Article by Sue Foster
Well, It’s another year and it’s the first Coastal Fisherman. What to write about?
It’s funny how many phone calls I get in the spring from anglers trying to plan their vacation around the fish running. “What two weeks can I book to catch the striper run? What’s the best week to catch tautog in the spring? Will flounder be running the second week of May?”
I’ve found over the years that every year is different and trying to coordinate a vacation with a fish bite can be a guessing game. One thing is for sure, you need decent weather and water temperatures for fish to bite in earnest.
Easter was early this year, the last weekend in March. Vacationers came down expecting to catch fish, but the water temperatures were only in the low 40’s and the fish just were not biting. When water temperatures climb to 50 degrees, almost every fish in saltwater comes somewhat alive. When the sun comes out to warm the water, a 46 degree bay temperature can soar to 56 degrees on an outgoing tide! But if it’s cloudy and overcast, this won’t happen and that’s what happened over Easter!
“When do the stripers bite the best in the surf?”
Stripers will start biting when water temperatures reach around 45 degrees but that can be a real “hit or miss.” I saw this “post” on a forum by “SurfWalker” and I would say it’s right on!
“Two of my best months have always been May (50°-56°) and November (56°- 50°). This also coincides with the bait movement.”
The last three years has seen a good run of stripers in May so lets hope it’s the same this year! The prospects are looking good!
“How come we get big stripers in the spring and fall, and smaller schoolie stripers during the summer months?”
Apparently there are two big striper migrations every year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
In the spring, stripers that winter in the deep waters off VA and NC head north and go up into the rivers to spawn. They feed on herring and shad in these rivers. After they spawn, they leave the rivers and hang out in our bays and surf until the water temperatures get too warm. Then they head north, into New England and even Maine. Schoolie stripers hang close to where they were born for a couple years, while the larger spawning stripers move on. The schoolie stripers start biting at 45 degrees, but bite best when the water temperature reaches 50 degrees. When the water gets too warm, they look for deep holes and are primarily caught at night, at first light or dusk. That’s why anglers do well at the end of jetties or from the deep channels close to the Bridge pilings.
Seventy percent of the migrating stripers are from the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers flowing into it. But a lot of stripers also come from the Delaware Bay and the rivers that flow into it. So along the Delmarva coast we have stripers from both areas.
In the fall, when the waters start to cool down, the stripers move back towards theirs wintering grounds offshore of VA and NC. They travel down the coast feeding on silver sides, bunker and finger mullet.
That’s when we see birds diving on bait and stripers in feeding frenzies. The fish can be very aggressive.
Typically, we see the migrating spring stripers towards the mid-to-later part of April and have a really good run in May.
Early season stripers can be slightly sluggish at first. Lures should be worked slowly. Bait such as a good-sized chunk of bunker is thrown into the surf and then “we wait” for the striper to pick up the bait. A lot of surfcasters prefer a “fish finder” rig so the striper can pick up the bait and not feel the weight of the sinker at first. A fish finder rig is just a simple little gizmo made out of a plastic sleeve and a sinker snap. Slide the hard plastic sleeve onto your line, attach a good quality barrel swivel or snap swivel to the end of your line and attach a single leadered hook. Many of the manufactured striper rigs come with a leadered hook with a barrel swivel attached to the leader and a loose fish finder rig just thrown in the package.
If you use bunker for bait, cut it up into big chunks. You can use the head for a big striper, but don’t use the tail. It’s too boney and doesn’t cast good to boot. When you cut off the tail, you can hook that piece of bait right through that boney piece of meat at the base of the tail section and it stays on the hook really well. Some of these migrating stripers in the spring are really big, so don’t be afraid to use a good size chunk of bunker.
If fresh bunker isn’t available there’s good quality vacuum-sealed bunker packed especially for fishing bait. It is blast frozen while it is very fresh. Fresh frozen bunker can be better than 3-day-old bunker sitting in a cooler! There is also vacuumed sealed and salted bunker fillets that work nicely. Just slice them up into good-sized chunks. They are good and really easy for the novice to use.
Some anglers like to use clam for bait. If you use clam, buy one of those high/low striper rigs made especially for clam. They have short leaders so they cast easily. Stripers tend to go for clam when the surf is turbulent. Stripers come in close looking for churned up clams, worms and crabs.
Though a little pricey, stripers will gladly grab a whole bloodworm threaded on a hook in the spring as well!
Once the water in the surf gets too warm, usually by mid-June, you don’t see as many stripers but locals tell me that during the summer there’s quite a bit of action at night from the Route 50 Bridge and also in the Indian River Inlet. They may not be those big migrating stripers that anglers catch in the spring and fall, but they are there. Just keep in mind that you may not find them during the middle of the day. Anglers that do want to try to catch stripers from the surf, inlets and around the bridges during the summer need to fish at dusk, at night or right before first light.
Good fishing…
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and co-owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE.
