Perhaps no other fishery commands such passion, dedication, and excitement as the Northeast’s fall striped bass run. Packed into a tight three-month window is the chance to dance with utter mayhem, chasing hundreds of thousands of bass blowing up bait schools in topwater madness up and down the coastline.
Urgency is of utmost importance, as the quick striper sprint lasts only from October through December. The thought of missing out on a daily bite is enough to drive a sane man wild, prompting anglers to use up all their vacation days, skip out on family outings, and even miss dinner plans while fishing around the clock to hit it just right. Catching as many as 60 stripers per day is not uncommon. Yet, truly capitalizing on the fall run comes with knowledge of what to throw and when to throw it. Here’s what triggers this fall migration.
Bait Bonanza
During the autumnal shift, inshore water temperatures off of Massachusetts and New Jersey hover around the magical blend of 55 to 65 degrees F, sparking the yearly striper migration to follow those temps down the Eastern Seaboard. Voluminous bait schools spill out of the cooling backwaters to present an endless forage smorgasbord that includes spearing, mullet, sand eels, bay anchovies, herring, bunker, mackerel, squid, and any other hapless creatures small enough for a striped bass to inhale.
In September, the run is passing by Connecticut and Long Island, New York, and by November and December, it is thick off New Jersey. From the surf out to the 3-mile federal limit line, striper hounds employ various tactics to match the hatch and acquire their targets. Here are five of the most effective techniques.
Surface Bite
When thrilling topwater blitzes occur, bass enter a frenzied state and will aggressively slam surface lures. Poppers and spook-type stick baits such as the Yo-Zuri Hydro Popper, Savage Gear Pencil Popper, and Yo-Zuri Monster Shot ripped along the surface will trigger explosive strikes. Cast out along the outskirts of blitzes, drawing fish off the main pack to attack a seemingly fleeing baitfish, which is an easier target to home in on.
Plug Away
The surf zone is a red hot area to score stripers on plugs as fish pin bait schools to the beach, corralling them into tightly pocketed masses for easy mouthfuls. Surfcasters toss plugs and gliders like the Bomber A-Salt, Daiwa SP Minnow, Scabelly Glider, Gibb’s Needlefish, and various chunky, custom, large, wooden, metal-lipped swimmers. Then they retrieve them at a slow pace to allow for an enticing wobble. Target deep waters in the surf around higher tides in cuts, bowls, sloughs and edges, mainly during the low-light hours of sunrise, sunset and night time. Slow and steady is the mantra when plugging for fall stripers.
Dance Ajig
When you see the telltale boomerangs on a fish finder delineating stripers stacked up in mid-column depths, jigging is the key to success. With bass feeding down low, turn to metal jigs such as 3-ounce Kroc spoons, #4 Deadly Dicks, and Ava jigs size 27 to 67. Drop them down and reel back slowly in repetitive fashion. Soft shad baits such as 3- to 8-inch Storm Paddletails, 4- to 6-inch Savage Gear Sand Eels, and Tsunami 6-inch shads all mimic bunker and sand eels. Bounce the soft baits off the bottom by raising and lowering the rod tip in a methodical manner. A slow but steady sweep up and down of the rod tip produces strikes and the great feel of a solid hookup.
Troll ‘Em Up
There are times during the fall run when no visual signs of feeding stripers can be seen. That’s when astute anglers turn to trolling to cover ground and explore areas to find fish. When targeting large fish of 25 to 45 pounds, go with large trolled offerings that mimic huge menhaden. One of the most dependable is the size #4 Tony Maja bunker spoon. If focusing on quantity over quality, targeting 8- to 25-pound bass, drop down Magictail Mojo ball rigs, 9er’s shad spreader bars, and Stretch 30 deep-diver plugs. White and chartreuse are always productive colors. The best trolling speed for any offering is 2.5 to 3 knots.
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Go Live
Stripers can grow finicky, and that’s when live bait ranks as the best choice. Law dictates that any live or dead bait fishing for stripers must employ the use of inline (not offset) circle hooks. Telltale signs of bunker schools finning on the surface prompt snag-and-switch tactics. Use a weighted treble hook to snag a live bunker, switch it over to a size 9/0 octopus inline circle hook, and freeline it.
A hot new tactic has been livelining eels on planer boards. Eels are hooked on size 5/0 circle hooks, then sent back on a floating planer board to spread out the baits at various depths, drifted or trolled at a slow 1-knot pace. Monster bass pushing 50 pounds always seem to gravitate to a live eel undulating in the water column.
To flip around an old cliché, the fall striper run is not a marathon—it’s a sprint. Nothing feels worse than checking social media fishing groups and knowing you missed the morning bite, the night chew, or the wave of 40 pounders that moved through yesterday. You have to constantly monitor what’s happening, lest you miss out.
Yet, excitement, luck and vigilance are tempered with keeping your cool, doing your research and persevering. While true striper hounds will dial in the patterns for ultimately heightened daily successes, any novice angler who puts in even a little time and research can be prosperous during the run. David Bowie captured the moment best in his song “Heroes,” belting the encouraging phrase for any newbie hitting the fall run for the first time: “We can be heroes – just for one day.”
