Plenty of Nice Stripers Available to Catch

John Keeler, Bill Johnson, Forrest Cleaver, and I needed to do a couple of days catching some stripers on light tackle equipment. We headed for Buzz's Marina early this past Saturday and fished both Saturday and Sunday.

John had made some trout bombs and couldn't wait to test them out. Forrest had one tied on and ended up catching the most stripers on this trip.

Homemade Trout Bomb

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The weather was mild and water conditions smooth all weekend. There were plenty of boats on the water. Bill was using a large Luhr Jensen Krocodile Spoon to keep the small stripers off his line and it worked.  Keep in mind that Bill is 6'5" tall when you look at the picture.

Nice Catch Bill

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The current wasn't ripping on Sunday, and lures weighing 2 ounce would hold the bottom when jigging.

Most Productive Technique: Jigging the Bottom - Open the bail, and let the lure hit the bottom. Close the bail and move the rod tip from 9 to 11 o'clock in a swift movement. Start dropping the rod tip back to 9 o'clock with some slack in the line. Watch the line and if it stops moving downward 'set the hook'. There will be times with you start to move the lure in an upward motion and there feels to be tention on the line 'set the hook'. A fish has taken the lure when the lure was dropping.

Fishing Tip: When counting on birds to put you on fish, pay attention to the size the birds. The smallest are terns and at times are only picking up small bait swimming near topwater. At times there will be fish but normally small.

Look for seagulls, and if they're around, gannets. They are around the striped bass of some size.