4 Tips for Early Season Stripers

  Well, it’s just about the most wonderful time of the year. Reports of active schoolies are starting to fizzle and crackle, and it won’t be long before things pop and our 2023 striper season comes into focus. But those first stripers can be quite mischievous and even downright fickle. Arriving a times like seven-striped hurricanes, inhaling bait at will, those same fish can settle and become extremely picky by the next tide. For me, spring is a time to mix the truly trusted with the being tested. I have my go to presentations, but the way these fish can alter their behavior so quickly I also like to try things that I, or they, may not see as often. It’s also a time to try out all of those shiny new plugs you bought this winter that you swore would catch like crazy! Here are a few things that you can do to help you get that rod bend we’ve all waited so patiently for since our beloved striped bass left for the winter a handful of months ago.

Initially, Match the Hatch

            Most of our active, early season fish are going to eat from worm hatches, herring, or small bunker pods. And when they’re first waking up, they’re not going to be too keen to pursue a 7-inch bright yellow spook flicking around the surface one chilly April morning. So, when you’re first starting to explore your local striper grounds in hopes of getting an eat, hold off on your favorite big plugs and try to use smaller, more natural colored presentations. Oftentimes, this is a 4-5” white soft plastic fluke or a herring-colored paddletail. If you do want to try some back marsh topwater, make it small, in that same 4-5” size, and work it more slowly than you would in the warmer summer months. Remember, you’re trying to coax a winter-weary fish in chilly water to be interested enough in your bait to track it down and eat it, so go natural. In fact, if nothing else is working, go with the truly natural, and alive, and try some sandworms fished on small-hooked bottom rigs.

Know When to Go Slow

            In that same they’re-just-waking-up mindset, fish your baits a bit more slowly than you typically would. This might mean a couple twitches with a small fluke, followed by a few seconds of slow falling to the bottom and a few more seconds of resting it there before repeating the pattern. You can also try various cast and retrieve plugs, like an SP Minnow, but add periodic pauses to them. Sometimes, early season fish can be coaxed into biting by a few fast turns of your handle, followed by a few seconds of pause, then a repetition of the fast cranking. Personally, one of my favorite early season baits, which I newly found faith in last year, is the small, bunker colored twitchbait. The Nomad Madscad and the Tsunami Tidal Pro in particular do quite well. These baits can be worked more quickly on warm later-spring days in May, but I think they actually excel early on when stripers may want your bait to take on the appearance of a mortally wounded or barely living baitfish, which is easy to slurp up and requires essentially no chase. I like to work the twitchbaits similar to a freshwater bass jerkbait- a few rapid twitches of the rod tip, then a 3-5 second pause, then a couple more twitches, and repeat. These can be really effective on sunny days fishing the flats for hunting stripers. Sun-warmed water brings in baitfish to the shallows, and the stripers aren’t far behind!

Emphasize Long Casts, Particularly for Kayak Anglers

            Despite being a long-time kayak angler, I’ve only in the past few years begun to truly see the value of the long cast. And I don’t mean a hefty toss. I’m talking sending a bait ripping through the air as far as I physically can without infringing on any nearby anglers. Rocket launcher style. To the freaking moon. Send that thing! From a kayak perspective, I do this whenever possible because we simply can’t cover as much water as boats, and so must try to get baits in front of whatever fish are nearby as much and as many times as possible. Longer casts absolutely do this.

In the early hunt for stripers, I like long casts because of the stripers’ sluggishness and occasional need (desire, perhaps) to follow a bait for many yards before committing to it. This is particularly true when the first few topwater bites of the year start. Aside from often using a slow-moving spook or popper, I also employ long casts so that these fish can locate, track, and eat the bait without feeling too much pressure to do so quickly. Think of some of those early fish as sort of lazy, cold, opportunistic feeders. That is, until they aren’t. Which brings up my last tip…

Be Ready When the Cows Come Calling

In Connecticut, we often see fish arriving in waves. Some are under-slot waves, some a mix of schoolies and slots, some are various classes of holdover fish simply waking up. But, eventually, and sometimes all at once, a wave of giants will hit. And you darn well better be ready to take advantage. The early pushes of cow bass can be some of the most ferocious, pissed off, action-packed fish to hook into. They just traveled a long way, they’re really hungry, and there’s plenty of competition around vying for the next bunker that’s just a fraction of a second too slow. Be particularly on the lookout for these pushes of big fish just before and just after full moons. Those big tides, often coupled with agreeable weather, can flip the switch on those schools of 35 to 45, maybe even 50-inch fish.

So, while you work your slow-moving twitchbait, casually pop-pop-pause your popper, or wiggle and flutter your fluke, be keenly aware of the class of fish you’re seeing on your electronics and with your eyes. If a tail wake the size of child’s trampoline appears a few feet behind your plug, be ready with a bigger offering and send it flying. When these fish are in the vicinity, I enjoy 9.5” weightless GT Eels, large spooks like the 24/7 Mully, and glide baits, particularly on flats.

Spring is in the air, and in the water. It’s a time of migration, establishment of seasonal norms, and various forms of action and bait. Be ready with a variety of presentations, be patient, and it won’t be long before your rod is bent over on your first nice striper of the year. Good luck to everyone starting their 2023 striper season. Let’s make it a memorable one!