How to Fish for Striped Bass with Lures

Swimmer lures typically have a lip that causes the lure to dive and wobble like a baitfish.

Striped bass are hard fighting game fish. They are primarily found in salt water, but can also be found in certain freshwater locations. Striped bass can be caught using a variety of fishing methods ranging from live bait fish to trolling with rubber surgical tube lures up to 30 inches long. When fishing at high tide, a lure such as a swimmer can be particularly effective because it covers at lot of water.

Things You'll Need

• Fishing rod
• Fishing reel
• Fishing line
• Swimmer fishing lures

Instructions

1. Cast the Swimmer Lure to a likely location. Jetties can be particularly effective places to fish with this lure because the bait fish congregate among the rocks of the jetty.

2. Retrieve the Swimmer Lure by slowly reeling the line back onto the reel. This slow retrieve will make the lure skim across the surface and create a small wake behind it. This will permit you to fish the lure at the water's surface to determine if fish are feeding in that level of water.

3. Cast the Swimmer Lure out again and retrieve the lure at a moderate rate of speed. This retrieve should cause the lip of the lure to dig into the water and cause the lure to wobble and dive. When the rate of retrieve is correct, the tip of your fishing pole will pulsate in time with the wobbling of the lure. This retrieve will enable you to fish the middle depths of the waters at issue.

4. Cast out a Swimmer Lure that has a longer lip in order to pursue striped bass in somewhat deeper waters. The longer lip will cause the lure to dive deeper than a lure with a smaller lip.

5. Use the foregoing retrieves to locate the level at which the fish are feeding. Once you have success with a particular retrieve, continue using the same retrieve to pinpoint the level at which the striped bass are feeding on that day and at that time.

Tips & Warnings

• You can put a smaller lure, known as a "teaser," just slightly in front of your Swimmer Lure in order to get a second lure in the water. The larger Swimmer Lure will also permit you to cast the "teaser" lure farther than it could be cast by itself.

• Do not overlook striped bass that could be feeding close to you. Striped bass frequently concentrate their feeding efforts at the point where the waves break because this turbulence disorients bait fish and makes the bait fish easier to catch. If you are casting solely for distance, you may overlook the various fish that could be located in the white water closer in.

References

• Striper Space: "Saltwater Fishing Lures"
• New England Sportsman: "Striped Bass Angling Techniques for Seacost, N.H."

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish