Stripers and Blues Oh My!!!!

The fall run is in full swing. There are schools of fish from Narragansett to Watch hill. Just look for the birds. The Stripers range from 25-30 inches with an occasional fish in the 30-40 inch range. The blues range from 6-12 lbs. The only problem is they are very fussy. The bait they’re feeding on is small and skinny (rain bait). If you’re going to be successful try to match the bait. Try small buck tail jigs with a curly tail, small skinny poppers, Burkley gulp 3” sand eel with a 3/8-1/2 inch jig head, Zoom fluke (Dark brown/green) with a 3/8-1/2 inch jig head. Casting these small lures can be tough so medium weight outfits are necessary (line in the 12-15lb test range). The last step is to choose a leader. You could try a small thin wire leader but stripers tend to stay away from wire or you could go with 60-90lb test mono or fluorocarbon but big blues can chew that stuff up pretty good, check it often. Going through leaders and catching upwards of 20 fish can be a lot fun so who cares.

Things to consider:
In the past the fall run bait consisted mainly of peanut bunker and mullet and that kept the fish around a long time. However this current bait tends to disperse relatively quickly so it’s unlikely this is going to last more than a few weeks. Big blues can do a number on plastic so I tend to stick with buck tail jigs they may not catch as many fish as plastics but the jig will last longer. If you want to make long casts try using a droper with a jig (see terminal tackle march 31 2009). Check the marine forecast before you go out things can be rough this time of year.