Starting Gate Stripers - Going Tidal
- Nick Honachefsky
- Mar 4
- 5 min read
By Nick Honachefsky
NJ’s Backwater Striper Season reopens
The starting gun has fired and striper hounds across the state have bass on their minds. Historically, it’s the tidal rivers and bay systems that will see the first bent rods. Myriad backwaters will be rife with striper activity, but more important than actual location is how to go about timing, technique and tactic to score.
TIDAL TACTICS - BAYS AND RIVERS
Thousands of miles of bays, river and back creeks line the shorelines of the Jersey Coast and stripers will be awaiting your first cast in many of them. Larger rivers like the Hudson and Delaware rivers will see the first migratory fish moving up to spawn out and any body of water the cross to get into those rivers is fair game. You want to intercept them on the way. The smaller backrivers have also been spots where resident stripers have held over the winter months. Most times, the key to success in any river or bay spot you pick is to capitalize on times of warmer waters which means a few points to pay attention to – the sun and the tide. Shallow mud bay flats will warm up faster on times surrounding low tide and generally the outgoing waters will usher out warmer waters from the back rivers whereas incoming tides generally push in the colder ocean water. An ideal situation would have a mid outgoing tide with the sun high in the sky for the past two days and you have a stretch of days where the air stays above the freezing mark. Look for spots where water temperatures rise above 48 degrees. A tidal swing could run as much as 6 or 7 degree warming change on the outgoing tides as water sitting on flooded sodbanks warms up in the sunshine and spills out. Anytime you find water in the 50’s is a good bet you will find feeding bass. That goes for both boat and shoreline anglers.
WORM YOUR WAY IN
Without a doubt, worming reigns supreme at the start of the March backwater striper season as those particular baits are what has been sustaining the population through the winter. Bloodworms, sandworms and tapeworms all root down inside the hard packed mudflats and sedge banks, poking out and undulating in the water currents as bass pick them off. One of the top rigs to use when worming is the slide rig, consisting of a fishfinder slide tied above the barrel swivel, then a 24-inch 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, to which a size 3/0 to 5/0 Octopus inline circle hook is snelled on. Take on worm and thread it onto the hook as far up the shank as it will go, then leave the rest dangling off. Then take another worm or two hook it through the head, then wrap it around the rest of the hook and pierce the last bit back onto the hook. Take a bit of elastic thread and make a few wraps with it to secure the “worm ball” on the hook. That bait should stay on the hook for many casts and even through a few fish being caught on it. Be sure to douse the worm ball with FinEssence shedder crab oil every time you reel in to recast. You can also opt to use fresh clams or even fresh bunker chunks, but be sure to up your game and utilize the Finessence oils or any other of your favorite fish attracting scents. It makes a huge difference when fish are feeding on scent based offerings in the early season.
SLOW DRAW
Converse to standard thinking, early season stripers aren’t just moving sluggishly and jumping only on baits sitting on the bay floor. Lures of certain varieties elicit aggro strikes from bass if cast at the right place and the right time. White is the early color of choice by far. Small 3-inch Storm or Tsunami shads cast out and retrieved just above the bottom will get whacked. I’ve found that in the darker river systems with more cloudy water, white Yo-Zuri Mag Darters pulled slowly just under the surface show up in contrast and get some swings and misses and eventually a hookset. Bass will many times, tap at the lure or miss it on the first attempt as they are not in full energy mode just yet. Be patient with your retrieve and keep working an area if you get a few bumps. Eventually, the lure will find its mark. Last spring, I didn’t even cast a baited rod in the backwaters, but simply used shads and mag darters to have 30 fish days. Its not only daytime, but night time that will produce.
SO WHATS THE PLAN
This is how I would go about it. I look to the creeks that flow into the Raritan Bay, Barnegat Bay, Great Bay an Cape May Harbor and start looking at the tidal times, sunshine and moon phases. Check the tide charts in The Fisherman magazine and adjust accordingly to the high tide hours and the outflowing tide by calculating the times the tide begins to move again in your respective areas of the backwaters you plan to fish. For instance, is the Manasquan Inlet says 6 AM high tide, I know that in the Manasquan River, it’s a 1.5 to 2 hour difference for the dead high so I would be out fishing around 8 to 8:30 am in the back. I would look for moments of an outgoing tide along sodbanks as the full and new moon tides will get warmed up in the shallow flooding to warm up and then target the areas in flats that lead into channel edges where bass will stage to feed as waters warm. I’m always prepared with a bait rod rigged with a worm rig to deadstick, then also wade out and cast into the channels with artificials to get any feeding bass on the prowl. Your success is not determined on a certain “hot spot” or internet reports. Its about you putting in the time to figure out when the bass will feed, which you will hopefully have figured out from this article. The payoff is going to your favorite back bay spot and putting in the time to realize the results. Of course, look to The Fisherman for the weekly reports as to what’s being caught and where to determine where you want to spend your time. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Have at it!
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