I'll Take Windy and Rough Over Calm and Flat!

Here is one of many hefty schoolies landed in
today's white water surf.  This one hit a bucktail
jig fished off a float.

The last two days were a study in contrasts and told a lot about which conditions are best for fishing for stripers.
Yesterday I fished the oceanfront.  It was calm, windless and tranquil. You could have paddled a kayak to Block Island.  It was a beautiful beach day, but not much of a fishing day.  I hit multiple spots and burned a lot of gas with little to show for it.  I came up with one fish, a small schoolie that I caught by luck in one location. I rarely have hit it big in calm water. Flat water just doesn't do it for stripers, and like the many people I found sitting around in beach chairs, the fish found this to be a lazy type of day also.
Today was a different story. Along the oceanfront the wind was howling out of the southeast ahead of an expected big blow. The water was rough, white and moving. It was charged up conditions, just what stripers love. I caught good numbers of stripers in different locations.  Nothing was showing, no bait, no birds diving, but the fish were prowling the white water and hitting. I got most of my fish on jigs, either bucktails off a float or just a Cocahoe on a jighead. I'm sure treble hooked plugs would have also worked but the single hooked jigs are so much safer (for the fish) and easier for the fisherman to handle.
We've got some rough conditions coming in the next couple of days.  If you can find those spots that offer rough and clean water, you've got a shot at some decent fishing. The stripers are around in good numbers.