Striped Bass Facts | Fishin Money- Fishing Tips

Striped Bass Facts

Striped bass are often called Stripers.

(Morone saxatilis) Another name for them is linesiders obviously named because of the stripes on their back and sides.

In the Chesapeake, many people call them rock fish or rock.

On the east coast stripers are known to migrate from South Carolina up toward Maine and on the West Coast of the United States they can be found from Oregon down to San Diego. They migrate further south in the winter and further north in the summer.

Photo provided by Instagram @joeyprofish

striped bass do not venture too far away from the coast or the river systems. They prefer to stay where their meals are.

Stripers are a powerful fish and put up a good fight. That’s why they’re so fun to catch. They are fast and can catch a bait that is moving pretty quickly. Sometimes however when you are fishing for stripers on the East Coast or tributaries you may catch a bluefish because they are even faster.

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Another way to fish at night that is used mornin another way to fish at night that is used in the south and the west is to anchor and drop green LED lights into the water. This attracts plankton and small bacteria that are the food for and Joey‘s and minnows. When the anchovies and mineral show up for a meal, it attracts the stripers to you. Some people have been known to catch over 100 stripers in the night. Yes there are places where the striper population is way too high and there is no limit on the amount of stripers that can be taken from the waters.

When you are fishing from tributaries, you will notice that the striped bass move based on the ab and flow of the tides but also they are moving because of the water temperatures. They prefer temperatures between 50 and 70° and they will move to make sure that they are in cooler waters. In the Sacramento River the fisherman like to find water at 66° and say that that is the optimum temperature to find the bass.

When water temperatures get down into the 40s the striped bass usually leave for warmer waters.

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Most striped bass fisherman will tell you that the best times to catch striped bass art in the morning before the sun comes up and in the evening as the sun is going down. In the west stripers are finished at four in the lakes mostly at night however, certain times of year produce lots of feeder fish and the fisherman follow the Boyles, or the white water that is caused by striped bass jumping out of the water from the bottom to get the feeder fish trapped at the top. Fishing at this time is exciting because the bass bite just about anything that gets thrown in the middle of a boil.

Striped bass do not have eyelids so when it gets sunny they prefer to get out of the sun and go deeper. Also they are looking for cooler water however, if they go to deep the water is not oxygenated very well so they are usually stratus fied somewhere in the middle. Finding them with a fishfinder to see the depth or trolling at different depths until you find them is usually the best bet



In the summertime when it gets hot striper fishing is usually the best at night partially because the fish are biting better and partially because the fishermen are not overwhelmed by heat.

Depending on what part of the country you are in you will find it stripers will eat just about anything if they are hungry. Some of their favorite meals are soft shell clams heel depending on what part of the country you are in you will find it stripers will eat just about anything if they are hungry. Some of their favorite meals are soft shell crabs, Eels, clams, bunker, mackerel, shad, minnows, and even chicken livers.

Older, large female stripers are called “Cows”. 

Fisherman call young stripers Schooly’s.

Two striped bass that are the same age but one is much larger is usually due to the fact that females grow larger than males.

If you catch a striped bass that’s over 15 pounds she’s almost for sure a female and she has the ability to lead up to 3 million eggs per year. It’s best to take pictures and leave her to repopulate the lakes in tributaries so that we can have great fisheries in the future.

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You can have a replica made from a photo. You don’t need the fish for your wall.

The World Record striped bass weighed 81 pounds 14 ounces.

The pacific ocean was not natural habitat for striped bass. In the 1800s fingerlings were taken from the East Coast and released. They survived and thrived in all of the striped bass that we see today are offspring from the relatives of those first fingerlings. They thrive so well that some lakes in the west, have no limit on the amount of stripers you can take.

Stripers migrate between saltwater brackish water and freshwater. Mainly they live in freshwater when they are spotting. So they’re young are born in rivers and tributaries upstream from the oceans.

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Trolling at night works very well because the props turn up the water and confuse the bait fish. This gives the stripers a chance to move in for the kill and an easy meal. When you put your lore out there it’s hard for them to distinguish between a Luer and the real deal and so you tend to get a lot of bites and land a lot of fish.

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striped bass that are in lakes that are not connected to the oceans are called landlocked stripers and were placed there at one point or another and thrived to their current populations. 

Freshwater striped bass can either be regular stripers like the ones we see in our oceans in tributaries or they can be a crossbred striped bass. White bass and striped bass are mated to create one called a hybrid striped bass or a wiper. Either one can be stocked in lakes and thrive there however wipers or hybrid striped bass cannot procreate so they are only there for their lifetime and no second generation comes after them unless they are placed there. They tend to thrive in a little bit warmer waters so in the south west and in the south you see them introduced a lot. Also they do not get it as big as a regular striped bass.

The striped bass is the state fish of Rhode Island Maryland and South Carolina.

There are at least three different species of striped bass. Hybrid striped bass or wipers, Atlantic striped bass, and golf coast striped bass.

When there are a lot of striped bass in one area in a feeding frenzy, excited fisherman will call them a Wolfpack. Because wolves hunt in packs, stripers seemingly do the same thing.

Striped bass seem to know when a large storm is approaching and they will eat a lot the day before.

Striped bass do you have predators. Sharks, humans, osprey, and sea lions.

Darren Enns FishinMoney

In conclusion, striped bass are one of the most popular fish in the United States and in several other places in the world for sportfishing. They have been introduced into many places where they did not normally roam and have adapted quite well. It is controversial to some that the striped bass have been introduced however overall many people seem to like them to be there for the sports fishing adventure and for eating.

The good thing about striped bass is that many of them can be taken from the environment and still not really damaged the population in many cases. They are a good fish for a stressful sportfishing crowd. If you are thinking about getting into fishing for striped bass, it would be a good idea for you to study them a little bit more in your area as different areas require different gear and tactics in order to be successful at bringing in the big ones. There are so many types of fishing like surf fishing, fishing off of a boat anchor, trolling, pier fishing,Shore fishing and River shore fishing, and following the boils, it’s hard to be prepared and less you know what you are getting into.

So make sure you ask a lot of questions. One good place to ask would be in the comments below. I would be happy to assist if I can or others may see your question and help you out as well. Thank you for reading. Until next time, Darren.

Darren Enns

Get Paid to Fish- We need pics and video! If you would like to get paid for participating with team FishinMoney send me a text at 702-290-70 10 (I’m Darren The owner of FishinMoney)

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