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| This is one of many stripers landed today in a wintering over location. |
It's over for me along the oceanfront, but not over for striper fishing. At this of year, I head to my winter spots, places where stripers will hold over all winter long. Most fishermen don't realize this, but many of the oceanfront's and the Bay's backwater ponds and rivers hold a population of stripers that don't migrate. They will stay here and winter over. Yes, they can be caught in the wintertime, but it is often an inconsistent game of looking and casting and hoping you find a few that want to hit.
Today was my first day of winter striper fishing. It was a beautiful blue bird day, and I was happy just to get out. I tried a number of spots that had produced for me in the past. I did find some fish, all schoolies in the 15 to 20 inch range, typical of what you generally find in the winter. Sometimes you might get lucky and even find a keeper or two. I landed most of my fish today on Zoom flukes fished off a 3/8 oz. jighead, but I also got one fish on a small Cocahoe.
With many fishermen having little to do with Covid all around us, fishing is still a safe bet. I'm guessing more will take to the backwaters this winter in search of wintering over stripers.
