Striped bass. Striper’s. Stone fish Linesiders. Everybody wants to catch stripers because they have a special allure. Anyone who has seen one freshly out of the water with the sun reflecting off its silvery sides will agree that it is a gorgeous fish. But catching them can be a quite different story. Due to potential limits that could be put in place for flounder, scup, and other species as a result of lawsuits by environmentalist groups, many “bottom fishermen” may convert to bass fishing in 2008. Bottom fishing and bass fishing are very distinct from one another.
When there is a lot of bait present and at particular times of the day, bass are aggressive feeders. As the bass dine on the bait, it is typically quite simple to identify since the bait will leap. It involves approaching from a distance, slowing down before getting too close, and tossing a suitable lure into their midst. The easiest way to end your fishing trip is to enter or pass through the area where fish are feeding. Avoid making this mistake. A top water stopper or soft plastic that matches the size and form of the bait is an excellent option in these circumstances. Cast in, and as soon as you hit the water, close up and begin a retrieve. Don’t move it too fast unless they are bluefish.
Bass typically eat in the shallows close to some type of structure (rocks, drop-offs, humps), frequently when there is a current to sweep helpless bait past them. Early dawn is typically a very favorable period for bass fishing. Due to the dim lighting at this time, top water plugs can be quite effective. The better for the bass fishing if the day is likely to be cloudy or misty. White surface swimmers, poppers, or walkers should be used as top water plugs. Work with them as though they are hurt, occasionally interrupting the retrieve. When the fish smashes the surface plug, splashing, tumbling, and then running hysterically, it is so awesome. Bass fishing of this kind is my favorite.
When the top water plugs stop generating and there is a sufficient amount of light, it is time to switch to soft plastics and probably go into a structure in deeper water. Again, current is crucial since bass depend on it to sweep food past them. When the current is weak or absent, you can typically anticipate that the bass won’t be aggressive; in that case, you must hit them hard on the nose to elicit a strike. When drifting with soft plastics, you must first move the boat away from the structure and arrange it such that you will drift over it before shutting off the engine. Next, think about what depth the fish might be holding. Cast out, leave the bail open while counting to 15 (1,000-1, 1,000-15), then close it and begin your recovery if the structure is in 30 feet of water. Additionally, you should experiment with different retrieves—try slow, quick, jigging, and reeling—until you discover how the fish prefer them. Work the bait extremely slowly if you get a hit but don’t hook up.
short jigs as though it were hurt. Usually, this will result in additional attacks. The natural tendency is to haul back and reel vigorously, but doing so will just provoke another strike from a bluefish; if it’s a bass, they’ll probably pass on pursuing it. It’s also possible for a bluefish to strike and bite a portion of the plastic off, and then a bass will take it if you handle it as though it’s hurt. This is due to the fact that bass like to follow the bluefish, who are known for being messy eaters and prone to chopping up bait before finishing it off, allowing the pieces to sink to the bottom.
Use what kind of soft plastic? So you sort of try to “match the hatch.” Use a bait that is similar to what they are eating if you know what they are eating. Use green/white zooms, sluggos, or fin-s on a jig head to catch sand eels. Use a 4 if they are feeding on bunkers “Storm swim shad bait in bunker color, measuring 5″ or 6”. Use a 6 if they are eating on herring “Shad swim in a storm.
Another method of fishing for bass is trolling. Knowing what to do when you can’t capture them is the challenging part. The majority of trolling is done with wire line rods, downriggers, or weights. This is due to the fact that after the sun is up, bass move to the bottom section of the water column, thus you need a technique to bring your gear down to where the bass are. We fish in a deep, 28-foot-deep location with many stones on the south side of Rhode Island. We utilize wire outfits with 200 feet of wire when trolling. This lowers the rig by roughly 20 feet, which is sufficient given the shallow depth of the location and the prominence of the stones. We troll umbrellas, tube and worm rigs, or parachute jigs. Usually though we’ll only resort to this method when we having trouble getting soft plastics down to the fish. It can be very productive. Speed can be anything from 2 knots to 6 knots, usually we vary it throughout the time we troll. Its not at all unusual to get hits right after changing speed. When!
It’s not working, your pace is incorrect, the depth of your rig is incorrect, or the fish have moved on. But I never assume the fish are gone before testing the initial hypotheses. It’s time to give up and move on if you wait 30 minutes without catching a fish. You might also attempt a different approach.
You can succeed with bass fishing if you bear a few of these suggestions in mind while you’re out there.
Related Articles:
Basic Bass Fishing Information