Striped Bass fishing is incredibly popular, but if you want to learn how to catch striped bass, there are certain techniques you need to master. Some of the most popular methods are fly fishing, trolling, fishing from shore, and night fishing for striped bass. Which of these forms of striper fishing will be most effective depends upon a number of variables, ranging from the striped bass season in your neck of the woods, to whether you prefer to catch higher numbers of school-sized stripers, or fish instead for fewer larger fish.

Before we dig into specific techniques, let’s consider some general striper fishing tips that every angler needs to know:

• Stripers living in brackish or saltwater can be very sensitive to the tides and currents. How they react to these factors changes from place to place and season to season, but it’s important to always be aware of these variables.
• Striped bass are structure-oriented fish, and will usually be found close to structure. When they are found in open water, they’re usually focusing on large shoals of bait.
• The bulk of the striper population on the Atlantic seaboard migrates. This means the best striped bass season changes from north to south. In early spring the Chesapeake Bay (where the majority of the stripers spawn) is a focal point, with the fish moving northward after spawning in April and May. During the summer, areas like New York and Connecticut enjoy a good striped bass season, and in the fall the fish migrate south again. Some years, they may go as far south as the North Carolina coast.
• While baitfishes are their main forage, stripers are opportunistic predators and you never know what they’ll attack – if you want to be a successful striper angler, keep an open mind and be willing to experiment as you learn more and more about how to catch striped bass.

Okay: ready to dig into some details? Let’s look at some specific methods of striper fishing.

Fly Fishing for Striped Bass

As a general rule of thumb, fly fishing for striped bass is most effective early and late in the day, during periods of low light, or when the fish are chasing bait at the surface – all times when the stripers are likely to feed in the upper sections of the water column. At other times, fly fishing for striped bass may require some specialized gear, like sinking lines and larger, heavier tackle. In fact, die-hard striper fly fishermen often carry multiple rods and lines of differing sizes in order to be able to present their lures at different depths throughout the course of a day.

Most anglers who are successful at fly fishing for striped bass choose relatively large streamers or Deceivers, which mimic anchovies, bunker, and similar baitfish. These are usually cast and then stripped back at a relatively quick pace, to generate a reaction strike from the fish.

Trolling for Striped Bass

For pure effectiveness, many anglers would argue that trolling for striped bass is the number one way to get hooked up. And it would be a hard point to argue. In fact, many of the most recognizable and best rigs for striped bass fishing, like umbrella and mojo rigs, are designed for trolling.

Trolling is particularly effective because it allows you to cover large areas of water until you find a concentration of fish. Plus, trollers can accurately choose the depth(s) they want their lures to run at and vary them as necessary. They can also maintain exact control of the lure’s speed. And on top of all that, trolling for striped bass allows you to tow lots of lines and pull large numbers of lures all at the same time. In fact, in some areas, anglers will set out as many as 20 lines or even more, some with multiple lures on the end, boosting the chances that a fish will spot one of the offerings and strike.

How to Catch Striped Bass from Shore

Anglers who don’t have a boat at their disposal will naturally want to learn how to catch striped bass from shore. This can mean fishing from bridges, piers and bulkheads, but also, surf fishing for striped bass is incredibly popular in many areas with beachfront access. In fact, whether you’re visiting a beach town in New Jersey, New York or North Carolina, you’re likely to find plenty of striped bass surf-fishing rigs lining the shelves of the local tackle shops. Surfcasting for striped bass is most often attempted with bait to get an idea of what you should use), but some anglers are dedicated to the thrill of tempting a big striper into hitting plugs or spoons being launched out from the beach.

Night Fishing for Striped Bass

Stripers feed hard after dark, and night fishing for striped bass is often a prime way to score. It does require some special gear, obviously starting with a good headlamp or flashlight. Night lights that can be lowered into the water are often used to attract baitfish, which in turn draw stripers into the area. Boat anglers will want to make sure that they have the appropriate navigational lights, and every member of the crew should be armed with a glow stick or other waterproof light source, so they can be spotted in the water in case of emergency. If you plan to use lures as opposed to natural baits, also remember that although it seems counter-intuitive, dark colors like purple, brown, or black often work best after the sun has gone down. It takes some extra effort – and possibly a lot of lost sleep – but night fishing for striped bass is something many dedicated striper fishermen discover they really enjoy as they figure out their favorite methods of how to catch striped bass. Give it a shot, and you might decide it’s well worth staying up late to feel that tug on the end of your fishing line.

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If you enjoy striped bass fishing and trolling is a tactic you’ll employ, no matter where you wet your lines there are two must-haves that are considered by many anglers the best way to catch striped bass: umbrella rigs and mojo rigs. Yes, there are others that can be more or less effective at different times in different places. Some people swear by bunker spoons rigged with long leaders and weights, others like towing rigs with big lipped plugs, and still others favor surgical-hose rigs that mimic eels. But if you could look beneath the wakes of the trollers plying bays, rivers and ocean along the Atlantic coast, you’d be hard-pressed to find any boats that didn’t have both umbrellas and mojos in the spread.

Striped Bass Umbrella Rigs

Umbrella rigs consist of metal crossbars, usually weighted in the center, with either four or six arms. There are loops at the ends of the arms and often in the middle of each arm as well, to which you attach a swivel with clips at both ends. Then teasers, usually paddle-tail soft-plastic shad, are attached to the other end of the swivel clips. The net result? A single umbrella rig has between four and 12 teasers. None of these have hooks; they’re merely meant to create the illusion of a school of baitfish. Then a leader of between 2 and 3 feet long is attached to the middle of the umbrella rig, and a hook-bait tied on. Alternatively, some umbrellas use a pair of hook-baits, run from the ends of two opposite arms.

Hook baits are commonly “parachute” style lures, similar to mojos – we’ll talk more about those in a moment. Parachutes are essentially bucktails tied with synthetic hair that face forward and away from the hook. As they’re pulled through the water, the synthetic hairs are drawn back by water pressure and create a parachute-shaped profile. The hook of the lure is then dressed with a soft-plastic paddle-tail shad similar to the teasers. In most cases, however, the teaser shad are a size smaller than hook baits. When large fish are in the area, a striped bass umbrella rig might commonly use 6-inch teasers and a parachute with a 9-inch shad, for example. But if an angler is trolling for school-sized stripers, the umbrella rig might have 4-inch teasers and a 6-inch shad dressing the hook.

There are also some outliers that striped bass anglers should be aware of. Some umbrellas are created with spoons instead of plastic shad as the teasers. These are commonly called “spoonbrellas.” You’ll also see umbrella rigs with twister-tails on occasion. And you’ll even run across some that have just two arms which are bent into a “V” shape, with teasers in the middle and hook baits on either end (usually referred to as “Vbrellas” or in some areas, “BillyBars”).

A striped bass umbrella rig can be clipped directly to the main line and trolled without weight, or lead can be added to take it deep. In many cases, a boat will have them deployed both ways to cover different parts of the water column.

Striped Bass Mojo Rigs

Mojos are a type of parachute lure, as we described earlier. The key difference in terminology does vary by region – in northern latitudes you’re likely to see all sorts of parachute rigs labeled as “striped bass mojo rigs.” But in Mid-Atlantic and southern areas, people usually refer to most styles of these as parachutes and only use the term “mojo” when the lure includes a large round lead-head. And when we say large, we mean large: An 8-ounce mojo is considered tiny; some weigh as much as 2 pounds or even more. Anglers who want to probe the depths without having to add extra in-line weights are particularly likely to be pulling mojo rigs.

While these lures can certainly be trolled alone, most striped bass mojo rigs are created by tying two of these lures together, in tandem. Leaders of two different lengths are joined at a triple-swivel, which is then clipped to the mainline. Sometimes mojos of different sizes are tied to both leaders, and in other cases anglers may choose to use a mojo along with a smaller, lighter parachute lure, allowing them to present baits of different sizes and colors way down deep.

Mojos are also used by some striper anglers to anchor daisy-chain-style rigs. These commonly have the large, heavy Mojo at the end, with 5 to 10 unweighted (headless) parachute-style lures, or in some cases shad bodies, inline or on short droppers every foot or two going up the line.

In all of these cases, as with those striped bass umbrella rigs, the hook of the mojo generally gets some added attraction by dressing it with a plastic shad. In some cases, large twister tails or other soft plastic teasers may be employed.

So, are umbrellas and mojos really the best rigs for striped bass? If you enjoy trolling and you also enjoy catching lots of fish, the answer is an unqualified “yes.” While there will be certain times and places where other striped bass trolling rigs out-catch either, as a general rule of thumb, striped bass umbrella rigs and striped bass mojo rigs are top producers, across the board.

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Talk to any angler who enjoys striped bass fishing, and he or she will be able to rattle off a great number of striped bass baits that work effectively – but which are the very best baits for stripers? With all the different options out there, and the spirited nature of striper aficionados, this question can stir up some lively debate. But there’s one thing every enthusiast can agree on: Which striped bass baits are best at any given time in any given place will vary, depending on the conditions and what the fish are naturally feeding on. Here’s our advice for catching striped bass with bait.

Live Eels as Striped Bass Baits

Live eels are used by anglers throughout the species’ range, and with good reason. Quite simply, the fish love slurping them down. Eels can be drifted or trolled, and fished deep with weight or suspended high in the water column under a float. However, they aren’t always a pleasure to fish with. Those slimy eels are very tough to get a grip on; they sometimes tie themselves – and your leader – into knots; and they can be expensive. When toothy bluefish are around, the cost of eels even more of an issue, since it’s common to feel a tug and then reel up half an eel. And remember that generally speaking, eels are only effective when there are naturally-occurring eels in the area at the same time of year.

On the other hand, not only do the striped bass like eating eels, this striper bait has a special attribute: Small fish rarely attack a live eel. In fact, fish under 26 or so inches usually steer clear of eels entirely. So anglers in search of big keepers can use them to pre-cull the catch when lots of small fish are around.

Bunker and Herring as Striped Bass Baits

Bunker (also known pogies or alewives or, properly as menhaden) are probably the number-one most common bait used for stripers, and herring aren’t far behind. We’re lumping these two types of fish together because they’re extremely similar and usually are equally effective. In most cases, which an angler will choose boils down to availability at the bait shop.

Most would agree that these baitfish are more effective when fished live, although acquiring live bunker or herring is very difficult in most areas. Often, if you want live baits you’ll have to net them yourself. But they’re readily available refrigerated or frozen just about everywhere, at local tackle shops. Chunks of bunker can be used as stand-alone striped bass baits, or for chunking and chumming. And since these baitfish are basic striped bass forage fish which swim in virtually every waterway the stripers are found, they generally eat them with abandon all seasons of the year.

Crabs as Striped Bass Baits

Like most fish, stripers love crabs. And while they will eat small hard crabs whole when given the opportunity, “soft” crabs that have shed their shell, or “peelers” which have a soft shell underneath their armor, are what the stripers really enjoy feasting on. Both forms of these striped bass baits have their own problems; soft crab is easily ripped free from the hook so stolen baits are common, while peeler crabs require some extra effort since you’ll want to remove much of the hard shell before trying to tempt the stripers with them. Soft crab and peelers can also be quite expensive. But the fact remains: striped bass have a hard time passing these baits up.

As usual, however, crab is usually most effective in areas where you can match the hatch. In some of the striper’s northern ranges they aren’t as common and as a result, don’t get the same amount of attention from the fish as they would to the south. These baits are also most effective during the warmer months of the year, when crabs naturally shed. During the winter when crabs don’t become soft in the wild, other types of striped bass baits will usually prove to be much more effective.

Clams as Striped Bass Baits

In some specific areas, clams shine as a striper bait. As one might guess, those areas usually coincide with where clams are naturally found. They’re particularly effective in areas of strong, changing currents, where clams may become uncovered and represent a meal of opportunity for hungry stripers.

Although historically people did chum with clams, usually by smashing a few together then tossing the shells and clam bits overboard while their hook baits sat on bottom, few people use that technique these days due to the cost of clams. Shucking them and fishing the body whole on a circle hook is much more common.

Bloodworms and Sandworms as Striped Bass Baits

Bloodworms and sandworms are highly effective striper baits just about everywhere these fish are found, virtually any time of the year. Stripers love eating them, period. But using bloodworms and sandworms does have its own set of issues. Start with cost – many jaws have hit the floors of tackle shops, when people were told they’d be spending a dollar or more per worm. Add to that the fact that you usually need to buy lots of them, because along with stripers virtually all other species of fish also eat bloodworms. You may have to weed through dozens of strikes from assorted panfish and other bait-stealing marauders before a striped bass finally finds your hook. On top of all that, these worms are also problematic simply because they’re relatively small compared to most other striped bass baits. You may be fishing a whole bloodworm while visions of a 40-inch striper run through your mind, yet reel up 10-inch croakers and sea robins one after another.

Other Live Baitfish as Striped Bass Baits

Live fish of various species are often excellent striped bass baits, specifically depending on when and where large numbers of a particular species is present. When huge numbers of 4- to 6- inch spot (croakers) swim north during the summer months, for example, live-lining with spot often becomes the number-one way to catch fish. Similarly, along many coastal areas when finger mullet begin their migration and push through inlets in large numbers during the fall, live mullet can become very tough to top.

The bottom line? Like most predators, striped bass are opportunistic feeders and will tend to focus in on the prey that’s plentiful. As a result, anyone trying to identify the best striped bass baits is shooting at a moving target. Which one is best can – and will – change from place to place, and over time. Don’t forget to check out our tips for using lures to catch striped bass.

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The current world-record striped bass of 81 pounds, 14 ounces, was caught in August of 2011 in Long Island Sound by angler Gregory Myerson. Stop and think about that for a moment: Despite the fact that striped bass have been one of our most popular coastal game fish for decades if not centuries, and despite the fact that striper populations were considered decimated in the 1980s, the record striped bass was caught less than 10 years ago. This is a good indication that even bigger bass are swimming around somewhere out there, right now – waiting for you to catch one and set a new record.

Record Striped Bass that Didn’t Set Records

You need more evidence that a record striped bass is out there? No problem. In 1995, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources while netting stripers in the Chesapeake Bay for scientific purposes hauled in a 92-pound fish. Ten years later, Arkansas angler Joe Mann caught a 53.5-inch impoundment striper with a girth of 37.25 inches, which state biologists estimated to be between 70 and 90 pounds.

In 1891, commercial fishermen recorded a weight of 125 pounds for a striper they hauled up in their nets in North Carolina. In addition to these cases, there are multiple (though unverified) other accounts of 100-pound-plus striped bass being caught by commercial fishermen. So there should be little doubt that a new world record striped bass is lurking around somewhere.

How to Catch a Record Striped Bass

Interestingly, setting aside the record-sized fish caught in nets, the two documented hook-and-line catches came on very different bodies of water, with very different techniques. Myerson’s record was caught in Connecticut waters, on a live eel. Mann’s whopper took a plastic worm which the angler fished for largemouth bass during a tournament in Arkansas.

There are countless ways to fish for stripers, the most effective of which we detail in how to catch striped bass. But the truth is that you simply never know when or where a record-sized fish will strike. That said, you certainly can try to tip the scales in your favor. For starters remember that while elephants do in fact eat peanuts, if you sit a peanut and a bale of hay in front of an elephant, it’ll go for the big meal every time. In other words: Use big baits and lures for big fish.

Eels can be particularly effective in this regard, since small stripers don’t usually go after large eels at all but bigger fish seem to love eating them. And while using oversized baits will cut down on the amount of action you may see on any given trip, eliminating the bites from average-sized fish will allow you to focus your attention solely on catching the big ones.

Where to Catch a Record Striped Bass

Again, we want to reinforce the notion that you simply never know when and where a record fish will show up. However, certain areas are known for producing very large striped bass during certain seasons. In the early spring when striped bass make their spawning runs, the Chesapeake Bay is a prime target zone for exceptionally large fish. Depending on whose statistics you believe, somewhere between half and three quarters of the entire Atlantic population of striped bass spawns in the Chesapeake and its tributaries, making it ground-zero for striper fishing in late April and early May.

Moving on into the late spring and summer months, those big fish migrate up the coast. This is when they show up in the waters of New England, first off the coast of New Jersey and then steadily making their way northward. Places like Sandy Hook, Montauk, Martha’s Vineyard, and Cape Cod all have their periods when catching a record fish becomes a real possibility.

During the fall, most stripers reverse their migration and head back down the coast. The exact timing varies quite a bit depending on weather, and the main bodies of fish often travel outside of the three-mile Federal waters limit (where the stripers are protected and fishing for them is illegal). As the weather grows colder and colder they often provide peak action off Cape Charles or Virginia Beach, sometimes pushing even farther south into North Carolina waters. They commonly over-winter in these areas, before the seasons change yet again and the pattern begins anew.

Which one of these famed areas will produce the next record striped bass? When will that 81-pound, 14-ounce fish get topped? Those questions, we certainly can’t answer. But we can say one thing for sure: There’s almost certainly a new record striped bass swimming around out there somewhere, at this very moment.

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The best striper jigs in the world all have one common attribute: they mimic the natural forage that striped bass-fishing anglers know the predators feed on. Whether you prefer to retrieve them with a snap, a jerk or a gentle wave of the rod, a little added input from a savvy angler can make a striper jig look to striped bass just like those bunker, herring, sand eels and silversides.

The best thing about jigs is their versatility. Most can be fished throughout the water column, whether that means a zippy retrieve up near the surface while bass are busting on top, or slowly bouncing along the bottom to wake up lethargic fish that are hiding down deep. Most striped bass jigs can be tipped with bait if that’s what it takes to generate bites. And the vast majority of jigs out there can also be used with multiple techniques ranging from vertical jigging, to casting and retrieving, to trolling.

Bucktail Jig for Stripers

The classic example of a striped bass jig is the bucktail. Bucktail jigs consist of a lead head on a hook dressed with the hairs from a deer tail. Yes, a bucktail jig for stripers really does have parts of a buck’s tail on it. At least, historically they have. Today, you can also find bucktail jigs tied with nylon hairs, tinsel, and rubber filaments. Yet still, no matter how many tackle stores you visit, it’s quite unlikely you’ll ever find one that doesn’t have a selection of traditional deer-hair-tied bucktail jigs for sale.

Bucktails often work best when used in tandem with a “sweetener,” like a soft-plastic twister-tail or a natural strip bait added onto the hook. Many anglers prefer those with contrasting colors between the head and hair; some anglers swear by styles that have large eyes; and others like bucktails that have dark hair on the back and lighter hair underneath, matching a baitfish’s natural coloration.

How to Fish a Bucktail Jig for Stripers

When it comes to the techniques usually used when bucktail-jig-fishing for striped bass, much depends on the specific area and situation. In the shallows and when fish are near the surface, striped bass angler commonly cast and retrieve jigs, giving them a lifelike action by twitching the rod tip every few seconds. If the fish are staging along a drop-off or over structure, it’s common to cast the bucktail and allow it to sink to the fish’s depth, then work it back to the boat with sharp snaps of the rod. And when the fish are sitting on bottom or holding very tight to structure, many anglers will try to position their boat directly over the hotspot and jig the lure up and down right in front of the fishes’ noses.

Trolling striped bass jigs is a tactic that shines when the fish are scattered over large areas, and bucktails are ideal in this situation. This is one of the scenarios in which those who use bucktail jigs for stripers usually add some sort of attractor that gives the jig a more life-like look. Historically, pork-rind strips were used for this purpose, though today, far more anglers choose a soft-plastic twisty tail or shad-style paddletail to give trolled striper jigs more appeal.

Are Soft Plastics The Best Jigs For Stripers?

Soft plastics on jigs means dressing the hook on a lead-head with a changeable plastic tail. Many modern anglers would argue that today’s soft plastics make the best striper jigs of all. It’s certainly a debatable point, but soft-plastic striped bass jigs do have some distinct advantages over traditional bucktail jigs. First and maybe most importantly, they allow for blindingly-fast lure changes since you can quickly and easily pull off one tail and slide another onto the jig head in a matter of seconds. That means you can swap through every color in the rainbow, until you find which one the fish are most attracted to at any given time.

You can also change body sizes and shapes to match the moment. For example, a long, slender tail may be ideal when the fish are chasing long, slender baitfish. But if they’re feeding on fish with a larger profile, a deep-body paddle tail might generate more strikes. And you can offer the fish either one and switch things up at the drop of a hat. Just remember that bigger lures often catch bigger fish, and you never know when a record striper is nearby.

Along with bucktail jigs and soft plastics, there are, of course, other types of striper jigs. Some anglers like to use jigging spoons, which are great for vertical jigging since they sink quickly and their weight helps them stay deep. Feather jigs, similar to bucktails but tied with chicken feathers, are preferred by others. And there are countless variations to all of these different options. But when all is said and done there’s one irrefutable truth: Striped bass jigs catch fish, and they belong in every angler’s tackle box.

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Yamaha’s 5.6L V-8 425 XTO brings to market several four-stroke firsts — from direct injection to electric power steering. Yamaha says its engineers rethought the outboard from the prop up to propel today’s large center-consoles and expresses. Highlights include the highest compression ratio in an outboard at 12.2-to-1, a new oversize prop, an oversize gear case, iridium spark plugs, quad thermostats, and a new exhaust-gas relief system that energizes the XTO in reverse, generating up to 300 percent more thrust than the company’s F350. Available in gray, white or unpainted (for color customization), and in 25-, 30- and 35-inch shafts (weighing 952 to 999 pounds), the XTO starts at $44,000.

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Dave Bulthuis, Vice President of Industry Relations and Government Affairs for Costa Sunglasses, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) during the organization’s annual summit on October 11.

“I am blessed to work with great people and for a great company,” said Bulthuis. “The entire team at Costa Sunglasses shares my passion and commitment to our industry and our sport.”

Bulthuis was honored with the ASA’s most prestigious award, recognizing his extraordinary leadership and lifelong commitment to recreational fishing and the sportfishing industry. Throughout his career, Bulthuis has always been devoted to the sportfishing industry, serving on ASA’s board of directors for eight years, including as Chairman of the Board from 2015 through 2016.

Bulthuis has been with Costa since 2003, where he began his career with the organization as Vice President of Sales. Prior to joining Costa, Bulthuis served as Director of Sales for several brands in the outdoor industry, including Cape Fear Rod Company, Jones and Company and various independent rep groups.

“We are so proud of Dave and how he has served our industry, our sport and our company for more than 15 years,” said Holly Rush, CEO of Costa Sunglasses. “He is truly an icon and has devoted his career and his time to passionately advocating for recreational fishing. We are thrilled he’s been recognized for his dedication and passion—no one deserves it more.”

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The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the compromise bill soon! This legislation will determine the future of Everglades progress for the next two years.

Click here to ask your U.S. Senators to authorize this important project.

​In addition, the South Florida Water Management District unveiled a new website that tracks federal funding and authorization for the EAA Reservoir on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

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