Many years, my surfcasting season ends with the intention to make one final trip that, for one reason or another, never materializes. I don’t think I’ve ever made a cast knowing it would be the last one of my surf-fishing year. Those trips usually end up being forgettable, fishless outings in the same or similar […]
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Bill Couch was a generational icon in the Northeast striped bass fishing community. He was the owner of Couch’s Cedar Works, through which he designed, built, and sold top quality plugs at an affordable price. He was universally loved and admired by a group of fishermen who could squabble, bicker, and get nasty over any […]
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The clear, crisp air in November brings beautiful sunrises. With the New York skyline outlined by a deep-red sky and a little mist rising off the water, the scene was set for a magical day on the water—if the fish were willing to cooperate. The truck reported 35 degrees when I got in, but with […]
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From surf to boat, and Maine to Maryland, the striped bass reigns supreme as the world’s greatest gamefish. Here are some of the items at the top of our wishlist for next striper season. #gift-guide{max-width: 1080px;}#gift-guide .rcorners {margin:12px 0 15px 0; height: auto; overflow:hidden;}#gift-guide .rcorners h3 {margin:0;}#gift-guide .rcorners p {margin:0;}#gift-guide .rcorners .rc-title {border-radius: 15px; border: […]
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On The Water is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The first time I saw fishermen working a pencil popper, I nearly laughed out loud. I was lying back on one of the sandy spots in Turtle Cove after the morning bite under the Montauk lighthouse […]
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Rockfish Charters gets up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Close to Metro New York and along the South Shore, November is often a banner month, especially for blackfish, bluefish, and striped bass. Peanut bunker have been prevalent and anglers look forward to finding stripers in the Rockaways, and […]
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If you like bottom fishing, New Jersey is the place to be in November. Sea bass fishing is very good, and when the blackfish limit jumps to five on November 16, there should be some quality fish just offshore. By this time of the season, the back bays are getting chilly and most of the […]
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Capt. Jim Freda holding a large Jersey striper caught late in the season. The ocean waters off Ocean and Monmouth counties have been well known for the run of large striped bass in May and June, but over the last five seasons, these large bass have returned in the late fall. When the water temperature […]
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Each fall, husky striped bass creep along the North Shore after dark to fatten up on bait in less-pressured waters. Growing up on the central North Shore of Long Island made it easy to fall in love with the sport of fishing. I live a stone’s throw from local beaches on Smithtown and Huntington bays, […]
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Rocky, wind-blown beaches provide striped bass with a smorgasbord of bait, the ideal bucktail fishing conditions during the fall migration. Photo by Tom Lynch – ANGRYFISH.TV A little over five years ago, I walked into tackle shops and bought bucktail jigs, expecting to tie one on and magically catch fluke and striped bass. I ventured […]
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Fall run in full swing: A school of stripers feasts on small baitfish off the south side of Montauk. Photo by Mike Demarco It’s easy to romanticize the fall striper run. Changing leaves, crisp weather, empty seashore towns, and the striper season saving its best fishing for last. No matter where you fish in the […]
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Captain Rob Taylor recommends fishing the flood tide when targeting stripers in late summer in Newport. The incoming tide brings in cooler water, putting the stripers into feeding mode. By August, striped bass have been entrenched in their summer haunts since early July. They can be reliably located, though not always consistently caught. Many fishermen […]
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When it comes to plugs, I believe the versatile ones, the plugs that can do as many different things as possible, are the best. My reasons could fill up a book, but they actually come down to two essentials. First, if a plug is versatile, I don’t have to carry as much on each trip—I […]
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August begins a transitionary time for striped bass along the Massachusetts coast. Where the early part of the summer is focused around finding bass on larger bait (menhaden, mackerel, squid, herring) August ushers in the age of the peanut bunker. The good news is that if you find stripers on said bait, they’ll be eating. […]
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Standing on my rock about 150 feet from shore, I’ve put the terrestrial world behind me. It’s chilly, and the gentle, onshore breeze finds its way through the seams of my wetsuit—the same places water intruded during the deep wade to get here. Luckily, casting keeps me warm. My fly line zips by my right […]
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It’s the final spring striper migration map of 2022! Stripers are settling into summertime hotspots like Montauk, Block Island, eastern Long Island Sound, and outer Boston Harbor. Overall, there have been some good reports this spring that provide hope for a rebound in striper numbers, with a noticeable presence of 28- to 32-inch stripers. […]
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In this episode, Kevin Blinkoff and Jimmy Fee kick things off by answering listener questions, and providing some tips for fishing for striped bass from rocks. Then, OTW’s Anthony DeiCicchi sits down for a conversation with Captain Brian Coombs and Captain Vinny Simeone about striped bass behavior, “cheat codes”, fishing around pogies, and the state […]
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