1,000 feet from the beach into the ocean — the Bogue Inlet Pier (at Emerald Isle) and the Oceanana Fishing Pier (at Atlantic Beach). In addition to the many species that surfcasters catch, pier anglers target red drum, cobia and kingfish spring through fall, as well as croaker, bluefish, flounder and more.

Yet another land-based fishery involves wading in inshore waters, but these waters are much more accessible to those with skiffs or kayaks. Kayakers can access Back Sound and Bogue Sound from Fort Macon State Park and several spots around Harkers Island.

Located near the easternmost protrusion of the Outer Banks, the Crystal Coast offers a relatively easy run to the Gulf Stream and blue water often teeming with prized game fish. The list of summer-time targets includes marlins (blues and whites), sailfish, mahi, wahoo, tunas (yellowfin and blackfin) and more coastal species such as cobia, snapper, amberjack and kingfish.

One of the most exciting cold-weather fisheries here sees larger charter and seaworthy private boats running out to fish just a few miles off the Outer Banks for huge bluefin tuna. Bluefin approaching the grander mark have been taken on sport-fishing boats, and tuna larger than 1,000 pounds have been caught commercially. The past season, in fact, was one of the best ever, and included not only giant bluefin but those of a more modest size (relatively speaking). While not as coveted as bluefin, blackfin tuna can be caught in numbers here at times and in the winter will run 25 to 30 pounds — large for the species.

Tournament fishing is big on the Crystal Coast; you’ll find offshore, inshore and surf events here. Notably this includes one of the fishing world’s premier tournaments, the Big Rock Blue Marlin, as well as other billfish tournaments in the summer. The fall schedule includes plenty of events for king mackerel.

Planning a Trip

When to Go: Everyone wants to be here in the summer. That translates into lots of visitors, higher rates, busier roads. But it is a wonderful time of year to enjoy the beaches and offshore variety, along with calmer seas. Just book far in advance, as much as a year ahead. On the other hand, fall and winter offer special fisheries — big drum in the surf and then giant bluefin just offshore — at a time when visitors find things considerably more laid-back and less crowded here. Certainly, things get windier in mid-fall and winter; those who want to fish beyond the inlets would be wise to plan to stay at least a week, looking for a calm day or two.

Where to Go and How to Get There: The closest major airport is in New Bern (EWN), just over 30 miles away, served by a number of major carriers. Raleigh-Durham International Airport is just under three hours by car. More distant air options include international airports in Norfolk, Virginia (NIA), or in Charlotte (CLT), about a 4- or 5-hour drive, respectively. Many choose to drive to the Southern Outer Banks. From Atlanta, figure nearly eight hours drive time; from Boston, about 13 hours.

What to Expect: For visiting anglers, the infrastructure is generous, with plenty of inshore guides, offshore charter, launch sites and marinas. Also, take advantage of local bait and tackle shops, often the best source of information, especially for surf and jetty anglers. Private boaters fishing offshore will need a boat large and seaworthy enough to negotiate Bogue and Beaufort inlets; like all inlets, they can be tricky. Check the shoaling alerts online for up-to-date information when planning routes.

Crystal Coast accommodations are many and varied from budget (hard to find in high season) to five-star. Check with various local real estate brokers since they handle vacation rentals for the many amazing ocean-front homes along this coast.

Families who join anglers here need not be bored. Besides enjoying the endless Cape Lookout National Seashore beaches, visitors can paddleboard and kayak inshore waterways and marshes; climb to the top of the iconic Cape Lookout Lighthouse (Wednesday through Sunday); make historical visits to Beaufort’s North Carolina Maritime Museum and to Fort Macon; see the famed wild horses of Shackleford Banks Island; hike the Croatan National Forest; and plenty more.

Helpful Links

• The Crystal Coast
• Crystal Coast Visitors’ Guide

The post North Carolina’s Crystal Coast is a Gem appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

A spiky dorsal fin pierces the water’s surface on a skinny water flat. A cast is made. The line comes tight. Fish on! Wait, you’re flats fishing in … Jersey?!

You bet it is. New Jersey hails as a primo location for striped bass fishing, with unique opportunities to target them on the so-called flats of the backwaters. High tides swell through estuarine channels filling up the shallow mudflats. During high waters, stripers creep into 1- to 3-foot depths to feed on fiddler crabs, bloodworms, sandworms and bay anchovies that get trapped in the shallows.

As the tide drops, stripers stage in the skinny water along the craggy cordgrass sodbanks to pounce on prey. Anglers on skiffs silently push-pole, casting soft baits 4 to 5 inches long paired to light 3/8-ounce lead heads. Long-rodders wave the fly rod with Clouser minnows or Deceivers, coming tight from the streaking runs of powerful bass. Topwater enthusiasts get rewarded with exciting visuals, as swirling fins lead to vicious popper attacks.

Myriad back bay hot spots brimming with flats fishing opportunity line Jersey’s 128 miles of coastline, including Barnegat Bay, Great Bay, Sea Isle City, Manasquan River and the Shrewsbury River. From May through October, pick a back-creek channel, plan around the new and full moons, and fish the high to outgoing tides to experience shallow water stripers on the flats.

The post Flats Fishing for Striped Bass in New Jersey appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“Striped bass fishing can be really good in the cold,” says Capt. Kenny Louderback, of Cape Charles, Virginia. Louderback has been slow trolling live eels for trophy striped bass all winter along Virginia’s Eastern Shore. “Our average fish are between 44 and 52 inches,” he says. 

Cold Water Chesapeake Bay Stripers

When fishing for striped bass in the colder months, check to see if the season is closed, although catch and release fishing is often allowed.

Louderback says anglers can expect striper fishing to catch fire when the water temperature drops.

“We were running all the way to the Banana Hole,” Louderback says, referring to a striper hotspot near the Maryland and Virginia border. That’s farther north than he normally fishes — it’s much more common for striped bass to amass closer to Cape Charles and the mouth of the bay in January and February.

Louderback believes warm water temperatures caused the late migration. “It took forever for the water to drop below 50 degrees,” he says. As the water drops into the upper 40s, the fish move south. It’s a trend Louderback has come to rely on. The good news that a late striper migration often extends the bite much further into the new year. “They can get really aggressive, too,” Louerback adds.

Read Next: Striped Bass Fishing in New England

Troll Live Eels for Striped Bass

To catch striped bass, Louderback slow trolls live eels over deep channels and shallow shoals in the lower Chesapeake Bay. He fishes up to 10 rods with some lines set deep and others fished closer to the surface. To space out his trolling lines, Louderback uses planer boards. 

Louderback starts with a 7-foot medium-heavy boat rod matched to a 20-pound conventional reel. The reel is spooled with 30-pound monofilament ending in a snap swivel. Then, he ties an 8/0 inline circle hook to three feet of 50-pound fluorocarbon leader and adds a snap swivel to the free end. He clips a trolling sinker between the two snap swivels. For the shallow lines, he uses 2 ounces. The deeper lines he adds 6 to 8 ounces. 

Louderback usually fishes at two knots, focusing on humps and drops. When he’s headed down-current, he drops his lines back 20 feet. And when he trolls into the current, he drops them back 30 feet. He likes to use a zig-zag trolling pattern.

“When the boat turns, the inside baits drop and I often get a bite,” he says. 

Hooking, Fighting and Releasing Striped Bass

When one of his lines comes tight, Louderback lets the fish run until it steadily pulls drag. “That way I know the fish has the bait in its mouth,” he explains.

Louderback stresses good release protocols with trophy striped bass. “I can’t stand to see people take the fish out of the water for photos, then just throw it overboard,” he says. Instead, the captain suggests reviving the fish boatside until it swims on its own. “When I feel the fish biting down on my thumb, I know it’s ready to go,” he says.

On a recent half-day trip, Louderback got six bites and boated five big striped bass. He says he’s been averaging three to five bites per trip

The post Fired Up Striper Fishing in Winter appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Trolling deep water for fish such as walleyes sometimes produces some surprising results. That’s just what New Jersey angler John Vayda learned on Oct. 9 while trolling 20-feet of water for walleyes on 35-year old Monksville Reservoir. That’s located less than 50 miles from New York City near West Milford, New Jersey.

Vayda’s hybrid striper weighed 16-pounds, 10-ounces and has been certified by the state as the new New Jersey record for the species. The new record hybrid striper had a 23-inch girth and was 31-inches long.

Vayda’s fish edges out the 23-year old hybrid striper record for New Jersey weighing 16-pounds, 4 ounces, caught in 1999 by angler Bill Schmidt.

The New Jersey Fish and Wildlife department reports Vayda and a pair of unnamed friends were practicing for an upcoming walleye tournament when they caught the fish. The department says 12-pound test monofilament was used by Vayda to make his record catch.

Hybrid stripers are known by many names and were developed by fisheries biologists for stocking freshwaters using white bass crossed with striped bass. Such hybrids don’t grow as large as pure-bred stripers, but are more aggressive and easier to catch like white bass.

IGFA classes hybrid stripers as “whiterock” bass, and they can be produced using either male or female species from stripers or white bass. The fish can be identified by broken lines in the lateral stripes along their sides, unlike stripers that have unbroken lines. Hybrid striped bass also are deeper in body shape than leaner and longer pure stripers.

Because hybrid striped bass do not naturally reproduce, their populations can be controlled in waters where they are stocked by fisheries agencies. They’re usually stocked to boost angler catches, and are popular throughout much of America.

New Jersey Fish and Wildlife reportedly stocked hybrids in 500-acre Monksville Reservoir in 2017 in a very small release of fish. The little reservoir is on the Wanaque River.

The IGFA All-Tackle hybrid striped bass or “whiterock” came from Greers Ferry Lake, Ark. in May 1997, caught by angler Jerald Shaum while trolling a deep-diving Norman DD22 crankbait.

The post After 23 Years, New Jersey Has A New Hybrid Striped Bass Record appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The autumn striper fishing season traditionally enjoyed by anglers will not open this year, reported the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) on Sept. 26. Striped bass harvest cut-backs were mandated by the state following an updated 2021 stock assessment, says NCDMF.

The state made the move restricting angler harvest after NCDMF reviewed its 2021 Fishery Management Plan that revealed young striped bass recruitment to the region’s lineside population was lower than desired.

Despite striper harvest cutbacks in 2021 for the areas, the updated assessment revealed the Albemarle and Roanoke estuary bass numbers continued to decline as low numbers of young stripers joined the current population.

Bottom line for anglers is the state believes striped bass in the areas are overharvested and continue to be overfished. So to improve striper numbers, angling had to be halted for the 2022 autumn season.

The state’s striper management plan mandates a reduction in fish caught to improve striped bass numbers when necessary. The reduced total striper landings based on the updated stock assessment is 15,726 pounds of fish. That striper take is divided equally between recreational anglers and commercial fishermen in the Albemarle Sound and Roanoke River management areas, according to the NCDMF.

The area’s prior allowance of striped bass for 2022 was 51,216 pounds. Already this year the harvest from the Albemarle Sound and Roanoke River management areas is 35,520 pounds of stripers. Because that harvest number exceeds the updated stock assessment limit of 15,726 pounds, the autumn striped bass season in the areas will not take place to conserve the species and aid in juvenile fish recruitment to the population.

Further management options are being explored by the state, and will be discussed during a November meeting of the Marine Fisheries Commission.

The post North Carolina’s Fall Striped Bass Fishing Season Closed on Albemarle Sound and Roanoke River Management Areas appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Hot Spot: Solomons Island, Maryland

Species: Striped bass, redfish, and speckled trout

“Yesterday, we caught over 100 striped bass between 20 and 30 inches and I ran 80 miles,” Captain Pete Dahlberg of Four Seasons reports. Dahlberg fishes out of Solomons Island, Maryland on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay. From his home port, he can reach hot spots on both sides of the bay.

A typical day starts early as Dahlberg likes to hit the dawn bite. Depending on the weather, he will run to the leeward side of the hundreds of marsh islands on either side of the bay. “I fish from the Choptank to Smith Island, the other day I fished the Patuxent River,” Dahlberg says.

To find the fish, Dahlberg looks for structures like rocks, grass and reefs, but he really likes to fish shipwrecks. He relies on his Humminbird Solix side-imaging sonar to map the bottom and locate fish.

When he finds a combination of structure and clear water, Dahlberg drops the trolling motor and casts soft plastics, jerkbaits and topwater plugs. 

His go-to lure is a three- to four-inch BKD soft plastic on a ¼ to ⅜ ounce leadhead jig. He will also fish Fin-S and Bass Assassin paddletails. Bounce the soft plastic off the bottom or retrieved steadily through the water column. 

When he needs a suspending bait to get attention, he rips a Rapala X-Rap jerkbait. Early in the morning, Dahlberg gets on the topwater bite with a Storm Chug Bug. “On windy days I like a Storm Wild Eye swim shad,” Dahlberg adds. The Wild Eye shad is heavier than a soft plastic, but still works the upper water column where the fish can see it.

Color choice is simple, Dahlberg goes with white and chartreuse most of the time. In low light, he uses a purple lure. “There’s no magic abracadabra,” he says.

Dahlberg spends the day running from structure to structure, fishing each area until the striped bass get wise. “The fish will quit biting pretty quickly,” he says. So, having an extensive list of hot spots keeps him moving and catching. 

Over the next few weeks, Dahlberg expects striper fishing to improve as the fish move shallower. With the water temperature falling through the sixties and into the fifties, striped bass fishing will heat up. “We get the biggest fish when the water temperature hits 50,” he says. 

The post Chesapeake Fall Striper Fishing Heating Up appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM) have been busy recently catching and fining fishermen for having too many or under-the-size-limit stripers in some of the state’s rivers.

Environmental police got a tip from a concerned person that illegal fishing was being done by outlaws catching over-the-limit stripers from the Seekonk River in the town of East Providence, near the Atlantic Coast.

On Sept. 26 DEM officers responded, and there discovered four men with eight stripers, three of which measured under the state 28-inch minimum length for the species. One man was issued a citation for a fine of $300 for the illegal fish linesider.

DEM police then noticed a different group of fishermen near the Seekonk River cleaning striped bass that they suspected also were undersize. Officers investigated, and two members of the group were issued criminal citations for $800 as eight stripers in their catch were illegal by Rhode Island law. One person also was ticketed for not having a saltwater fishing license as required.

The next day a DEM policeman spotted two Massachusetts residents fishing the Narrow River in Narragansett, Rhode Island, right on the state coastline. DEM reports the officer discovered 11 undersize stripers in their possession. One man confessed to catching all the fish and he was cited and fined $1,100.

DEM reports all the illegally caught striped bass were seized by department personnel and donated to the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island in nearby Saunderstown, which will be used to feed a recovering bald eagle.

Catching and keeping illegal striped bass in Rhode Island waters can carry hefty penalties.

DEM reports that William McLaughlin was caught dumping striped bass from his boat in an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near Block Island, south off the mainland and east of Montauk. McLaughlin tried to avoid DEM officers after dumping the fish, but he was caught and boarded by DEM police. McLaughlin had two large striped bass on board his boat.

McLaughlin was subsequently fined $9,000 fine for catching striped bass in Rhode Island’s prohibited waters.

Christine Coughlin, the Rhode Island judge who set McLaughlin’s penalty, called his actions “aggravating factors.”

“While unlawful possession of one or two fish may not seem to be of consequence to (McLaughlin), when considered amidst a struggling fishery and a seemingly rampant disregard for its conservation by ‘prolific’ unlawful fishing activity, such behavior, even individually, is especially grave,” she said about assessing the fine.

The post Big Striper Bust on Rhode Island appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Hot Spot: Boston Harbor
Species: Striped Bass
Captain: Captain Brian Coombs, Get Tight Sportfishing

“Bass fishing has been pretty good this summer,” according to Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing in Boston Harbor. Coombs had just returned from a double header, running two charters in one day. “The fish are biting better in the afternoon,” he said.

During his summer trips, Coombs searches Boston Harbor and the Massachusetts coast for stripers. When he finds feeding bass, he casts large soft plastics or topwater lures. If the bass have lock jaw, Coombs turns to fishing with live menhaden.

The typical day starts early with Coombs looking for striped bass feeding on the surface. The early bite is topwater, so he starts with a nine-inch Doc plug or a 10-inch, unweighted Slug-Go soft plastic. “BKK has a new Titan Rider 8/0 weightless worm hook hook with a huge gap,” he suggests. He also likes a three-ounce Al Gag paddletail with a plastic skirt. His favorite colors are white, bone and silver flash.

To cast big lures to striped bass, Coombs uses a seven-foot, 11-inch Shimano Grappler Type C spinning rod and 5000 series Shimano Twin Power reel. For unweighted soft plastics, he uses a seven-foot, six-inch Shimano Terramar X rod and Twin Power reel. Coombs spools the reel with 40 pound PowerPro braid and a short leader of 30 pound fluorocarbon.

When Coombs turns to live-bait fishing, he uses a Thunnus spinning reel with the baitrunner function. “I have a weird way of rigging my live baits,” he says. The rig starts out with a 8/0 BKK circle hook tied to three feet of 30 pound fluorocarbon leader. He ties a 220-pound-test swivel to the end of the fluorocarbon. To the braided mainline, he ties another swivel with an eight-inch piece of 60 pound monofilament. Then, he slides a three-ounce egg sinker over the 60-pound mono and ties the short leader to the swivel on the 30-pound fluorocarbon. The short section of heavy leader and swivels keep the egg sinker from rubbing on the braided mainline. He explains: “Braided line isn’t as abrasion resistant as monofilament.”

When Coombs approaches a school of menhaden, he drops the live menhaden below the school where he expects striped bass are waiting. He says his side-imaging sonar plays a big part in his success. “I can drive through an area and see fish on either side of the boat.” He can also mark striped bass holding under a school of menhaden. To get the most accuracy with his side-image sonar, he uses a Humminbird Apex 13 fish finder and a through hull transducer.

Coombs attributes the great striped bass fishing to cold water that has stayed close to shore all summer. “The wind hasn’t blown east all summer,” he says. “An abundance of west wind pushes warmer water offshore leaving cool water in its wake. The water temperature has been in the low 60s,” says Coombs. This means the striped bass are more likely to feed all day long and he is finding fish in more areas. He laughs and says, “The bass aren’t concerned about the water temperature so they do what they want.”

In the next few weeks, Coombs expects more bluefish to move into the area. “First we find them close to the beach, then they move offshore to join the striped bass on the menhaden schools,” he says. “We got into blues up to 14 pounds earlier this week,” he says, adding the encounter is a good sign of great fishing to come through the end of summer.

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