After a Noreaster tore through Southern New England last weekend, ocean water temperatures took a slight dive for much of the striper coast. Baitfish are on the move, sand eels are more prevalent from Long Island to Cape Cod Bay, and big stripers are crushing herring, mackerel and hickory shad from Massachusetts to Maine. Trophy-sized bass are stationed on bunker pods along the coasts of northern New Jersey and western Long Island, while squid-hounding stripers are competing with bluefish for a meal off of Cape Cod and Rhode Island.
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Maryland/Chesapeake Bay Striper Fishing Report
Summer regulations inside Chesapeake Bay allowing anglers one striped bass between 19 and 31 inches per day are in place. The bulk of the stripers remaining in Maryland are schoolie-sized, even along the beachfronts. As of June 1st the Susquehanna restrictions on striped bass changed and are the same as the rest of the bay, 19”-31” with a limit of 1 fish per angler. Stripers are stacking up along shipping channel edges, where trolling is a popular method. Many anglers are finding better action by casting topwater plugs around shallow flats and sod banks in the Middle and Lower Bay.
Before fishing, be sure to check the Department of Natural Resources website for a map to locate areas open or closed to striped bass fishing.
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New Jersey Striper Fishing Report
Trophy striped bass continue to stage off Monmouth County, New Jersey, where anglers are tangling with fish 50 inches and over using a variety of techniques from mojos, live bunker, eeling, and metal-lipped plugs. Further south, the big bass are fewer and farther between, though some good fish continue to roam the surf. In Southern New Jersey, resident stripers are settling into their summer patterns, resulting in a slow bite in the surf.
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New York Striper Fishing Report
Bunker schools are still lingering off the western south shore of Long Island, and the big stripers following them haven’t gone anywhere. The action is similar to what’s happening off Northern New Jersey, with giant stripers being caught on live bait, trolling, and big soft-plastic shads. Some good fish are sliding east, but with scant bait, they aren’t lingering for long.
Off the North Shore, more big striped bass are moving through, with some staging in the rips off the North Fork and more feeding on bunker and sand eels in the Central/Western Sound.
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Connecticut/Rhode Island Striper Report
Striped bass are pressing east in the Long Island Sound in pursuit of bunker schools and sand eels, and Connecticut’s tidal river mouths are seeing big, finicky bass hit topwater walk-the-dog style plugs and soft plastics.
Narragansett Bay remains the epicenter of big striper fishing in Rhode Island, though the fish seem to be spreading out as the water warms and the bait moves around. Finding bunker has been the key to locating the schools of bigger bass, while sand eels are attracting schoolies and slot-size fish for light tackle and fly anglers. Striper reports have improved around Block Island as well.
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Cape Cod/Massachusetts Striper Report
The rips off the South Side of Cape Cod are still packed with 24- to 36-inch stripers eating squid, but there are big bluefish competing with them. Monomoy is seeing better striper fishing on jigs and topwater plugs, and Cape Cod Bay has scattered schools of bass from schoolie-sized to 40-inchers chasing mackerel and sand eels. Forty-inch stripers are following bunker pods into the harbors and rivers around Cape Cod, while anglers around Boston target schools of herring in the bays with flutter spoons. On the North Shore, an influx of hickory shad has garnered interest from cow stripers.
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New Hampshire/Maine Striper Report
Herring runs host most of the action this week with good numbers of 40-inch bass and over chasing topwater plugs around the river mouths. Smaller schoolie-sized bass continue to arrive in numbers and are hitting flies and small spooks slightly upstream from the river mouths. Covering water with large lures has been key to connecting with bigger bass.
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The post Striper Migration Map – June 9, 2023 first appeared on On The Water.
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