What lures do striped bass eat?

Some days stripers will eat any live bait thrown at them, and other days, they’ll key in on one specific type of bait. In the northeast Atlantic region, some of the better striper baits are bunker (menhaden or pogies), mackerel, eels, bloodworms, sandworms, clams, squid, and porgy (scup).

What is striped bass favorite food?

Striped bass eat a variety of foods, including fish such as alewives, flounder, sea herring, menhaden, mummichogs, sand lance, silver hake, tomcod, smelt, silversides, and eels, as well as lobsters, crabs, soft clams, small mussels, sea worms, and squid.

Do striped bass eat crankbaits?

You can work with a much more limited array of crankbait colors for stripers than for black bass. Silvery, gray and bone-colored lures are tops because they mimic the colors of the schooling baitfish (shad, herring, etc.) stripers prey upon. In murky water, try rainbow-trout- and perch-colored lures.

How do you target a striped bass?

Stripers chase shad on the surface in the mornings and are susceptible to topwater prop baits like the Reaction Strike XRM SpyBait, suspending stickbaits or soft plastic jerkbaits. Throw these lures on 8- to 10-pound test, which can handle the powerful surges of stripers if you set the drag correctly.

What is the best time of day to catch striped bass?

The best time of day to catch striped bass is early morning from dawn until about 2 hours after sunrise and late afternoon from 2 hours before sunset until dusk. Fishing for striped bass can be even better in the hours before a major cold front or rain event arrives.

What color lures for striped bass?

Yellow and chartreuse are fish-catchers because, simply put, they get seen. A study performed at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences showed that striped bass see yellow and chartreuse better than other colors as they are smack dab in the middle of the striped bass’s visual range.

What size hooks for striper?

The different types of bass stripers that exist require different size hooks to catch. The best size hook for catching small stripers is a size 2/0 hook, while the best size hook for catching big stripers is a size 7/0 hook.

What pound test should I use for striped bass?

The Solution. Line matters and Captain Mike recommends sticking with 10-pound or 12-pound test. Plus, it makes catching striped bass a lot more fun.

Do striped bass like high or low tide?

They look to consume as many calories as possible while burning as few calories as possible, therefore they do their most aggressive feeding when their advantage over the baitfish is greatest—at peak tide. In the striped bass world, the hierarchy is determined by size, and size alone.