Hi i am new to all this can you tell me the the best way to fish for stripers and blues

What area will you be fishing?

In 25 words or less ;) ?

Several main methods:

Cut bait casted to a spot and you wait for the fish to hit it.

Cast and retrieve artificial lures or a live bait like eels

Live-line a lively bait - often tough from shore but sometimes doable, not likely that time of year

And the Fly-Rod...

The easiest method is probably tossing out a chunk of bait and waiting for something to happen but if you like using artificials, you could get boared... It is also a way to big fish though...

Also very productive would be casting various plugs like swimmers & darters rigged with teasers (droppers) like a streamer or Red Gill. Also very effective are casting live eels from the beach.

Good rods are typically 8.5-10 feet and range from 15 to 40 pounds test line depending on what you are casting and can be used with spinning or conventional (multiplier) reels. Lures run from real light 1/2 ounce up to 4 ounce big wooden plugs. So there are lots of variety...

Did I mention that the best fishing is usually after dark? Bass have an edge in nocturnal feeding and the bigguns typically move in to shore at and after dark...

Check out the gallery pages and you'll see some sweet fish, about 2/3rds are surf caught fish... http://www.striped-bass.com/gallery/Gallery1/index.html

Getting into the sport can be intimidating at first. Typically most of the people you will find at the popular fishing spots have developed this major holier than thou attitude and probably won't be the best people to ask for advice. You will find a few people out there who will tell you if you're doing something majorly wrong, but as the old addage goes be careful who you take advice from, we dispense it by the load but take it by the grain.

You're best bet, besides this site, will be to either find a fishing club near you (there's usually a pretty good comraderie there) or ask some of the old timers at the local bait shop where the hot spots in the area are, and how to set up your rigs. It's really not that difficult to learn the basics, the trouble is learning the actual technique to casting large rods and fishing particular styles of bait or lures.

:)

Cocco, Keith's position is a little out of the norm, "local" for him is 3000 miles away in cheery 'ole England... He'll be here on vacation (great place to pick that time of year :btu: ).

Keith, if you lived in this area, Cocco's words on a club are right on the money. A lot can be learned from a local fishing club... Another couple questions for you... Is the family vacation where you hope to get some fishing in? Or is this an expidition to chase stripers & blues? Will you be coming over with someone else to fish? And are you able to fish at nights?

didn't even catch that John, thanks. Maybe people are more friendly "across the pond".

I thought we were a club of sorts :(

We are a club!!! And a Great one at That!!! :) I didn't mean to come off condecending in any way there, just providing options

No prob Cocco - we understand.... Yeh, this is a kinda-sorta club... Uhh, membership dues this weekend at the show ;)

Dues? whatdaya mean dues?
And a great club this is.

Pete

Another option to consider, especially on a vacation or trip, is to hire a guide. I know that means some bucks, but its probably your best shot when starting from scratch with a very limited amount of time.

I don't know where you'll be fishing, but a quick internet search can find alot.

It seems that "surf" guides are becoming more prevalent (or maybe I'm just becoming more aware) and they cost less than a guided boat trip.

Originally posted by keith
Hi i am new to all this can you tell me the the best way to fish for stripers and blues


....ummmmm, not knocking on anyone.....but where does it say keith is coming here on vacation???....or coming here at all....

:D :happy: :happy: :cool:

Bloo - on a different thread... He said he'll be in Dennisport and he lives in England (plus I received an e-mail from him ;) )...

Kieth - if I'm available (the wife lets me) & around at that time, I'll be happy to bring you along fishing. Be forewarned though, a few people have this absurd notion that the fish are found where I'm not :rolleyes: :hs:

Hay Keith
Any chance you could transport some ZIPPLEX BLANKS over here while your comming this way :p :bl2:

Keith, welcome to S-B world!!....

....I think JohnR, covered many of the basics......

...the one thing John didn't mention was........



....BLUEFISH ARE LIKE PIRANHAS!!....THEY'LL HIT ANYTHING!!......so make sure that after you put that chunk on....ya DON'T wash your hands over the side!!!;) :laughs:

Bloo has too much time on his hands!! HA!HA! seriously though.........them teeth are razor sharp!

Thanks for all your e mails very helpfull here in the north east of england we fish of the beach for cod with the following surf caster rods with 15lb main line to a 50lb shock leader 2o hook / 6o hook clipped down behind a impack shield 5/6oz break away lead cast out about 150 yards any good for the cape

I guess we're lucky here - 150 yards and you're casting over most of the fish ;). Most of my work with live eels is at ranges less than 100 feet with plugs out to 200... While this doesn't apply everywhere, around here the saying goes "more fish are cast over than cast to" (drilled into me by a wiseman ;) )

What length pole, what weight rating, & what reel are you using? Most of the cape work is done with 9-11 foot rods and reels with about 150 yds of 20# test mono... Some people even run lighter gear to get fish on lighter lures...

Show 'em your stick BM...

15 lb. test is pretty sporting for the cape. The deep sea companies are just now starting to go out and look for Cod so you may have some luck hitting one or two of them from the outer shore line if your're bottom fishing.

Rods over here are about 13 feet i do have some rods that are about 10 feet quite light and can cast about 2oz teamed up with reels that can carry 200 yards of 12 lb test line any use all so i have quite a lot of plastic shads that we use of the boats over here for pollack and cod would they be of any use fished of the beach like a lure

Keith,
Sounds like you are pretty close to being a Striperman. SOme guys have quite a bit of luck fishig soft plastic and such from the beach with a jig head.

You can also just throw a 6/0 hook and an eel on the end or your leader.

Keith, the big rods would work slinging bait like a clump of sand eels out along the shore, probably couldn't toss an eel on it ;) but there are other things you can do. That 10 footer could be a good stick for lighter eels & plugs, swap out the 14# for 20# because you will not need the line capacity unless you're really lucky ;) and get a fifty. Is it a 2 piece rod? Glass or Graphite?

I use one of three rods on the cape fishing 75% eels for bass and 25% plugs - I'm not a Cape regular and only fish it a dozen or so times a year. This is what I use personally but I think it's fairly typical in what's used for medium weight plugs and eels:

9' 1089 graphite Sabre rated 1-6, best from 1.5 to 3.5, lots of backbone, fairly fast action rod - can horse a fish if needed but that's really not as important on the Cape...

9'1088 graphite Batson, rated 1-5, sweet from 1-3, decent backbone, also fairly fast action

10' XRA1205 Lamiglas, rated 2-6, sweet from 2-4 (I never fish heavier so it might be better to 6)

I usually use a Calcutta 400 or a ABU 6500CL/Mag Elite conventional reels with roughly 150 yards of 20 # Big Game Green when I fish that area

Hopefully that info will tell you where your rods rate against those typical rods used out here...

thanks for that but when you say eels do you mean live baiting with them or plastic red gill types if they are live bait how do you rig them

How to hook a live eel has always been a debate. I've always found it most useful to hook it in one eye socket and out the other with a short shank hook and use the skull to keep him on your hook, but they don't always live as long that way. I've also seen them hooked through the bottom of the mouth using the thicker cartilage in the jaw as an anchor.

Maybe someone else has a better way of doing it, that's just the way that's worked for me. Also remember to slow crank them in the water or you get some major "eel knots" and you have up cutting your line and starting all over again.

Anyone know where you can buy live eels this time of year? You don't see them too much, if at all on the north shore this time of year.

I've been hooking my live eels through the bottom of the mouth. This seems to work pretty well. A lot of guys use the plastic red gills as teasers.

Keith, here is a bit of explanation: A teaser is something like a red gill or saltwater fly that you tie onto your main line on a shorter leader so that it swims in front of your plug that is on a longer leader. I know my explanation is a little lacking, so maybe someone else can explain it better. From what I've read a lot of people think that this causes a reactionary strike from fish because they see what appears to be one fish chasing another smaller fish.