Bucktailing for Stripers

Bucktailing for Spring Time Stripers       
Written by Capt. Paul Peluso    
Saturday, 20 March 2010 22:20 

As the sounds of St.Patrick's day bag pipers echo in my head I begin to look for the tail tell signs of spring. As each flower and tree starts to bloom I can't wait for the pear trees to blossom and turn white, for I know as soon as I see them along Wm Floyd Pkwy (Suffolk, NY) blooming the Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) have come in and there hungry to feed.

 

In the spring the Striped Bass along with many other game fish come into the bay to spawn in the warmer waters in and around rivers and tributaries, when the bait fish show up the Striped Bass start gorging they are voracious eaters. They'll eat all most any kind of fish, crustaceans, worms, frogs, insects, crabs you name it. If it can swallow it whole the striped bass will eat it.

 

Once the water temps hits mid to upper 50's the striped bass head for these areas to spawn. The males show up 1st with the bigger females right behind making there way up the rivers and tributaries. This is a what we call the spring run. Some of these fish have swam from as far away as North Carolina or swam down from the Hudson River. Opening day in the Hudson River north of the George Washington Bridge is March 16th south of the bridge we have to wait till April 15th starting in the western long Island and making there way out to me by the last week of April. This is when Double headers are commonly caught.

 

Capt.Paul and Dean

 

 

Bob Hageman with a double header

Some of my favorite tactics for catching striped bass is a 1 to 1.5 oz blue frog bucktail with a uncle josh pork rind trailer. Some of you are saying what is he talking about let me break it down. The weight of the buck tail co insides with the depth of the water you are fishing. 0-5' a good choice would be 1/2 oz to 1 oz. The depths I usually fish are around 10' and I like to throw a 1.25 or 1.5 oz bucktail in this situation. If I'm fishing in 20' of water I will go with a heavier bucktail like a 2 oz or may even go up to 3 oz depending on the current. In some areas you even have to use a three way swivel with much heavier lead up to 16 oz sometimes and a 6' leader attached to 1.5 oz bucktail. But for now lets stick with shallow bay fishing like I do in Moriches bay. Also there are many kinds of Bucktail jigs to pick from,

 

Assorted types of bucktails

 

Spro, Smiley Bill's, Andrus to name a few but my favorite is the Blue Frog Arrow Head Swing Hook.

 

BLUEFROG BUCKTAILS WITH SWING HOOK

I like the Swing Hook because of the hook up ratio. No matter which way the fish hits the lure you have the best chance of a hook up with the swing over a fixed hook. But that's just my preference. And last but one of the most important parts of bucktail's is what to tip it with. I'm a big fan of Uncle Josh to me there's nothing better and it comes in many sizes and colors.

 

 

Uncle Josh Pork Rinds in assorted color and size