Article by Capt. Bert Adams
Q: What is the best bait to use for striper fishing in the Indian River Inlet? Where are the best surf fishing spots close to Indian River for striper fishing and what bait should I use from the beach?
Scott Roeske
Lancaster, PA
A: Over the last couple of years, we have seen some epic striper fishing in the Indian River Inlet, especially in the spring as the fish are migrating north.
It is difficult to say what the best bait is to use for striper fishing in the Indian River Inlet because there are so many of them. Most of the baits used while fishing from the rocks in the Inlet or from the jetty are artificial. Live baits are very effective but hard to fish from most spots in the Inlet due to the rocks and hard running tides.
I would have to say that the most consistent artificial baits are the swim shads made by Tsunami, Storm and Chesapeake Bay Lures. The size and color of the swim shads vary depending on the type of baitfish the stripers are feeding on at that time. You are always trying to “match the hatch”.
The best way to fish the artificial swim shad lures is to cast them into the tide, let them settle deeper in the water column and then slowly reel them back in with an occasional twitch.
Other favorite artificial lures are Bombers and Rapalas. Like the swim shads, they are also casted into the tide but they dive deeper during retrieval and float to the top when you stop.
Bucktails are another staple for a lot of fishermen. Most use the basic white bucktail tipped with a white plastic worm for daytime fishing and a black bucktail with a black plastic worm at night. However, you will also see quite a few fishermen use red and white or chartreuse bucktails with different color worms. It’s all a matter of preference.
Saltwater flies are another way to capture the interest of stripers. Most fishermen use what they call the “long lining” technique when fishing with flies. This entails tying a fly on a 3-foot leader to a 3-way swivel with a 2 to 5 oz. sinker attached to the dropper loop. A little longer and heavier rod is used to heave the fly as far into the tide as possible and letting it roll with the tide until it is down-tide of your position.
If you are fishing from a boat in the inlet you are going to want to use live bait. As the water warms and spot are around, stripers have a hard time resisting their favorite food. A good aerator or livewell is a must to keep the spot alive on your boat. You want to fish live bait with circle hooks or octopus hooks while drifting the inlet.
Another favorite bait to use is the live eel. If Indian River anglers can’t get spot, this is their #2 live bait. Striped bass love them. The hardest part of fishing with eels is handling them. To cure this problem, just keep your eels in a bucket of ice. They will go into an almost comatose state, making them easier to hook. Once they get in the water, they warm up and really come alive. Just hook the eel under their bottom lip and up through the top of its head. You can fish with weight if the stripers are feeding on the bottom or you can just live-line them so they can swim freely.
If no live bait is available, anglers fishing from a boat can always fall back on swim shad lures and bucktails.
As you can tell, you have to have a pretty big tackle box to have everything you might need as you figure out what bait or lure is working the best on any particular day or night.
Regarding good surf fishing spots and what to use, you have to cover a lot of factors.
Stripers come and go all along the coastline. The area around 3R’s Road is a good spot close to the Indian River Inlet. The beaches off Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island are also good places that are close by.
The bait of choice for surf fishing is fresh bunker. Use the heads and chunk up the rest. Surf clams and bloodworms will also temp stripers to bite.
Use a large circle or J-hook with a sinker slide when rigging up while using bunker or clams for bait.
Although some stripers are caught throughout the day and late at night, most are caught around sunrise and sunset.
No matter what method you use to catch stripers, be ready to put in a lot of time to learn the best spots in the inlet or from the surf. Then again, you just might be in the right place at the right time!
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