BEST Conditions - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Sweetieface · 07-11-2003, 12:02 PM

Ok,

What are the absolute BEST conditions to fish in?
By this I mean: Moon, Tide, Sunrise/set, Wind, etc.

I know tides: 1 hour on either side of the tide, but the rest I'm fuzzy on....

fishsmith · 07-11-2003, 12:57 PM

When you got a couple of puppies like me, whatever time you can get is the best time to go.

But if it were a perfect world I like a dropping tide, barometer falling, overcast sky, dusk or dawn. (I never have luck when the moon is full, clams don't mind though

)

Oh yeah, starving fish

Saltheart · 07-11-2003, 02:17 PM

Forget about that 1 hour either side of the tide sweetie , that depends on the spot. Best time just for rules of thumb appear to be twilight times. just before dawn and just before dark. That's a pretty small window though. Other than that , for stripers , the darker , the better.

Also , stripers like current so any conditions that cause strong currents are good. moon tides are higher and lower than normal (both ne w and full) so the currents are stronger. Combining the two , its hard to beat fishing a few days either side of the new moon at night.

Current flow is usually strongest about midway between tides. Near inlets where bait gets dumped into the ocean or bays , usually outgoing is good but again that depends on the particular spot and times of year.

One good time to fish is in the Fall. the fish start feeding heavy and daytime blitzes are common. That's when you can catch lots of fish and enjoy seeing it all happen. i love to fish poppers in the fall during blitzes.

likwid · 07-11-2003, 02:34 PM

I do beleive, the best conditions, are when you catch fish.

Van · 07-11-2003, 03:47 PM

Well I prefer the.......

Oh crap !!!!
I thought the post was best positions.....

SORRY....

(I just had to, its friday)

rocketman · 07-11-2003, 04:35 PM

The best conditions I've ever seen are on TV, they always catch more fish in a half hour than I do in my best 8 hours. Fish on TV if you can!

Jenn · 07-11-2003, 05:53 PM

i have to agree with "whenever you can get out".....because the ocean is a LITTLE more than a jaunt away for me!

But ideally....sun coming up...sun goin down.....is SWEET as it can be....well....from MY experience that is!

Got Stripers · 07-11-2003, 05:56 PM

SF, your water as you know is very similar to what I fish and current isn't the only thing that creates opportunities for our striped friends. Watch for any offshore storms, hurricanes that head out to see that put a large swell onshore for a time. If you can time it right before the water becomes too thick with weed and crap, that white water is gold.

I love fishing calm summer mornings when an offshore storm is pushing 8-12 foot swells up on my ledges. Not only is it a blast running the boat (yeah it's my water version of a good coaster ride), but the confused water around the rock if fish are present becomes easy fishing.

Under those conditions, your casts might need to shorten up and you'd be surprised at what you can catch in the white water below your or to your left or right.

Tight lines.

Joe · 07-11-2003, 06:21 PM

I like the second-third day of south/southwest wind around the new moon, wind at about 10 knots, seas 2-4 feet.
I also really like the first 8 hours of easterly wind after a long stretch of southwest wind.

NEXT2NUN · 07-11-2003, 07:30 PM

Sweetieface
Get to know your favorite piece of water like the back of your hand. Figure out bottom structure (shoal water,rocks, rips).Figure out what the fish are feeding on,and where the food is coming from. Tides are important,but not as much as slingin the right bait. I LOVE tubes but their usless in the spring when the fish are on herring, so I throw yo-zuri minnows till the big moon in June,then its tubes till November, I know my water. Peace

Fly Rod · 07-11-2003, 08:52 PM

The best time is when you are catching fish. We all know that the moon phase predicts the best of times to fish. I prefare any time that I can get out to go fishing.

Sweetieface · 07-14-2003, 08:06 AM

thanks, guys. This is all good stuff.

Does anyone have any fave sites for tides and moon stuff? Weather channel.com isn't all the best....

I went out early yesterday to my spot with my brother's girlfriend and she caught a bluefish! (first fish-yeah!) After the striper that got away.... must have been huge (all the ones that get away are, aren't they?)

Had no idea what it was (never seen one) so I tried getting the hook out (saw little teeth and said NO WAY am I going in there), but he flipped off the rocks and either chewed thru the line or just snapped it. Off he went with my old hook. Just as happy to see him go (withOUT one of my fingers)

Then I spent so long reattaching my hook and getting her line to untangle, I missed all the good fish and caught seaweed and a TON of bug bites!

Still a success tho. Saw the sunrise and was proud to be able to tie on my own hooks -- thanks to Saltheart!

GS - White water??? You mean the foamy bubbly water?

JeffH · 07-14-2003, 08:22 AM

The best time to fish are when there are fish in front of you...... seriously. Different locations vary as to the best time/condition. In general, for the RI area for this time of year: Under the cover of darkness, with a southwest wind and with bait in the water. If you have those conditions and you are in a fishy spot you will catch fish. I once asked a person from RI know to fish eels on how to fish a certain spot. Due to scheduling conflicts I ended up there on the opposite tide/conditions and slammed them, so you never know. Now that person was either giving me the skinny on that spot or trying to keep me clear of the area

...........What I'm trying to say here is the very best info you will gain on a spot is what you learn yourself.

schoolie monster · 07-14-2003, 03:03 PM

Not to speak for GS, but he's talkin' about the water where the waves are crashing onto the rocks and draining and swirling, etc. The fish are often right in the white wash whether its rocks or sand.

These are areas that bait gets pummeled and disoriented and can be an easy meal.

Did you ever see the show "divers down' on NESN, I think... they dive alot in NE waters and almost every time they dive around a rocky island or coast, they film stripers hanging under the wash right against the rocks.

As for best times, I'll jump on that "when you can get out" bandwagon, as I've definitely not been able to pick and chose this year.

But its worth repeating... for bigger fish, night, dawn, dusk... large stripers are night feeders and especially, for surf fishers as they are more likely to come into shallower water during lowlight or under cover of darkness.

Got Stripers · 07-14-2003, 06:21 PM

SM you can answer for me anytime if you do that well. Here let's play a game, describe to SF one of my favorite spots to fish in and amongest the rocks; I refer to them as toilet bowls.

Jenn · 07-15-2003, 06:30 AM

Quote:

I refer to them as toilet bowls

I have a question... whats a "swirlie"???!!!

schoolie monster · 07-15-2003, 11:19 AM

That's right... I was trying to think of what you always refered to them as... I kept thinking swirlie, but its toilet bowls.

I first fished with Bob several years ago and he fished for stripers the way I grew up fishing freshwater bass. Fishing tight to structure, in this case, rocks and ledges. When I got my boat, the one thing I knew I wanted was a trolling motor, so I could adapt part of that style and work in close.

I've really started to do that more this season.

Its funny... fishing from shore, you're often trying to cast out as far as you can... fishing from the boat, often you're trying to get as close to shore as you can. There's gotta be a lesson in there somewhere.

Got Stripers · 07-15-2003, 07:01 PM

Toilet bowls are places where the incoming swells don't just crash and burn on the rocks, but actually fill areas in the rock with water and then flush all that excess water out a opening. I've got a couple classic spots, where if the swell is there, you can see the water level go up 4-8 feet and then dump out a small constricted area; gold mine.

Year SF, in your area if you have the deep water a flip cast away and the rocks I think you have, you might be casting over fish every night your there.

likwid · 07-16-2003, 12:32 AM

A bunch of my favorite spots in currents are working rips and boulders...

Bass also act alot like trout do in streams... (Go find a nice trout stream and walk along the edges quietly... you'll see little trout hanging out behind the rocks... neet thing it is... and more fun to toss dry flies infront and wait for them to float up and slurp em down)

Hiding behind boulders in the current waiting for food to float by.

Another favorite is working heavy boulder beaches with poppers and rubber.

Never know what might come storming out from behind the shade of a boulder.

And yet again, big bass, IMO half the time, are freaking lazy. You damn near need to take wild guesses as to where they're hiding and literally cast ontop their heads to get them to do anything.

mrmacey · 07-16-2003, 05:28 AM

Its funny... fishing from shore, you're often trying to cast out as far as you can... fishing from the boat, often you're trying to get as close to shore as you can. There's gotta be a lesson in there somewhere good one greg!!

Thats the reason I didnt catch fish last summer I allways figured you threw out as far as you could lets go out on the boat as far as we can! it wasnt until I started fishing the shores in close that I started getting decent fish ledges and structure thats what I was told to look for and thats what I do and its been working sometimes there right in 3-6 ft water and of course have the right lure box full of smackits works for me!!!!

Fly Rod · 07-16-2003, 05:58 PM

You hit the nail on the head

Shore fishermen cast out to far and boat fishermen don't cast close enough. As a shore fisherman you want to cast diagonal to the shore. Boat fishermen must cast to hit the shore and then retrieve. As you found out you will most likely increase your catch. And some big fish are caught in 12" of water. Drop offs play abig part also.