Personal Best - Striper

[Bunker1028]

Hey Guys,

haven't been here in a while, and miss the fun.

Here's a brute I caught on a Pencil Popper last year. Biggest I've landed to date, 33lbs on a certified scale.

[Colt45]

Very nice fish!

[Ken Gargett]

Hey Guys,

haven't been here in a while, and miss the fun.

Here's a brute I caught on a Pencil Popper last year. Biggest I've landed to date, 33lbs on a certified scale.

nice fish. what can you tell an aussie about stripers?

[strayvector]

Damn! I opened this thread hoping you misspelled "stripper".

Nice catch.

[yossie]

No girls?

[stargazer14]

Very nice!

There is nothing like catching a big fish with a top water lure,

I caught this girl with a popper, saw her stalk it in towards the boat then SLAM! from only about 10 feet out.

top water fishing is a thrill. Great catch!

for those not familiar, stripers are also known as Rockfish, and Sea Bass,

very nice white meat eating. They live in the ocean as adults but come all the way up to the top of the Chesapeake Bay to

spawn. I let this girl go so she could make more stripers.

[Bunker1028]

nice fish. what can you tell an aussie about stripers?

Thanks Colt.

Nice fish Gazer!

Hey Ken,

Thanks. Striped Bass are primarily an East Coast US fishery, with the largest mass spawning in the Chesapeake Bay around Delaware/Maryland, and a smaller but separate group spawning in the Hudson River in NY.

They start to migrate north in the early spring and go as far as Maine and summer around Massachusetts, Rhode Island, in deeper water. Since I only fish from the Surf, for me it's mostly a Springtime and Fall activity, when their feeding is heavy to support their migration. The Summer is spent either not fishing at all or tossing eels looking for the big girls prowling jetty tips. I'll start hunting them mid-March and call it a year typically around mid-late December

Although they are considered an Inshore Gamefish, they eat everyg*ddamn thing in the sea. There are predatory, but people have found non-fish related items when cleaning them. Since they like to feed around structure (hard and soft), their diet consists of crabs, lobsters, shrimp, clams, mussels,

eels, blackfish, flounder, menhaden, mullet, sandeels, and everything else that swims.

They are not the hardest fighter off the surf, as the bluefish takes that honor. But big stripers are pretty smart, based on the level of difficulty required to catch them with any regularity. Bluefish, on the other hand are eating/killing machines. They eat till they puke, then eat that.

So Stripers have this mystique about them, and it's probably blown out to mythical proportions, which helps create the market for expensive gear and guide services. There are various levels of snobbery which help create the atmosphere; Boat fish don't count (my personal favorite, since I don't own a boat), bait vs. artificials, white bucket users are googans, locals vs everybody, etc.

After seeing my dad come home late one nite with a stringer of Stripers, I was sold on the idea of fishing at nite from a pile of rocks. I considered a very manly pursuit, and for me just being in the surf at nite is one of my favorite places to be. Fish optional.

Here's a shot of me on an October trip to Montauk Point, a very famous surfcasting spot at NY's eastern tip. It's around 8am and I'd been fishing since Midnight.

[Ken Gargett]

many thanks fo that. don't think we have anything that quite equates.

agree re the bluefish - we call them tailor - killing machines. the last one i got on a recent trip had a large sinker in its gut.

i've also caught them with a four rig already in their throats. when they fire up, you could catch them on a set of keys.

keep the photos coming.

[Miami101]

Looks like a nice fight. We have the brother down here, but does not get as big.