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Favorite striper bait

6K views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  KRB 
#1 ·
Pretty new to striper fishin. looking to try to catch some of those big ones i see pictures of. So far all i keep getting r small fry's on sardines and grass shrimp. Any advice??
 
#5 ·
This applys to the Ca delta area and Napa river which it appears you are close to. The 2 best cut baits are probably sardine which puts out the most scent and butterflied shad but you will get a lot of shakers with these baits. Eel is not a great bait for striper around here. It is expensive and doesn't put out much scent in the water. If you catch a striper with it it would probably be a keeper size and not a shaker but I dont think your odds of catching a striper around here with eel are great. Eel is a great bait for sturgeon though. There are a lot of other good baits for striper also like anchovie, blood worm and pile worms and others but you will tend to get a lot of hit from bait stealing shakers.
If you want to catch larger striper and avoid the shakers use live bait like bull heads, mud suckers and jumbo minnows.
Another thing you cando when using cut bait is use large hooks. You wont hook as many dinks and when you do hook them there is less chance they will swallow the hook. Also use circle hooks.
 
#6 ·
Heavy sliding sinker (if contending with currents) + 2 to 3 foot leader + size 2, 1 or 1/0 CIRCLE hook is the ticket. Spend the $$ and use good hooks too (owner, gamakatsu - etc) if you go cheaper, dont settle for less than 'Laser sharps'

• Loose line (leave slack for them to pull through the SLIDING weight set up) or open-bail if you have level-wind style baitcasters with the option to leave them "open" bail with no risk of backlash... Some guys like to loosen drags all the way down on spinning reels and standard baitcast, I dislike it...

Anyhow - on bait:

"Big bait - big fish" - go with WHOLE shad hooked through the face... we slayed the san joaquin river last week just like this!! Also, for artificials shad patterned 4-6in swimbaits and shad pattern "squarebill" crankbaits were SLAYING them too, we got several keepers.

Biggest fish 6-8lbs, which isnt even that big.... but better (more fun) than "BSB's" (bait stealing bastards)
 
#7 ·
This is what i'm talking about. Thx much. I'm planning a blast and cast this week-end on the Napa. I already know I'm gonna get ducks, i'd just love 2 throw a decent striper in the pic.
 
#8 ·
I used to fish the SF bay all the time. We would get them in the 20-40 lb. range using the biggest live smelt we could catch. Dead smelt on the battom as well but good luck keeping them away from the dogfish and leopard sharks. Big, jump live smelt is the way to go and night time is good. If you are going to use artificials; we used to use very large (1o inch) rapalas and fish the strong current seams. Good luck.
 
#9 ·
I call it a transition, without the purest pretentious attitude.
It's not that I hate bait, It bores me. Waiting for a fish to swim by, and find a hunk of meat.
I love the challenge, especially in new places, of hunting for Bass. Reading the water, interpreting the rips and structure. Fooling a fish into thinking that a piece of wood is real.
The anticipation of the hit, right up to when the plug comes out of the water. Watching the boil as it crushes a top water, or the slam of a subsurface strike. eels bring a level of excitement almost on par with plugs, because they are fished in almost identical circumstances. On occasion a bunker head can be used in almost the same manner, drifted in a rip, or tossed into the wash of a reef. I don't even own a sinker anymore.
I have fished Bass in any and all method known for my area. Caught boatloads, literally.
trolled, drifted, and anchored a chum slick.
My life has brought me to a point that I desire the challenge of hunting for Stripers, it's no longer fishing to me. I would rather go fishless on a plug in the surf, than to land 50 from a boat using a chunk of fish meat.
 
#10 ·
I have to agree that plug fishing is a blast! I also enjoy chinking big cuts of bunker this time of year. Live on the water on the Eastern Shore striper fishing from about now till mid may is about as exciting as when duck season come in. If your going on a cast and blast the outfitter might be taking you trolling. Here our season doesnt start till april but we can catch and reslease now with barbless hooks. We run 16 rods with unbrellas and 8 inch artificals.
 
#11 ·
Bringing old topic back up but I use what wvugunner92 said. I live and fish in delaware. I fish the delaware river alot and the Chesapeake bay some and hook them big pigs with FRESH cut bunker. And make sure any guts you cant put on your hook you thow out and chunk. In the daytime we are in abou 15-20ish feet of water and at dawn and dusk we in 10ft water. Night time they feed heavy. They are nocturnal so the light screws with their eyes, so night you can literally catch them by casting 20ft off shoreline in 5ft of waters. Blood worms work pretty good too. Goodluck to all this year. :beer:
 
#12 ·
I wade fish the arkansas river in tulsa a lot for stripes and sand bass.

Carrying live bait is a pain when wade fishing, so typically I fish arts only. Strike king sexy dogs, T-10's with UPGRADED hooks for search baits, and shallow jerkbaits. i.e. x-raps, Rick Clunn shallow suspendidn jerks.
A big white z-man chatter bait has produced some double digit striper for me.

Won't be to long and they'll be getting their spawn on. Wich will mean weightless zoom flukes and small swimbaits. The colder the water, the smaller the shad imitation.
 
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