Angling for fishes is a great adventure, not for just a single reason. It’s thrilling because a lot depends on varied matters, and a slight change can shift the whole experience of catching the same fish. Catching a striped bass from a boat in the middle of the ocean or from a pier or the shore of a water body, the three positioning’s of yours will provide you with three completely different adventurous experiences. It will be very different even if you are using the same equipment.
Though, such positioning demands different sets of components and equipment as well. So, when it is about how to catch striped bass from shore, there are some rules, better to say mostly applied techniques by many, which work the best in most cases. None can claim these are hard and fast rules. But none can deny the effectiveness either. Right below, let’s have a detailed discussion on it then.
Determine The Spot in The Water from The Shore
If you examine the water condition, the color of the water to be precise, not literally though, but through eyes, you will notice the water color turns a little deeper from the regular lighter color in some spots. It’s as if a section near the shore is shallow, and all of a sudden, there is a deep section right before the water turns lighter.
That is where the water is comparatively deeper. Most of the time, the giant striped bass is found there roaming in search of food to feed themselves. The bait fishes are easily available in that depth to get hunted by the striped bass allowing you to offer your bait or lure and hook the striped bass. So, you do not even have to go too far from the shore to catch the striped bass.
How to Catch Striped Bass from Shore?
The Perfect Lure
To catch striped bass from the shore, you hardly need some distinctive bait or lure to hook it. This predator fish loves shad, herring, bunker, even bloodworms. If not live bait or chunks of the fishes, you can use artificial lures. And for us, that’s the best and practical option. When it comes to our perfect bait for striped bass fishing from shore, it has to be the weighted slider that is a replica of a small herring or shad. It is weighted because such artificial lures look exactly like a fish, but the little transparency in its body shows the several circular weights it has inside.
How The Lure Works
These weighted sliders have a circle hook at the end and a treble hook hanging down from the middle of their body. The lure moves just like an actual baitfish. Thus attracts the striped bass as effectively as a baitfish freely roaming in the Deepwater would. Just place the fish in the water, going a little deep into the water.
Perhaps the water will reach your knees and let the lure sink a little deep in the water. Get back to the shore slowly, maneuvering it through the spinning reel. Speed up the reeling in intervals and slow it down in between to maintain balanced swimming of the artificial lure so that it looks natural and has a free flow. Also, make sure the rod and the mainline combined maintain a 45-degree angle. And in no time, you will get your striped bass hook for sure.
Throwing The Lure from The Shore
If you are not getting yourself in the water and want to cast from a little distance, cast your rod upright with a bit of force. Try to target the specific area as you now know where the stripers possibly could be. Therefore, try being particular, at least as specific as possible, on your very first try.
Directly retrieve your lure, jerk it a bit so that the water surface could feel it and have a break in its normal flow. That is how the striped bass will notice your lure among all the swimming bait fishes. It will try to hunt the bait that is being noisy as if throwing a challenge to its predator and thus is attractive to prey on by the shrew predator then and there.
Use The Best Gear Possible
Striped bass is no regular fish. It’s a fish that is going to fight with you for its life with all its might. So, if your gear is not sturdy enough, you are letting the striped bass escape. From the rod to the reel and mainline to the leader, if you have prepared the rig with leader line, hooks, and bait, each one has to be sturdy and effective, and each one has to be tied with solid knots. Or the striped bass will get hooked but escape within seconds.
Longer or A Shorter Rod
As you are standing on the shore, you might require a longer rod than you thought. Perhaps a 10-12 inches’ rod. However, make sure your height and strength match the length of the rod. If you are not getting yourself too deep into the water, a 7-8 inches long rod will do the job. But make sure the length doesn’t compromise the sturdiness. It could be shorter but has to be very sturdy and medium-heavy.
Reel with Great Line Capacity, Retrieve and Drag System
We have already talked about the spinning reel, and it needs to have a smooth drag system and retrieve. Along with that, make sure the reel has an unparalleled line capacity. The more the reel can spool up the line, the better the chances for you to give a leeway to the striped bass to move freely in the water, then enjoy the fight, finally bringing it closer to the shore to unhook.
The fish will drag and drag you way too far than you can imagine, so you have to be well-prepared with your exceptional drag system, and the smooth retrieve will ensure stable maneuvering of the whole gear system, both when the fish is not yet hooked and after it’s actually hooked.
Braided Line
Now, coming to the mainline, you can use monofilament due to its exceptional stretching quality, but we prefer a braided fishing line due to its sturdiness and thin built. As we prefer using the weighted slider, aka swimmer lure, we hardly require the leader line. So, a 30-pound braided fishing line is enough for us to get our striped bass, the mature, massive ones, hooked from the shore.
The swimmer lure also saves us from using the wrong size and type hooks. So, the lure type itself plays a crucial role in making fishing the striped bass from the shore all the more convenient.
More striped bass fishing information on outdoorboat
Striped Bass Rigs for Surf Fishing
Striped Bass Rigs for Pier Fishing
Techniques, equipment, location, and many more factors will get you your stripers from the shore. Learn about it more and practice even more. The experience of catching the striped bass will be incredible each time.
