I feel I should get this out of my system early in my blogging efforts. I must confess my undying love for striped bass. As you can see by the title of my blog, I have a lot of respect for the noble Morone Saxatilis. I truly believe they are the perfect gamefish. All the qualities that a fisherman looks for in a "perfect gamefish" I believe stripers have. Much like a gold medal decathalete, the striper may not be number one in all catagories but is near the top and excels in everything that it does. Let us begin our tour.
1. Stripers are safe to handle. When fishing for stripers you do not have to worry about it biting your hand off. Unlike some sought after species,notably sharks and bluefish, I can safely put my thumb in a stripers mouth with no danger of loosing it ( hooks are another matter). There teeth is like sandpaper and will only scratch skin off. After catching a few stripers your thumb will be slightly chewed up from the little teeth. This is important the day following a fishing trip because you can show your coworkers your successful thumb! Also unlike marlins and swordfish you don't need to worry about being cut to pieces by a sword.
2. Stripers are accessable. From both shore and boat stripers can be caught. I am a shore fisherman and only sometimes envy boaters when the prey they are feeding on live in open water ( menhaden). Boat guys can fish reefs but just as often they will troll close to the shoreline. Also many places to fish for stripers are only a few steps from the parking lot ( some of us are dumb enough to walk a mile over soft sand to fish not so accessable places but thats another story)
3. Stripers are fairly large. Okay, they are not tuna. That being said How many fish from shore do you have a reasonably good chance of catching over 20 pounds whenever you fish for them. There are only a couple freshwater species that get to this weight. From shore in New England, stripers are " the fish" to go after from shore.
4. Stripers are delicious. I let go most of my catch, but I will keep an occasional keeper. I have a rule that I won't keep any if I still have some in my freezer. The only time I break this rule is the fall when I want to bag a couple meals for the winter. Striper meat is flaky and white. It can be grilled and baked, and probably cooked 100 hundred other ways, but I'm satisfied with grilling and baking. I will not compare striper to fluke. Fluke truly is a gift to Man's tastebuds straight from the pitchfork of Poseidon. Still striper is a fine meal that I always look forward too.
5. Stripers are a fairly difficult to catch but not impossible. Unlike Muskys ( the fish of a thousand casts) and unlike sunfish ( can be caught on every cast) stripers are the perfect quarry.
Most any angler who puts in time and effort will be successful at catching stripers. It is not unusual to catch 15 schoolies an evening in the spring, or three keepers at night from Jamestown in early summer. They are still wary enough where you may get skunked a couple nights in a row and you will question your skills. There are also those days when you pull up to the beach and stripers are blitzing all of over the place and you can't miss.
6. Stripers can be caught in a variety of ways. Since stripers feed throughout the water column and feed on a large variety of food items they can be caught in many different ways. Depending on time of year and what the local prey species are, stipers can be caught bottom fishing or splashing a popper on top and everything in between. You can catch them using live bait, cut bait and lures with equal success.
7. Striper fishing is best at night. Stripers feel safer feeding close to shore under the cover of darkness. This may sound like a negative, and to some it may be. I love fishing at night. There is no better time to fish then summer nights, the temp is cooler then under the hot sun, and the water is warm. Many people are afraid to fish at night, usually I have an entire beach or point to myself. I have never understood this fear, but it works out great for me.
There you have it, seven reasons that make stripers the perfect gamefish. For me striper fishing can be an addiction. There have been weeks where I'd plan on going once or twice that week and I'd end up going five nights in a row. I am sure I will think of more reasons why I love stripers and will come back to edit the post. Until then, tight lines
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