6 Pro Tips For Fishing For Stripers

Stripers are flexible feeders and will accept many varieties of bait. Tennessee is often the best local option, while clams, bunker, herring, and cut shad are effective choices. Fishing the rocky bottoms of the surf fishing zone during spring when shad are boiling can be very successful, as stripers chase them down. Anglers can target these areas with cast and strip fly patterns. Here are some other tips for fishing for large striped bass.

1. Pay Attention to Water Conditions

Stripers, during migration, rely heavily on opportunistic feeding strategies for sustenance during long migratory seasons, ensuring their survival through long periods of travel and migration. While they will eat any available bait fish that might come their way, selecting baits that more closely match regional forage can have a profound effect. Here is why you should pay attention to water:

Striper fish move along current breaks and seams in river mouths, often congregating at rips, river eddies, piers, and rips for refuge.
Tidal flats and channels offer anglers another ideal spot for striper fishing.
Striper fishermen can anchor and chum or slowly drift along while slowly moving a lure on a heavy jigging spoon or vertical plastic lure.
Be careful when handling and releasing your catch back into the water, as stress and internal hook damage could reduce its chances of recovery.

2. Use Live Bait for Best Results

Migrating stripers fish move throughout the water column, so choosing bait that resembles their natural prey is key to success. Depending on the season and location, this may mean using bucktails, weightless flukes, or multi-jointed swimbaits.

Why Use Live Bait?

Big striped bass feed on an array of crustaceans and smaller fish found both on back bay mudflats and the surf. They use their unique sandpaper teeth to crush rather than chop prey to increase their chances of swallowing everything they encounter without sections being stolen by competitors.

What is the best technique for striper fishing?

What is the best bait for striper fishing?

Live bait striped bass fishing is one of the best ways to catch striped bass, although it requires more patience than working lures from a boat. But once you locate an area of fish, the rewards could make the wait worthwhile!

3. Choose the Best River Location

Inshore waters present anglers with good opportunities to catch stripers, and this is especially true during the spring and summer when these predatory fish are active in freshwater rivers to spawn. During night fishing, anglers should target areas rich with mollusks and baitfish, such as rocks.

What are the best Liver Locations?

These areas may consist of natural underwater features, like rocky points or ledges, or manmade ones, like bridges and jetties. When the tide rises, pay special attention to any cuts in mud flats; their cuts should become the focal point.

Finding an area with a minimal current within casting distance of deeper waters is the key to successful fly fishing. A good location might be at the end of a bridge's light line, where the current transitions into deeper waters.

4. Adjust Depth with Weighted Lines

Striped bass provide anglers with an exciting fight and are popular targets in various parts of the United States. These predators can be found almost anywhere and remain active year-round. Learn more about choosing the right lines here.

Depth

Search open water as the key to finding stripers. They are constantly on the prowl for baitfish and will often follow them to the surface in a feeding frenzy - this is when topwater lures work best. Birds flying low overhead are also good indicators of baitfish activity that you should watch.

Structure

Structure is another essential consideration when fishing for stripers. They tend to congregate in areas that provide them with easy ambush points, like rips, rocks, jetties, mussel beds, and shorelines—perfect places for stripers!

A standard rig for stripers would include a fluorocarbon leader fitted with an 8/0 circle hook. It should be attached by means of a swivel at one end and an 8/0 or larger circle hook attached at another.

5. Use the Best Quality Fishing Hooks

Knowledgeable hook sets are essential when fishing stripers; these fickle fish are notoriously finicky, and an ineffectual hook set could spell doom for your day of fishing.

Use Live and Fresh Baits

Use fresh bait, such as clams, to ensure the hooks you set are effective. Clams are an excellent choice because their strong aroma draws stripers in, rigging them straightforwardly with their hard-shelled exterior, making them difficult for fishermen to spook away from your hooks.

Eels as Live Bait

Live eels can also make excellent bait, cut into strips or chunks to increase their appeal. Squid, as well as any species native to your location, may also prove fruitful for catch-and-release fishing. When using natural bait, make sure that circle hooks are used, as this helps minimize catch-and-release mortality rates. Using the right-size hook is key to success.

What is the best time of day to fish for stripers?

6. Setup Your Boat Effectively

Stripers are found throughout the year, yet their behavior and feeding habits often change each season. Finding the optimal time and place to fish when targeting these voracious predators is also critical. For instance, many stripers that hunt small baits in fall often bite well after dark due to being more active under low and transitioning light conditions with less boat and fishing traffic.

At this point, it is wise to ensure your boat setup prioritizes safety. Doing this can prevent the heartbreak of missing out on an incredible catch simply because you were not prepared for sudden shifts in current or weather conditions.

Conclusion

Catching stripers can be a thrilling experience for anglers, but success often depends on a combination of knowledge, preparation, and technique. With these pro tips in mind, you'll be ready to maximize your fishing adventure and bring home a memorable catch. Learn about some additional tips here.

Frontier Anglers TN, The Top Fly Fishing Guide in TN

Are you ready to experience the thrill of world-class bass fishing? Look no further than Frontier Anglers, TN, your trusted guide for the best fly fishing trips. Our mission is to bring together the best fishermen from around the country and give them an unforgettable experience. We provide Fishing Guides on different rivers in Tennessee, including Cherokee - Holston River, Douglas - French Broad River, Norris - Clinch River, Little River, Pigeon River, and Caney Fork River. Contact us now!