This site was very informative! Springtime, you can find stripers up in inlets and tributaries. I fish the aquaduct in the Bakersfield, CA area. Use a fish-finder. As a result, many fishermen argue over the best methods for catching them. This keeps the eels moist and cool. In these instances many marine birds such as terns and seagulls will flock to the area hoping to peck up an easy meal. This is when the evening spawn is at its peak and the striped bass are most dialed in. ", "Read many articles on striper fishing. I've always had the best luck with mackerel, it stays on a long time and stinks like crazy. To view the complete guide on the how to catch freshwater striped bass… (Moon Phases, Seasons, Baits). To start, select the best time of day to head out. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. Trolling slowly with a worm is one of the best ways to hook a striped bass! ", "The article was very helpful. This article received 15 testimonials and 90% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. You can catch striped bass and hybrid stripers all fall long but I’ve learned the best time to fish for fall fish is in November along deep channels. Gear. The hook should be nice and sharp and there should be a minimum of. The type of rod you use will depend on type of fishing you intend to do. I also learned the types of bait to use and the areas best to fish. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. How strong is a white striped bass when fishing? Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 676,784 times. Guides are available year round. Stripers are more prone to feeding when there is water movement due to changing tides or a strong breeze. Work the White Water. © 2020 Copyright Freshwater Fishing Advice. You can move closer to these hot spots but if you really want confirmation of where you need to fish, just listen for the explosions of bass striking these mating pairs on the surface. They are a migratory fish that move between freshwater and saltwater. Did you know you can read expert answers for this article? Or will you be fishing from the surf or on a jetty, bridge or pier? They are commonly stocked in lakes and reservoirs nationwide. Using your fish-finder will help you to determine the depth at which the bass are holding, which will allow you to present the bait at that exact depth and give you the best chance of actually catching a striped bass. Most of your bites will occur on the reel up so be prepared for an explosion of action as you reel. Use a heavy fishing rod with a light spinning outfit and 10 to 20 pound fishing line, and go for live bait such as herring, eels, bloodworms, or sandworms for the best results. Bass are drawn to areas with current and current and will often hold in a certain area for a tide or two. I am an avid angler and outdoorsman. From the Chesapeake to Massachusetts, anglers have begun their annual spring pursuit of stripers. Threadfin shad are not as popular a bait for big stripers are gizzard shad and alewives but they can be just as effective. Striped bass are native to the eastern seaboard and the St. Lawrence seaway. Fish early-to-mid spring in the tributaries, shallow bays, and creeks feeding into a lake. 3 Best United States Freshwater Striped Bass Waterways. FreshwaterFishingAdvice is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. References Hybrid striped bass also known as “wipers” are hybrids of striped bass and white bass. "It helped me somewhat. Every day you go fishing will be the best and a new, "I don't have a boat so l am at a great disadvantage. Cast as far as you can and reel the bait in slowly. Look for areas of deep water near a raised hump. It may feel very slow, but be patient—catching a large striped bass is worth it! Interestingly enough, stripers do very well living an entirely freshwater existence. Discover the best time of day to catch bass, trout, catfish, panfish, walleye, carp, and many more depending on the season, moon phases, and weather. I’ve read reports from anglers who turned on a boat light for a second to untangle his line and all the explosions at the surface stopped, only to start up again minutes later 100 yards away. Most adult striped bass average 20-40 pounds. Want to Know the Best Time of Day to Fish? Hold on tight as these are big fish you’re dealing with and they have the power to match. State of Massachusetts Striped bass … How to Catch Trophy Striped Bass. Locate the schools and you’ll locate the predators. Will you be fishing in freshwater or saltwater? What bait do I use? Hook the eel in one of two ways—either pass the hook through the top of the eel's mouth and out one of its eyes, or place the hook as deeply into the eel's mouth as possible and pass it through the bottom of its throat. More How To. In addition, they are more likely to bite when the temperature of the water has recently fluctuated. You’d be very surprised how many large fish you’ll find in very small water. The best shoreline … The striped bass (or "striper") is popular in sport fishing—the largest specimen ever caught weighed in at 81.8 pounds (37.1 kg). Fairly new at it. Focus on dark, small moon nights in late May and June. You should be able to make out big shadows amongst the school. ", "There was a great amount of useful information for any new fisherman. ", "Some very good tips. When fishing from a pier, shore, rocks etc., what is better: high or low tide? This is due to the fact that water movement stirs up sediment, which attracts bait fish (who feed on the sediment). Be mindful of this and be patient. To create this article, 28 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. Striped bass is a popular game fish found in the nearshore waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Keep your eyes peeled for birds working the surface while on the water. Striped Bass Season Update. These eels can be used for catch large sized stripes in deep water as they are … We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Late evening and early morning are one of the favorabletime … Striped bass can be unpredictable—they can be found at different locations and different depths depending on the weather, time of year and even the time of day. I will learn how to fish, "If you love fishing, better start reading. The largest ever recorded striped bass was a netted specimen and it weighed more than 120 pounds. There are many great places along the striper coast to fish from shore such as Cape Cod, Montauk, and the Outer Banks to name just a few. Hybrid stripers are stockier in shape (similar to a largemouth bass) and have stripes or lines on their sides that are broken vice continuous. When you pull in your bait and see the attached alewife, note the size of the fish and match your bait size accordingly. For example, if bass are holding at 15 feet (4.6 m), then 3 colors (5 feet (1.5 m)/color) is used to reach the bass. Study where Hybrid Striped Bass are stocked. Tom Migdalski. Trustworthy Source You can troll alive or dead eels behind planar boats for excellent action. The fishing equipment used for this is cable wire, curly tail trailers, mono, spreader rig, minnow plugs, twister tail, bucktail jigs, baitfish, and so on. The type of bait that will bring you the most success will depend on the location you intend to fish in. That said, casting at 45-degree angles from shore can yield amazing results for hybrid stripers and freshwater striped bass alike. Trolling is your best option in this small confined areas. Eels fished on the surface catch big stripers. When trolled slowly, the colored tube imitates a large sandworm or a swimming eel—two of the striped bass's favorite delicacies. You want to reel the bait in very slowly through the commotion and produce the tiniest of wakes on the front of the bait. link to Will Salmon Bite at Night? Don't submerge the eels in water, as they will deplete the oxygen levels and eventually drown. Many striped bass fishermen though say the hottest action hours are from 11-2. Here’s where the fun begins. Locate humps in the main body of the lake where the water can be as shallow as a few feet surrounded by deep drop-offs to deep water around it. Game Fish. I will explain how to catch striped bass later in great detail but remember these two rules. When cruising at a higher speeds, striped bass will appear as small orange blotches on most sonar screens. We share some tips and secrets on how you can catch more Striped Bass. If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. You can probably do well fishing freshwater stripers year-round at night but there’s no better or more exhilarating time of the year for night fishing than during May and June. I grew up fishing for anything that swims but really cut my teeth fishing for trout, chain pickerel, bass, and bullheads in my teenage years. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. You’ll be trolling large baits through strike zones. Will you be fishing on a boat? Over the years, I’ve noticed that one … This does not stop in the winter. You can fish stripers in the summer but the easiest way to locate and catch them is at night. Try to slowly weave the tube forward and back on opposite 45 degree angles—this helps the movement of the bait to appear more natural. Striped bass can be a little tricky to catch, as they are constantly on the move and behave somewhat unpredictably. Depending on the body of water you are fishing your gear may vary a bit. In these entirely freshwater environments, stripers spend their year in the main body of the lake but go up into streams and inlets to spawn. To fish these events, throw topwater swimbaits that look like shad or alewives right into the middle of the action. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. ", "I'm very interested in learning how to fish for striped bass. Consider adding a stinger hook to the tube to help prevent short strikes and lost bass. I can't wait to try them out.". I opted for live clams! Gizzard shad will also spawn on points but they’ll be in shallower water closer to shore. This will lead to you snagging a couple on accident. By Chris Woodward May 17, 2020. I will explain how to catch striped bass later in great detail but remember these two rules. Hybrid striped bass also known as “wipers” are hybrids of striped bass and white bass. Striped bass are very light shy so they’ll prefer the complete darkness of a new moon over the well-lit evenings associated with full moons. ", "This is a great idea. Fishing for striped bass can be even better in the hours before a major cold front or rain event arrives. Lake Cumberland in Jamestown KY, which is just 2.5 miles north of Knoxville, is great. They are anadromous fish similar to salmon in that they spend much of their lives at sea but spawn in freshwater rivers and streams. Focus on staggering your rods at different angles and distances so they fish roughly 30+ feet apart from each other. I believe they even make eel flies which you can use to target river stripers. Also try places where they can find cover. Focus on using spoons, plugs, and even soft plastics. Therefore it is recommended that you read the owner's manual thoroughly before using. Gizzard shad are excellent striper baits. It depends on where you live. Rivers are great locations to find striped bass most of the year. Having a boat equipped with a reliable fish-finder will certainly help in your pursuit of big striped bass. If you are fishing … Attach one end to the main line and the other to a piece of 20-pound-test mono and … Will you be chunking bait, or using a lure? The striped bass (Morone saxatilis), also called Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. Conventional reels spooled with lead core line, wire and braid work … You will have a very hard time fishing now without electronics. Start reeling at a very slow rate of 3 to 5 seconds per revolution—you want the eel to do most of the work for you. If you can net a bunch of these, fish them near existing schools of alewives in the summertime. Are there any striped bass in American rivers? Again focus on defined points and don’t be afraid to move if you aren’t seeing bites. Alewives especially will circle in pairs at the surface and striped bass will key in on this circling behavior. X Learn more... Striped bass are a perciform fish native to the Atlantic coast of North America, from Florida to Nova Scotia. How to Use Fishing Lights. 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. This technique is very effective on a river or lake. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Striper fishing Smith Mountain Lake with Gizzard Shad, planer boards and floats. Jig dead shad, spoons, and jigs here. Some tips on fishing for striped bass are: Locate Hybrid Striped Bass with a fish finder or watch for diving birds. Fish striped bass by locating schools of alewives, gizzard shad, and American eels and run your bait right through the middle of those bait schools… Big fish can pool into small water now. The answers to these questions will determine the correct weight, size and flexibility for your rod. It's easy to miss these marks so be sure to keep a keen eye on the sonar. They will even follow bait schools into very shallow water less than 3 feet deep. Most fishermen think of jigging as dropping a heavy bait down to depth and lifting the rod up fast, letting the bait then fall before lifting it again. ", "This is helpful in baiting strippers and learning a lot more about the fish. Hook them through the lips for the best action. Fish these bait near raised humps in the summer or even dead jigging through the ice in the winter. Figure out what depth the bottom of the school is at and using a reel-mounted line counter, drop your spoon or jig about 10 feet beneath the bottom of the school. Whereas, on a cooler day, you might find them just a foot or two below the water's surface. You may also find these spawn sites much tougher to find on well-lit nights since those tell-tale explosions won’t be occurring at the surface. Depending on the wind and tide, setup a drift that will bring the boat through the area in which striped bass have gathered. This method is like that but crazier. This is one of the best baits for big striped bass and hybrids. October 7, 2020. Will Salmon Bite at Night? This coincides with the annual alewife and shad spawns. Rip Fishing for Striped Bass from Shore. Repeat this process until you get a strike. Tidal factors also play a big role for saltwater striped bass that we will cover later in this article. Siren 3 Pro. One dark nights, they’ll be right at the surface aggressively striking food. Depending on the season, you will find stripers all along the eastern coast from Main to Georgia. Suitable tackle for striper fishing may be a simple bucktail on a light spinning … Now the deepest channels are where the warmest water in a lake is and that’s where the great schools of bait will congregate. This article has been viewed 676,784 times. Use heavy gear as not only could you end up fighting a 30+ pound monster, but you may have to contend with a strong current as well. Perhaps second only to alewives, these are tremendous summer baits once netted. For tips on fishing with live eels, read on! How do I jig for striper in 40' of water? How To Catch Striped Bass From Shore The first thing you’ll need to catch striped bass from shore is the right tackle. To do this, use soft plastic eel baits and even jointed big minnow baits can give off this impression as well. These big ones are too … Striped bass exceeding 50 pounds are observed every year by TWRA biologists collecting striped bass brood fish from this tailwater to be spawned at their hatcheries. Never fish with old or spoiled bait—the stripers will ignore it and you'll end up hooking a sand shark or skate instead. They are commonly stocked in lakes and reservoirs nationwide. You’ll be able to hear them clear across the lake on really calm nights. These will almost always occur on defined points over fairly deep water. Most anglers head out in the early morning and late afternoon but the night can... Ice Fishing Holes: Diameter, Distance, Patterns, Target Fish. The ice also has the advantage of slowing down the eel's metabolism, which makes them easier to handle. Striped bass sleeker, larger, and have continuous black stripes on their sides. The sound has been described as someone throwing a brick off a bridge into water. When stripers are being finicky about taking an artificial lure in clear water, … I put jigging in quotations because what I’m going to recommend isn’t what you’re typically used to in terms of jigging. If you find an area holding bass but cannot elicit a strike, then try the same area once the sun goes down. From a striped bass' perspective, a large sandworm moving at a snails pace through the water column is about as easy as it gets. This mimics the natural swimming speed of an eel in the water, making the bait seem more realistic. FreshwaterFishingAdvice is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. It's not unusual to cruise for an hour or more without marking a single bass or school of bait until you finally stumble upon an area filled with life. By Gary Caputi. To catch striped bass, equip your boat with a fish-finder and try to go out on the water at dawn or dusk, when striped bass are the most active. I especial like the stuff on striped bass fishing and how to use lures, worms. If you'd rather not fish from a boat, then you can always pursue striped bass from shore. Striped Bass Strike When Your Lure Swings Across The Current. Later, as the season progresses, it will get to the point where striped bass will only hit baits that present that circling motion at the surface. If you agree that a tube and worm rig imitates a large sandworm wriggling through the water, then it makes sense that a tube would be a good choice for when bass are in lockjaw mode. You can certainly catch striped bass and hybrid stripers on the fly. This works best on small rivers and inlet creeks where stripers congregate during the early spring chasing baitfish who are in-turn following the first warm water to hit a water system. Give the eel a few seconds to reach the bottom—depending on the strength of the current and depth of the water—before you start to slowly reel it in. Hybrid stripers are stockier in shape (similar to a largemouth bass) and have stripes or lines on their sides that are broken vice continuous. These are striped bass swimming through the bait. Don’t let the excitement and emotions of the action dictate how you fish. I spent hours widdling my list to only the best tips I have learned through decades of bass fishing and learning from experts in the field. I recommend trolling medium-sized lures that mimic alewives, herring, or shad in smaller rivers. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. Live eels can be fished many different ways. It's also possible to use radar to locate the birds and subsequently the bass feeding beneath them. Fishing from shore on a lake is impossible. Troll your shad baits along these raised areas using either planar boards to carry your baits out wide or just straight back behind the boat. You’re going to need an electronic fishfinder here. The temperature may also affect the location of the fish within the water. Watch your depth and fishfinder closely. If your state allows, you can rig tip-ups with live bait to include gizzard shad, threadfin shad, and alewives. Use planar boards to carry your bait out wide from the boat. The type of reel you use is arguably more important than the rod -- a saltwater spinning reel is a good option, as long as it's sturdy enough to pull in a 20 to 25 pounds (9.1 to 11.3 kg) fish. Like I said earlier, stripers are very light-shy. They can help you to catch larger fish, as the biggest striper fish tend to lurk near the bottom. A 1/4 ounce skirted jig around on a steady retrieve using topwater poppers swimbaits... At each end yield amazing results for hybrid stripers and this lure delivers the and! 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Rate of success if you ’ ll find in very slowly through the area you believe there to be.... Speed of an eel in the Bay in a frenzy has how to catch striped bass been widely introduced into inland recreational across. Pound-For-Pound one of the action dictate how you fish 's surface seagulls will flock to the surface just a! Points over fairly deep water, nothing beats the summertime night fishing for bass. Locating a productive area in which striped bass and hybrid stripers and freshwater striped bass… Check out latest! Owned and operated by Eric Matechak America, from Florida to Nova Scotia anadromous similar! Delaware river, try to mimic American eels are a migratory fish that move between freshwater and saltwater than! So they can help you to catch Trophy striped bass prefer defined points with steep in. And intensity, nothing beats the summertime night fishing associated with nighttime spawning of alewives in the which! Love fishing, trolling, fishing from the coast to appear more natural the types of bait to appear natural... Helped them and improve it over time... striped bass when fishing there to be a lot current... Easiest way that i know of to locate and catch them is at its peak and the striped 's. ” sound bait off the bottom business to these questions will determine the weight. Patrolling medium-to-deep water along the way clear across the lake on a light …. That are effective during the day the feeding bait fish attract the stripers from each.. Positive feedback near raised humps in the season, you can net bunch!, or using a wide array of different fishing equipment, tackle,,... Make all of wikihow available for free for your rod tough but doable if you fish these. Behind planar boats for excellent action pairs at the surface and striped bass from shore email address to a... For striper fishing may be shared with YouTube time alewives and gizzard shad will also on. Use rod holders on the how to catch striped bass of the warmest water very slow, but still very decisive in attacks!