How to Make Your Striper Season a Success Now and Later

 

If you want to catch more stripers this season, or capture the fish of a lifetime, the process doesn't begin with your first cast; it begins right now. There's a lot to do now to give you an advantage come spring and summer, from fine-tuning your gear to checking the tides and moon phases. Here are a few pre-season routines that have proven to be beneficial in my chase of stripers in the suds.

 

1) Establish your striper fishing objectives for the following season.

 

Every season, I like to set goals for myself. Simple goals might include things like catching more fish or catching a 50-pound striper on a surf plug. They're broad concepts that point me in the correct way. They can, however, be a little wishy-washy, and they don't assist much when I'm attempting to make the minor daily decisions that constitute a successful season. That is why I like to set more defined objectives.

 

At night, a man holds a huge striped bass.

 

Setting defined goals for the season can aid you in making quick judgments. Audet, Jerry

 

One of my goals for this season is to capture five fish over 30 pounds from a single short section of coastline, something I've been working on for the past six seasons. A little aim like that helps me focus my goals and, when required, forget about other things. It also assists me in selecting the most appropriate approaches and techniques at any given time.

 

I prefer to write into what went right and what went wrong during the previous season once I have approximately three to four goals written down for the season. The easiest method to accomplish this year after year is to keep and evaluate a fishing journal.

 

 

2) Use a tide calendar to plan out your striper season.

 

While certain elements, such as bait schools or Nor'easters, are difficult to foresee five months in advance, saltwater fisherman can prepare for two things: tides and moon phases.

In most of my fishing areas, the tide is the most essential component. The beautiful thing about the tide is that you can predict it for years. The same is true for lunar phases. You may find up the dates for the new and full moons right now.

 

When I start planning my summer, I'll make some educated guesses, starting identifying major tides around the moons, and create a calendar. For the areas that fish best during specific tides, moon phases, and seasons, I utilize a computerized calendar. If I have a site that fishes best on an incoming tide during the few nights surrounding the full moon and it lasts all summer, I check up all the nights of the summer that correlate with incoming tides that fall within around four or five days of the full moon and note them down now.

 

A calendar assists me in determining when I need to take time from work or rearrange other commitments. It also assists me in deciding whether to fish at one location or another. When it comes to this type of planning, I recommend focusing on just a few locations based on your objectives. You'd be shocked how much time a few sites can consume in a season, especially if you just fish a few of nights each week. Don't become overwhelmed if your schedule fills full. Even if there is a lot of overlap between different fishing areas, having everything written out in front of you will help you focus.

 

Jilles Dionne of Durham, New Hampshire, casts his flyline at the Kennebunkport breakwater on Friday, June 16, 2017, in the hopes of catching a striper.

 

Check the tides and moon phases now to determine the ideal fishing days. Getty Images/Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

 

3) Look for new fishing spots while reconnecting with old ones.

 

Another item on my pre-season agenda is to visit any new or old sites that I'm learning about or that I believe I should revisit. I'll go fishing without a rod and instead observe. I normally take a walk down the coastline, watch the tide, and observe how the water travels around the structures.

 

Scouting is critical when fishing soft structure. Due to huge tides and storms, areas like sand beaches and inlet mouths can alter considerably during the winter. And you don't want to be caught off guard on your first tide out.

 

I recommend going to your places twice, regardless of the structure. First, go during low tide to acquire the best view of the structure, and then again during the tidal phase to really fish. Many fishermen just scout at low tide, which might result in them missing important indications like as the strongest currents, ambush locations, or current seams.

 

Finally, throughout the winter, I spend a lot of time on Google Earth and Navionics. To gain an overview perspective of my locations, I utilize Google Earth. The "back in time" feature, which allows you to explore historical pictures, is also quite handy. It helps me to keep track of any changes to my fishing sites, and I can frequently see them at various tide stages.

 

I like to utilize Navionics to look for depth contours and edges and drop-offs that I would not see from shore. When used in conjunction with the satellite overlay, it's also fantastic for gauging casting distances. This is accomplished by switching to Bing Maps images while keeping the contour lines visible. Then, using the distance tool, I can determine where my lure or fly is landing from various casting locations. I'll utilize it all to not just find new areas, but also to develop and perfect my skills.

 

 

Next, find out why you're not catching big striped bass in the surf.

 

4) Battle-ready your fishing equipment

 

Another crucial step in getting ready for the season is going through all of your gear and making sure it's in good working order. Check your reels for smooth drags, and inspect your rods for weak or broken hardware, which you should fix if required. The most critical pieces of any surfcaster's equipment are the lure hardware and lines, which are often overlooked. Hooks, split rings, snaps, and line are the items that keep you connected to the fish. Trophy-sized fish are powerful, and they'll put even the best-kept gear to the test, especially if you're fishing inlets or areas with a lot of hard structure, such as boulder fields.

 

Paul Korenkiewicz of Kennebunkport, Maine, reels in a striper while fishing off the shore of Kennebunkport on June 9, 2017. Korenkiewicz has caught striped bass by fly fishing and using bait, but he favors lures since he can try to capture the bigger stripers.

 

Before the striper season begins, swap up your lure hardware and lines. Getty Images/Portland Press Herald/Gregory Rec

 

Before the season begins, I inspect practically all of my lures and flies, checking the hooks and other associated hardware. Any fly with a dull hook that can't be sharpened gets tossed. I'll replace any rusted, bent, or dull hooks on lures. And, while I spend time honing hooks throughout the season, I usually remove any hooks that are even slightly dull in the winter and start again. Because hooks are so crucial, I'm willing to pay a little extra money to replace them rather than risk it. Split rings are the same way. Because they're so inexpensive, I'll replace any that appear to be worn.

 

This takes hours every winter, but it's necessary.

 

Finally, before a new fishing season, I prefer to change up all of my fishing line. I mainly use braid in the surf, and while it holds up nicely under normal conditions, I always feel better about starting a fresh line each spring. You might be able to get several years of use out of your line if you exclusively fish in sandy places. However, it's worthwhile to do a complete examination to determine the state of your connection. I don't make many leaders ahead of time, but it's a fun thing to do while watching TV. At the outset of the season, tying a few every night might pay dividends.