I don’t truly believe it’s Spring until I catch my first striped bass and this year it happened on the first Sunday in April (4/4/10). I hooked up with my buddy, Capt. Terry Sullivan of Flats Rat Charters, and we launched his 21’ bay boat on the Shrewsbury River in Oceanport, New Jersey.
The Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers wind their way through some very scenic areas of northern Monmouth County before joining into one and then emptying into Sandy Hook Bay under the Highlands Bridge. They are part of a massive staging area for mature striped bass prior to the spawning run up Hudson River late in May. This estuary complex encompasses waters in southern Connecticut, western Long Island and northern New Jersey and is also the nursery area for millions of smaller stripers. That’s what we were out to catch.
The rivers warm much earlier than the nearby bay and ocean. As temperatures rise into the mid 50’s the stripers begin hunting the river’s abundant baitfish population presenting an opportunity to catch them using tackle that would be more appropriate for freshwater bass fishing.
I had three outfits with me, two spinners on 7’ light and light-medium action rods, and one small baitcasting reel on a 7’ straight-butt trigger stick, also light action. All three were loaded with HI-SEAS Wildfire, a fused Spectra braided line that has all the best properties of braid; extreme sensitivity and almost no stretch for great hook sets even at the end of a long cast, which is a good thing considering no line I’ve used casts further. Unique to fused Spectra is that you can use all the same knots you use with monofilament. The lightest spinner was filled with 10-lb. and the other spinner and baitcaster were spooled with 12 lb. All three were tipped with a three-foot leader of HI-SEAS 100% Fluorocarbon in 20 lb. for two reasons—to reduce visibility of the line nearest the lures and because it has excellent abrasion resistance. Stripers don’t have teeth, but do have sandpaper-like surfaces on their jaws and there is structure in the form of rocks, docks and pilings where we would be fishing.
We ran down the Shrewsbury and into the Navesink where we started exploring coves on the north side of the river using a bow-mounted electric trolling motor for a quiet approach. South-facing coves warm quickly and we encountered water temps to 60 degrees by mid morning. Once the tide started running we saw bait schools moving through the coves, some being harassed by feeding stripers. We started ripping four inch swimming plugs through the shallow water. They are a good imitation of the prevalent baitfish in size and color, but the bass ignored them so I switched over to a 4” paddle-tail plastic shad in white and chartreuse. The first cast with a fast retrieve was rewarded with an aggressive hit by a small bass. After a short tussle my first striper of the year came to the side of the boat where it was unhooked and released. A few minutes later Terry had a bass take a shot at his lure, but miss. There was another one was with it so I made a quick cast and hooked up immediately with a much larger fish. It took off smoking the 10-lb Wildfire off the reel as a huge smile broke out on my face. Striped bass in shallow water are an absolute joy to catch and this was one no slouch. After a spirited fight the 12-lb. bass was subdued for a quick picture and release. Spring had definitely arrived!
-Gary Caputi
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