Summer Striper Strategies
The spring striper season has been one for the history books for anglers up and down the coast. The MA Northshore season had a much different start than we have been accustomed to, but this year's surprise has been an invasion of chunky schoolies, slot fish galore, and a ton of "overs," which is pretty rare in late May and early June. Not saying that bigger fish aren't generally around that time of year, but their ABUNDANCE is what made it special. The artificial lure bite on big fish with light tackle was electrifying, and I hope the future holds a similar pattern for years to come. In my opinion, after two years with the slot limit, our fishery has ramped up significantly with quality fish. It’s been a dream start for a Newburyport Charter Captain, that’s for sure!
We are also seeing an abundance of baitfish at untold levels. There were vast amounts of herring in the river compared to the past few years. Dense schools of sandeels have been clouding the river and outside the mouth seemingly 24/7, leading to mackerel being close to home and the mouth producing on all tides. Speaking of mackerel, they have been thick in many spots, but I have found them in 60 - 90 feet of water now that they have settled into the area. Over the past few days, the key has been finding long tide lines, hopefully with a little weed patch and being patient with the chum. One weird thing of note, it has been challenging getting them to stay in the chum for whatever reason. It has been attracting them enough to have good flurries every few minutes but not keeping them under the boat. The 2021 mackerel season had an eerily similar start in the chum regard. Similar to last year, we have seen stripers and seals chasing schools of mackerel around in the deep water, hence why they have been on the move. If you're looking for big fish, trolling or drifting live macs around a mackerel school could yield a slob striper if you are patient. This weekend we even saw tuna and minke whales ripping through the bait balls. (If you have a tuna spin rod, bring it out while getting bait. You never know if you will get lucky!). This weekend also saw the arrival of numerous small pogy schools from Hampton to Halibut Point. Some of the schools had some nice bass on them as well!
As we approach Father's Day and the June Full Moon, we will be hitting somewhat of a transitory fishing period. The first push of herring seemed to have dropped out of the river a smidge earlier than usual and will start venturing into the open ocean, bringing some stripers along with them. The early morning herring feeds, with a few exceptions, will become less and less reliable as the weeks move on, and the predominant method will be fishing with live bait. Fish are now taking up their summer residencies and settling into patterns of movement based on tide, moon, and wind, more so than wide open feeding. Stripers that have been in the river will start spreading their fins and traveling up and down the beaches or out in super deep water following bait fish concentrations.
The transition period is one of my favorite times of the year. With more fish migrating north by the day, fish are spread out, and so are the boats! Seriously, this weekend people were simultaneously hammering fish on the beach, in the mouth, in the flats, in the Parker, Hampton, and Amesbury. You almost can't go wrong if you pay attention to the details and fish hard. We now have options to fish how and where you like, but live bait will give you the best odds. Here is how I categorize my live bait fishing techniques based on relative situations:
Fast current, deep water - Drifting live mackerel with a 1 - 2 ounce egg sinker is ideal for these conditions. You cover ground and can get your baits to the bottom where the stripers are holding in pockets to ambush baitfish swept over their heads. Think of this as your typical "mouth" style of drifting. Hammer your drifts and change your starting point until you have a successful drift, then pound it out until they move!
Fast/Medium current, shallow water - You have a few options for your presentation in shallow but fast currents. Let's use 12 feet as the starting point for shallow.
First, ditch the weights and throw weightless baits about 75 feet and 100 feet behind your boat. I like to stagger my lines to avoid tangles. In this situation, we can "bump" drift along long channel edges, which entails drifting lines off the stern of your boat BUT bumping the boat in gear occasionally to keep the lines straight and help you control your drift. Generally, the current is not as strong as the middle of the channel, so the wind will have an effect and can make it challenging to drift blindly. By bumping in and out of gear, you can stay on the edge, keep your lines from getting tangled, and keep your bait on a straight track making it easier to get eaten by a hungry striper. On another note, I mostly fish two lines to avoid tangles regardless of the number of anglers on board. This technique is also superb for fishing in extremely shallow water on the beachfront. A trolling motor with an auto pilot feature makes trolling along the beach MUCH easier. You can get your depth and set a course to keep your boat straight and in the strike zone. The motor pulls you from the bow, dramatically reducing the effect of wind and waves pushing you in and out of the strike zone. With an outboard, bump trolling can be more difficult with a westerly or easterly wind pushing you off your mark.
Free Lining from Anchor - This is a style of fishing that not many anglers in the Merrimack utilize often enough, particularly with live bait. I learned this technique in Florida fishing for tarpon a few years ago and have successfully incorporated it into my daily fishing. My Minn Kota Ulterra trolling motor is a life saver with its Spot-Lock feature that will anchor the boat with a touch of a button. This type of fishing is more akin to structure fishing. You want to find good ambush areas like rocks, points, drop-offs, and "choke points" where fish HAVE to pass through. The technique here is simple. Anchor up current of your chosen structure, throw a couple of weightless baits behind the boat, and watch the show ensue. Nothing is more exciting than watching a 30-pound striper blowing up a pogy 30 feet behind your boat! I also drop a weighted bait under the boat, and you would be shocked how many big fish eat a bait under my prop in 6 feet of water!
Slow Current/Deep Water - As we move deeper into the summer, more and more stripers will be moving to the oceanfront. Typically, this is a live bait troll bite. The entirety of Ipswich Bay, from 3 feet of water out to the 3 Mile Line, can be productive when you find the meat! The vastness of water to cover it is mitigated by looking for some signs on the water:
Mark a school on your fish finder
Bait balls on the surface
Substantial tide lines
Tight bunches of birds
Strings of lobster traps that indicate structure
My typical trolling spread starts with one unweighted bait WAY back down the middle. When I say way back, I'm talking about 200 feet. I put this rod up in my T-top or my leaning post rocket launcher to keep it high and out of the way when I turn. The next two lines I deploy are rigged exactly like our drifting set ups with a 2 oz egg sinker above the swivel of our leader. I set these out at staggered distances, starting with 100 ft and 75 ft. If I feel frisky, I'll drop a bait with a 6 oz weight to the bottom and troll that as well. Keeping your speed down below 2.5 mph (under 2 is ideal) helps keep the bait alive longer and allows the weight to get deeper. By staggering your lines in the distance behind the boat and with different depths, you cover an extensive three-dimensional area and will have fewer tangles.
With all the transitioning happening, I also want to make it clear that the river will continue to yield excellent fishing for the rest of the year as well, but the light tackle plug bite will fade more and more. Switch up the tactics, grab some mackerel or pogies, and go catch a cow!
Try out some of these techniques, and let us know if they work! If you want more detail on the following techniques, swing into the Member's Only Forum, and let's discuss! We want to hear your success stories as well! And don’t forget to check out our weekly podcast fishing reports for MA and NH!
Post Edit: Next blog we will dive deep on how we troll live bait for stripers!