Capt Harv
11-01-2004, 12:30 AM
The striper bite really turned on for fishing this week on the days I fished Thurs-Sunday. Each day afforded us nice weather and an excellent striper bite on both the incoming and outgoing tides. The turbulent weather of the previous couple weeks churned up the water in the rips and was not conducive to proper bait aggregation or striper feeding. The stripers have been migrating past Cape May for the last couple weeks, but the poor inshore environment kept them migrating offshore of our legal limit. The young of the year back water bait fish leaving the inlets began in September with the mullet, followed by the rainfish and peanut bunker and silversides. The herring could be seen jumping out of the water as they gorged themselves on the silversides, but the stripers were slow to move in this year, as compared to last. Now at last the rip environment has become favorable as the bait has remained inshore and the turbidity of the rip environment is suitable for the stripers to move in.
Each day afforded stripers up 38 to 40 inches biting on everything we had, including bluefish, peanut bunker, spot, eels, and croakers. 2 out of the 4 days we caught stripers on live lined croakers, which accounted for the biggest fish on those days.
Each day afforded stripers up 38 to 40 inches biting on everything we had, including bluefish, peanut bunker, spot, eels, and croakers. 2 out of the 4 days we caught stripers on live lined croakers, which accounted for the biggest fish on those days.