Author: Riley

I am starting a new series on the various factors that go into catching stripers. I came up with 50 as an arbitrary number that is no more factual than any of my opinions on fishing so use at your own risk. I think catching fish in general and striper specifically resolves down to a math formula. How many of these 50 factors can you get right determines how successful you will be with the catch. I think this is why professional charter captains always do much better than their amatuer counterparts. They simply get more of the factors correct than we do.

Captains do have a better network than we do and their network catches more fish so they have a big advantage on us but it still comes down to the factors. It is the same reason you catch more or less than your friend that is in the boat basically beside you all day trolling.

My guess is that I will be editing these pages more often than not as we continue to get better with fishing so if you are reading this by chance come back often.

Number 1 – Stripers tend to eat most often at sunrise and sunset. I think this is true, the question for me is can we get out or back safely.

Number 2 – Color of your lures matter big time. There is nothing that has more decision weighting than the color of the lures and the various combinations that you put in the water. Now all of this is in combination with water clarity, depth you need to fish, and especially the amount of sunlight. Stripers have a destinctive color range and guess what yellow and chartreuse are the center mass of that spectrum. For me the best antidote is to be ready with more combinations than you think you need. Fish need to see the bait stand out in the water so even when they are not completely ready to eat they will be opportunistic feeders so having something they can’t resist is key.

Number 3 – Full Moon, maybe no bigger controversy between fishermen than the effects of full moons on fishing. I have caught limit during full moons as well as being skunked so this effect alone does not have full bearing on if you catch or not. I do think it is true that fish can feed more at night during full moons but they also eat more because of higher tides and greater tidal flows. Add that to the mix of your formula but don’t count on it or not for success.

Number 4 – Sunlight by percentage, today’s weather apps can give you the percentage of sunlight. Add that to the angle of the sun’s rays by time of day and time of year you will have a better chance of finding them. For example, stripers do not have eyelids so as the water becomes flooded with light they tend to go deeper to get out of that sunlight and conversely when it is cloudier they can be found shallower. This is also a factor in picking bait colors. Fish need to see the bait stand out in the water so even when they are not completely ready to eat they will be opportunistic feeders so having something they can’t resist is key.

Number 5 – Tide, high vs low, incoming vs. outgoing, slack. Yep all of this matters for how much you will catch. I know a million people will disagree with me but I like the tide from one hour before transition all the way to one hour after. Most people hate the slack tide (cresting and not fast moving) but I find that is just not the case. Could be one of the other 49 factors playing out here but it does not bother me to be fishing in a slack tide. I have filled the boat up during slack tide. See this post all of this was done in a slack tide hour. I actually don’t think when the tide is ripping you get as many bites. We can fight about this when you get here.

Number 6 – Trolling speed. I tend to go the avg 3 kts for trolling but there are factors that come into play you need to be aware of as well. Speed over ground (SOG) is different from speed of the water (SOW) going under your boat. For instance if you are completely against the tidal flow of water the speed of water under your boat at 3kts SOG may be 6 kts SOW. and conversely if you are completely with the flow 3kts could effectively be 0kts SOW. Of course any angle other than 0 and 180 you will have to factor that in as well. If you are one of the people that must go 3kts you recognize this because depending on which direction you are going you either need to give it more gas or kick it in neutral ever so often. In reality, you need to take in the flow of water as well.

Number 7 – Add a Crazy Ivan (from Tom Clancy’s Hunt for Red October) over fish. When I see a big bunch of fish on the bottom they may not be ready to actively feed. I try to drop the bait right on their head then pick it up quickly. The way I do that is by turning the boat 90 deg from course which effectively slows down the bait and they drop. In just a few seconds I turn back to the original course and it lifts the bait off the bottom. There is little that creates a bite better than a piece of food getting away for a fish. You can also do this by kicking the motor in neutral for a few seconds. Either is fine and I choose mostly by what direction I would rather be going anyway.

Number 8 – Structure, Stipers will be in both but for various reasons. They tend to be structure oriented creatures and a very good place to look for them is on natural and man-made reefs. For us that includes the NNK reef, the Asphalt Pile, some of the wrecks around, Davidson wreck is a good one but please let someone that knows the area take you otherwise just stay away. But, like all good rules there are exceptions and you will catch likely bigger fish outside of structure you just need to find a big ball of bait fish. Sometimes the deeper the better, some of the very biggest fish we have ever caught is in the shipping channel under bait. I rarely fish directly over the reef as you get a bunch of schoolies and not the ones you are looking for (the honkers).  

Number 9 – Trolling. Overall, trolling yields the best fish for the least amount of time fishing. It is easy to control many factors that add to your formula. Speed, depth, can troll multiple rigs at one time (I have had as many as 12). With that you can add a mix of colors, styles, depths, etc. and cover more ground than any other method. I know some find it boring but it gives me time to think and put in alternate strategies. I am not just grabbing the elephant tale in front of me and walking like so many do when they are with the fleet. If you find it boring it’s likely because you are not catching fish and just out for a boat ride. 

Number 10 – Auxiliary gear, I’m talking about all of the things that make you lose fish that you would otherwise catch because you didn’t plan well. Line, leaders, swivels, snap hooks, etc. All of these should be in good working condition and be rated for the job. The big one does get away because we didn’t have the right equipment on at the time it called for it. I’ve had underrated line break, knots come undone, pretty much everything you can have happen it has happened to me. With that the saying goes and I believe it wholeheartedly that you catch all the fish at the dock. In other words, have your gear in top notch condition before you leave the dock. Have an extra rod or two so if something gets fouled you can quickly replace and straighten out any issues after you are fishing full strength again.

The boring part of the story. Well today we had our buddy Scott from Tappahanock come up for the day. Scott, Scott, Mitch, and I left dock around 11 am. They waited for me to get back from church. We couldn’t get to our reliable spot because someone had put a tremendous fish net out. It seemed to go to the Md. waters but at least we knew we couldn’t fish our hot spot. The fleet was over the NNK reef and south just past R 62. We fished the northern edge of the reef and picked up a few nice ones but decided to head closer to 62. Caught a nice 23″ just on the ledge and slightly north of the 62 buoy. Kept hitting dinks so we moved to the Asphalt Pile, wow a bunch of fish but mostly smaller in size. Finally, we got a 20″ fish and I mean 20.0085 but a legal fish. Moved back to 62 and added two more 23″ers, they came at the same time. We did have another good one that got off right at the boat that was definitely a keeper.

Ok, now for the real story, I saw three things I thought I would never see today. First, Scott told me to throw back the 20″er that was in the boat. I could not believe my ears so I asked again and again to confirm. Second, he had his hands on the weight of the last keeper only to lose it at the boat. This was the most surprised I have been and if I could describe his face when he told us if got off I would win a Pulitzer for sure. If you know Scott you know the face. And finally, as we were coming back in we saw 250ish birds just tearing up the water and he did not stop. I mean we only needed one fish. I thought he had had a stroke so I got up to take a look at him. He was dedicated to getting home before dark but this is the same guy that got me to stop for birds when we were in 5 foot seas and thought we were not going to make it back home. Birds are working…we are fishing just that simple.

Could have limit but read the second paragraph. Two 23″ and one 24″. But, as normal we had another great day on the water, caught fish, had a bunch of laughs and came home with a good haul. Scott is taking them home to share with his bride and we will see him again at fish camp after Christmas.

Anyone else want to love the technical side of fishing? Well too late, here we go with analysising the moon transits and phases. In general, we you have an opposing lunar transit you will catch more fish as they are more active. People either love the full moon (as it brings out more activity or hate it because they are believed to eat all night therefore not in the mood of biting during the day). I tend to think it is more about being at the transit as opposed to a particular phase. How else would we explain these captain boats getting limit almost every day?

Moon Tranist is when the moon is either directly overhead. I think we get more fish when we are opposite the moon transient (moon at moon rise or at the horizon) and then about 2 hours after. Find the moon rise time and be on the fishing grounds then, hopefully you will have your limit in two hours.

There are a seemingly endless amount of varibles in fishing. How many of these varibles you get right as opposed to wrong decides how many fish you catch. I do think it is sometimes a numbers game, meaning there are so many little fish mixed in witht he bigger ones sometimes you just need to catch more fish to get more keepers. I guess that is the main difference between the pros and those of us that just have a good time fishing.

Without question it does matter, we have been very successful this year where others have not. Why is the question. Here are some of the factors that I pay attention to:

• How clear is the sky? Change you baits based on if they sparkle in sun light or need to dazzle the fish with zero sun.
• Kind of bait? This does seem to change every year but without question umbrella rigs are bigger producers year to year.
• How deep? For this years striper I think fairly close to bottom, may 5-8 feet above.
• Tatics? Again for this year, when I see a school of fish on the bottom I do a “crazy Ivan” (yep from the Tom Clancy novel “Hunt for Red October”. I think dropping the baits down with the turn then bringging them up quickly by straightening out makes a big difference.
• Weather? Well sometimes you can’t wish for better weather but fish do not like a pressure lowering quickly. So if you have to get up leaves because rain is coming you may as well go do it because fishing doesn’t seem to be as good anyway.

Well that’s just how good fishing is right now, Megan, Sara, and Bubba and I went with out this afternoon. We went to the NNK reef like we have for the last several trips and there were a ton of boats everywhere. The boats were thick from maybe just north of the reef to R 62. We found our spot in amongst all of the fleet and started setting out our gear. As we were started the purple striper eater went down. Sarah and Megan had to fight that one on their own because we both had rods in our hands trying to get set. Thankfully, it slowed down just long enough to get the other rods in the water. We were working all the time with really no slow down. We did not go more than about 5 min. between fish. Got mutliples a bunch of the time as well as some doubles that had two big fish on.

The title of this post was created by Megan. We had caught 3 of our 4 fish for limit so we started throwing anything back that was not bigger than 23″. Megan could tell before the fish got over the gunnel that it was not going to be bigger than we were looking for so we got a laugh each time she said the now famous slogan.

We fished our same umbrella rigs. This afternoon was very clear, warm, the water was basically flat so I think the purple with clear silver speckled rig did the best but it was a close call with our white and chartreuse combo contrasting rigs. The water temp was 53 degrees and crystal clear.

The Crew, Megan had not fished very many times but jumped right in and did a great job. Sara is a typical trooper and expert by this time. Bubba as always is completely dependable to keep everything working wonderfully and is great at setting the lines out as well as ensuring we get all the fish in. We ended the day with 4 all 23 – 25″.

Look at this guy Megan is holding, he had been caught so many times his mouth was just destroyed. I’m glad we were the ones that were capable of putting the fish overboard as a keeper. I am not sure how he would survive with no mouth! Give him credit he kept biting the hook (we just had the kind of crew that could actually catch him).

Todd and Jacob came over today at about 8:15. Good timing as High Tide was around 10:08 so we hit that pretty much on the money. We went to just north of 1 GW because we saw some birds working a bit. Set everything out but all told there was not hardly any bait and didn’t hit a single fish. I called Vince because he was about an hour ahead of me, he was at the NNK reef or just north of it. He had not caught a fish but had lots of action around him so we headed there. Certainly no more than got the lines wet we started pounding them in. We caught so many it was difficult to count. We caught a bunch that were keepers, maybe 20+ but if they were well hooked we just let them out because we knew some bigger ones were mixed in with them. We easily caught our limit in an hour and they were 23, 25, and 25. Waited for a cargo ship to cross and we headed to dock.

While we were out there we called Mitch and Scott (son) to see how they were doing. They got into some nice striper just south of the NNK Reef. Overall, the bay is just loaded with very quality fish. Mitch and Scott got these two (nice ones).

Went on a charter on the Mystic Lady II with Capt. Jack and for today Mark as the first mate. As you would expect we just had a great day. We set off on the docks at first light, maybe 6:45 or so. The trip out was perfect, the sun coming up was just beautiful. We had Scott, Bubba (in pic), Trey, Charlie, Charlie Jr., Lucky (yes and that is his M.O. as well), and Myself.

We head out towards the Va/Md border. Started seeing a bunch of birds but as a very good Capt, Jack somehow knows the difference between birds over a group of small fish and those of the bigger fish. So we moved around, set out our Rods and caught a one keeper but more unders than Jack was comfortable with so we moved a 1/8 to 1/4 mile or so north.

This is what we mean when Birds Go Wild or we affectionately call it a Birdnado (a tornado of birds). We caught our limit by 9:30 or so and were back at dock by 10:30 or so.

Just another great day on the water. As you can see the water is very calm, the sun up, the wind down, and the air temps were about upper fifties but certainly felt warmer.

You can contact Captain Jack Frazier at (540) 809-3282 to setup a charter. You will not find a finer captain and crew on the bay.

Here is my setup. I only go back behind the boat with about 40 – 100 feet of line. That is closer than I have in the past but it sure seems to be working. All things considered this runs about 10 – 15 feet below the surface depending on if I add a 6 oz or 32 oz weight, this is depending on how deep of water, current, etc. I clip directly onto the umbrella rig. This also helps when finishing up for the day as you can move the clip to the rod and easily roll up the setup, then I put the umbrella away. Quick in and out.

Update: Obviously adding different weights gets this to the depth you like. For a lot of the late season I would add from 24 – 50 oz to get it closer to the bottom.

We had a new Captain in charge of the boat today. Bryan had a cut hand and we (Sara and I) decided he needed to drive so not to get fish gunk in the cut. Well we camped out in the same general location as I have in the last few weeks and had another great day. Bryan did keep us out of the gil nets and crab pots so I was really glad to have him behind the controls. Sara as you would expect did a great job with her side of the boat. We caught a bunch of fish, it was not as hectic as yesterday but the ratio of keepers to unders was way better. My guess is we caught 30 total and caught limit of 3 nice keepers (it’s the new 40%). Brain gets his sense of direction from his dad but with Sara’s help we actually got him to go RIGHT once in a while.

I was glad to have them on board and got treated to breakfast as well. Could hardly have been a better day on the water. The air was crisp but the sun and the seas were just as perfect as you could get. The water has gotten under 60 for a change and is now about 59.

Went out early this morning to change out my stereo in the boat, the old one just gave up the ghost. Worked on that for a few hours and just couldn’t take it anymore. I headed out to my old place that I had had such great success. I saw Vince there, called him up, he had a few small ones but nothing of any size. It was right at high tide so we discussed it would probably turn on after the tide change. Boy did it, went berserk and stayed that way all afternoon. I called Buddy, Mitch, and Todd, everyone got in the action. Ron, Joe, and Jack went hunting so they missed that but got a bear so I guess that is enough.

Anyway, they were again hitting the umbrella rigs of really any color. The rest of the guys were mainly using tandems. Those worked but I think the umbrellas were grabbing a few more. Well the more you land the more chances you have a grabbing one of size. I landed a bunch, 100+ and was completely tired of catching. There was no fishing, this was a catching day.

Finally got two 24″ at the same time on one umbrella, the whole time it was coming in I was praying it was only one fish. It would have been huge but two 24s is fine with me. Buddy got a keeper as did the rest of the gang.

Today was Patsy’s first treatment, I really did not want to call Buddy but I figured just let him know and he would know what to do. After he got back in he and his daughter Sharon went out and caught one 23. Patsy we are all praying for your speedy recovery. Love yah.

Today was overcast and going to rain in the afternoon so I set out a 7:30 this morning. I went to the same place near Cockerell’s creek. I had the same rigs on two primarily yellow and one all white. Last posting they would have only hit the yellow rigs today it was only white. I finally moved to two white rigs and one clear speckle. Overall a really good day, I lost count but I think it was 25 or so with three total keeper size. I kept the 23″ the others were slightly smaller but many of the throwbacks were 19+.

The umbrella’s were the old white bucktails (yep the same ones as you have fished your whole life) with either a white or yellow swim tail.

The water is still warm, about 62 deg. There was a little more surf than the other days but really nothing to speak of maybe 1 foot from the east.