Striper Fishing

[hareball]

Went out yesterday for some striper fishing. Put out a 4 rod spread with bunker spoons on wire line set put 300' and some umbrella rigs and had about 6 knockdowns and managed to land 3! I was just starting to bring the lines in and call it a day after landing 2 of them and one of the bunker spoon rods went off! My girl brought in the final fish of the day. All fish were right around 41" and 40 pounds.

 

[webbie]

Then is beautiful fish. Nothing finer looking........

I'm not a fisherman, but the thought of catching one of those might have me try again in RI where we have a cottage...

 

[woodsman23]

nice job, looks like you had lots of fun

 

[hareball]

My favorite inshore specie. Really cool looking fish, fight like hell and taste amazing!

We also came across a lot of bluefish busting all over the bunker pods and played catch and release with them. Another great fighting fish but not near as good on the plate. We will start harvesting them soon though as bait for sharking.

 

[wood spliter]

You had a great trip. The ocean looked beautiful, it doesn't get much nicer than that!

 

[raybonz]

Went out yesterday for some striper fishing. Put out a 4 rod spread with bunker spoons on wire line set put 300' and some umbrella rigs and had about 6 knockdowns and managed to land 3! I was just starting to bring the lines in and call it a day after landing 2 of them and one of the bunker spoon rods went off! My girl brought in the final fish of the day. All fish were right around 41" and 40 pounds.

Nice Stripers! We get lots of them here and can get em next town over in Plymouth.. Lots of stripers run in the Cape Cod Canal too and you'll see fishermen lining the canal day and night..

Ray

 

[Jags]

All fish were right around 41" and 40 pounds.

I don't think I like you anymore. :coolmad:

My phone never rang once with the invitation.

Nice phish.

 

[basswidow]

Nice photos. Do you guide too?

I grew up fishing on the Chesapeake. Back then, the stripers were scarce and the bluefish dominated the Bay. Dinky blues were 5 lbs and every time out we'd land some 15 lb'rs. Many don't like the fishy taste, but I LOVE baked bluefish with alittle butter and old bay. I love Spanish Mac's too! I prefer it over rockfish which is more of a tasteless white fish. I guess my raising has me partial to blues! Of course - the rockfish now dominate the Chesapeake and are a huge conservation come back story. A blast to fish for. And those are some SWEET ones.

I'm on the western part of the state and only fish for freshwater fish. Someday I need to get down to the shore and kayak for some big stipers.

 

[gzecc]

Hareball you better get back out there before the oil covers those fish!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I really need to read thread titles slower. I thought you got a pic of a stripper fishing.

Still, this thread deliver because those are really nice fish!

Matt

 

[Capt]

Nice catch! I remember fishing for those on Kentucky Lake with my Dad when I was a boy. NEVER caught one that big, but even the 4-6 pounders sure do fight nice!

 

[BucksCoBernie]

Did you go out of Barnegat?

Do you know if anyone is catching them from the shore? I might take a drive out there this weekend and set up on the beach.

I went fresh water fishing on Sunday and caught nothing but sunnies.

 

[drewmo]

We also came across a lot of bluefish busting all over the bunker pods and played catch and release with them. Another great fighting fish but not near as good on the plate.

Great looking stripers, HB. As for the bluefish you're catching, what size are they? I recall, back in the early 80s, consistently catching 15 to 20 pounders off the coast of Rhode Island. Talk about a fight (especially for a 10-year-old). But, I've heard since the 90s, they're much smaller now. If you want to cook good bluefish, cage and grill a filet with sliced tomato between the cage and fillet. The tomato takes care of the grease. Or smoke it.

 

[hareball]

Thanks guys!

As for the blues I grew up eating the snappers and ones up to 5 or 6 pounds but I've stayed away from the bigger ones. Last year there was a warning on them and it was recommended not eating them due to high PCB levels and even the Stripers had a warning not to eat more than one a month or something like that. We target a lot of species like Fluke, Sea Bass, and Tautog and offshore we go for Mahi, Tuna species, and Mako and Thresher sharks. Always a frrezer full of fish!

Jags- Anytime your out this way or anyone else is you guys are always welcome aboard!

BucksCoBernie- Home port is Barnegat Light. I'm friends with a few 6-pack charter captains so I do the mate thing out of a few ports along the coast.
The cows are really moving in the area now but so are the bluefish. The guys on the boats are doing better than the guys at Island Beach State Park. If you can get your bait under the blues quick enough you have a good shot but those blues are fun to catch too!

drewmo- There are pods of small blues hunting in the surf but out at the Barnegat Ridge we catch 12-15 pounders all night long. Pretty soon the commercial season opens for us and we put our commercial rod and reel permits to use. It helps keep fuel in the tanks! One of our favorite things is jumping on a head boat with a cooler full of beer and do the 7pm to 1am trips. We get to cut loose and have some fun...Nothing like 50+ anglers standing shoulder to shoulder, it's chaos lol!!

 

[ChipTam]

Hey Hareball,
Those are some nice looking stripers. Reminds me of the stripers I caught in my youth surf casting at Popponesset Beach on Cape Cod. This was the time of year for surf casting there. Once the water temperature rose to over 55 degrees they headed out to deeper water. Never managed to get a 40 pounder but we caught some pretty good size ones in the 20 pound range. Nothing like watching that popper bounce across the surface and then.... Wam! As far as eating, I prefer blue fish to stripers but, then again, I also prefer the dark, oily flesh of North Atlantic mackeral to almost any fish. These days in summer, I mostly fish for cod in Newfoundland. We get some good size fish but, unlike stripers, there's no fight to them, just dead weight on the line.
All the best,
ChipTam

 

[webbie]

I'm on the western part of the state and only fish for freshwater fish. Someday I need to get down to the shore and kayak for some big stipers.

Those babies look like they would tip a kayak!