Heres a fish story. I was fishing a wickedly windy and cold night 2 weeks ago and lost one of the biggest Striped Bass I've ever hooked. It hurt a lot, because it was my first Striper attempt of the year and my first good bite and the fish popped off after about 10 seconds. It turned out ok though because throughout the rest of the night I was able to score 2 really nice Bass both in the 35-36lb range. I was fishing with Kenny who'd also gotten a nice size fish, 28lb (give or take a pound I dont remember exactly), and we both got a couple smaller fish in the 2-15lb range.
Spring is the best time for urban city folk here on the east coast to tie into the biggest bass of the year, at no time will there be bigger fish this close to home. They come up the rivers early spring and stick around to feed on herring and also to spawn, and often times they are knocking on our doorstep with how close they are, these fish swim right through downtown Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and more. Best baits are Bunker, Clams, Bloodworms, Jigs, Plugs, Poppers, and chunks of random species of fish like creek chubs, perch or worse - trout.
I have been spending a lot of time Striper Fishing the past 2 weeks, and I have concluded that these fish are sometimes in feed mode and sometimes in slump mode. Slump mode means you're getting skunked, feed mode means you're getting cows on 3 day old soggy bunker. It happened, I watched it happen, I lived it.. I watched Bill catch that 25lb fish on Monday on Saturdays Bunker, which I bought a day old. Better yet, you ditch the bait and go out and plug and jig and you find the same thing, the fish are on or they're off.... You know they're there, sometimes they hang out in the channel, the channel edge, other times they're on the flat or they're 10 miles of where they were yesterday. I don't know how much sense that makes but the point is, being in the right place at the right time is the challenge, and its not the kind of thing that anyone can predict, its the kind of thing where you have to be out there and see whats happening and gauge the situation and then know what it is and how to make it happen. That is Striper Fishing.
None of this post has any value until pics are posted to prove the author is someone worth trusting, let me tell you that I see a lot of Bogus shit on the internet these days, it's horrendous, completely horrendous, Facebook and its "fishing groups" can get incredibly off topic, offensive and cut throat over stupid things like the way someone holds a fish for a picture, the weight or length of a fish being exaggerated, a spot being revealed, or pics of breeder fish in the kitchen. All these situations are actually worth being checked, as holding a fish wrong or killing a breeder out of season are both cause for concern, the point is the majority of the "fishermen" on the internet are jack shit nobodies who don't even fish. This post for example could be written by anyone, the internet is a free place to state opinions or ideas and again, a large number of the guys online who talk are the guys who don't know what they're saying. Remember that as you browse the internet in your quest for information, in the mean time I am pretty siked about the beginning of the 2016 Striper Season.
Closing words: There are more Bass this spring than the previous 3 Springs. HERRING are still illegal despite obviously flawed data. Bunker stock is up and is contributing to stronger bass population, but bass numbers being knocked back by raritan fleet. The first wave of fish has been here and the 2nd push will happen this week, lucky for the bass the weather will be complete garbage making it tough on the masses to get out and on the slay. I dont know if Ill catch any nice bass this week but next week? next week will be so good that I will end up deleting this post. These closing words are less fact and more bullshit but the following fish are all 25-36lbs and caught in freshwaters from PA, NJ, DE and MD, all from shore at night, the one fish on the boat in the daytime was caught on a Redingfin (loaded through wired redfin). I have the Striper Fever very bad. It is some very severe striper fever.... I would rather skunk on stripers than go catch trout, LM bass shad flatheads or anything else... It is a legitimate addiction. Expect the skunk.
