The Spring Striper Run has Started

April 17-April 22

Earlier in the week (April 17) I went down to the coast to do some casting in hopes of bagging a few fish. Caught 4 one evening and another 10 a few days later. Seems there’s quite a few schoolies showing up along the coast, they’re generally small but a lot of fun. A 10lb test class outfit along with 3/8 oz jig head and a white/glow cocahoe seem to be what they want.

April 23 Striper madness II (“Kind of”)

Tried to take the boat out earlier in the week but I had technical difficulties with the new Mercury from Bass Pro. So I called Robert Pospisil (Service manager Bass Pro Shops foxborough RSPospisil@basspro.com , 508-216-2671) and they got me in right away and rectified the problem. Those guys are awesome!!! After picking up the boat I figured I’d go out for a shake down run just to make sure everything was in working order. I didn’t really expect to catch much since the water hasn’t been consistently over 50 degrees, but I needed to break in the new motor anyway. So I called my brother David and we took some rods for the heck of it. Stayed in the upper bay casted around and puttered around for an hour or so then BAM!!! Stripers every cast we even had a few doubles. After about 2 hours of nonstop catching (not fishing) we had about 35-40 schoolies a piece that’s about 80 fish total. Most of the fish were small (17-20 inches) but for this early in the year it was really unexpected and a lot of fun. By the way we were the only boat out there. Most of the fish were also very fresh looking I doubt they were hold overs. They initially hit cocahoes and zoom flukes but they turned fussy and would only take the zoom fluke. We used a 10 lb class outfit with a 3 inch cocahoe or zoom fluke in white/albino and a 3/8 oz jig head. Click on the video below:

The real striper madness II (Prediction) See early May post Last year

Ok here it goes I just checked the NOAA data and the mid bay water temp is flirting with 50 degrees. There’s also a big tide this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It’s possible the big mid bay blitz could start one of these days. If it doesn’t I pretty sure it will start within the next few weeks. Everything along the coast and in the upper bay has been early by 7-10 days this year, probably due to the warmer than usual weather. If this trend keeps up the mid bay should explode soon. I know I’m going to be looking for it to happen soon and when it does I’ll be there. Those early season mid bay fish are respectable usually 25-35 inches and there only around for about 2 weeks so get ready.

Time to get Ready for the Early Spring Striper Run

Every year sometime in the first week of May the spring run hits hard. It’s not unusual to catch 30 stripers or more in a day(Check out last Mays post Striper Madness). The fish usually range from 25-35 inches. I really have a blast using my 12lb test outfit on these fish. So dust off the rods, clean and lube the reels, respool the line. You’ll also want to get the boat ready. I usually check everything out to make sure I’m ready to roll then I take the boat out for a shake down run in mid to late April. I know to some this may be a bit early but the early spring run only lasts for about 2 weeks so you want to be ready to fish hard.

Equipment:

I usually take two 12lb test class rods and a 40lb test powerpro spooled beef stuck. If one of the 12 lb class rods has a problem I can switch fast to a rod that’s already rigged. There’s nothing more aggravating than sitting in the middle of a huge school of frenzied Striped bass with a loop in your line. Last year the bail broke on one of my rods while I was in the middle of a fishing frenzy. If I didn’t have that second rod my day would have been done. The reason for 12lb test class outfit is its fun and the fish are usually on really small bait so you have to use small lures and a 20lb class rod and up just cant cast that stuff.

As for the beef stick, sometimes you need to bounce a jig off the bottom and powerpro has incredible feel when you have a lot of line out. The jigs are also pretty big 2-4oz to get down deep so a strong rod is in order.

Lures:

The last couple of year’s cocahoes with a 3/8 oz jig head tied directly to a 15 lb test fluorocarbon shocker have been deadly. But in other years 3-4” wild eye shad in blue have been very effective. Stripers can be very fussy so I usually bring tons of plastics with many different jig head combinations.

Conditions:

Ok here it is- water temp above 50 degrees, big moon tide, cloudy foggy semi stormy weather. If you get all these lined up the first week of May get ready it’s going to be crazy. Even sunny weather will produce if the temp and tide are there. Early morning appears to bet the best with the exception of cloudy rainy weather. Check out the NOAA data on the left column I usually print out the tide oscillation chart for early May then just watch the weather and temp.

So get ready the spring striper run is just around the corner. Come back to the site and check up on updates. I’ll be back with more info the last week in April unless something happens sooner.