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| Here's a near keeper landed yesterday on a Spire Point bucktail jig. White bucktail jigs are great for catch-and- release striper fishing. |
We are in the midst of the best August striper fishing I have ever seen from the RI shore. They are along the oceanfront; they are in the Bay. Daily blitzes are occurring somewhere every single day thanks to massive schools of peanut bunker that the stripers are feeding on. Since August first I have landed over 300 bass from shore. A telling fact is that I have not caught a single keeper, and while I have seen thousands of fish landed, I have yet to even see a keeper in August. Tells you a lot about the state of our striper stocks. These are all hefty schoolies that are generally running 20 to 27 inches.
Since this is all catch-and-release fishing, I have tried to use lures that will do the least amount of damage. That is why I have caught just about all my fish on jigs this month. The hot numbers in the last couple of weeks have been white bucktail jigs. When I need a long cast, I'll fish these off a wooden egg float. When the fish are in tight, I will just use the jig without a float. I have done well using homemade flathead jigs (half ounce) and homemade Spire Point jigs. I will always use a curly tail or a plastic strip on the end of the jig for added action.
Of those 300 fish I landed, I can tell you that there has not been a single bad hook-up. ALL of the fish were released in good shape thanks to the single hook jig.
