Fishing for striped bass has been very good lately, in part because stable weather has dominated and wind patterns have often been favorable for most craft on the water. Schooling striped bass are feeding on peanut bunker. The small baitfish is abundant in many of the tidal rivers of the Bay right now, and you can find them very active and moving throughout the upper-third of the water column during low-light hours at dawn and dusk.
These were healthy, frisky schoolies, the larger of which offered nice pullage during these early summer eves. Most of the fish were located within yards of shoreline and points. When you find a school of feeding stripers, you can throw just about any lure in the mix and hook up.
This is an opportune time to toss topwater plugs of various action poppers or spooks for those fun, breakwater strikes. The larger specimens tend to feed just under them on scraps and dying baitfish that have floated down from the vicious school. Its a tried-n-true color pattern to mimic the small bunker. Fifteen pound Powerpro braid with a three-foot leader of 20 test yellow label Seaguar flourocarbon the thinest diameter line to strength ratio they make completes the rigging.
When approaching the schools, which were located near the baitballs on sidescan sonar, I personally would cast my offerring to the edges of the feeding fish and let the lure sink about 2 to 3 seconds before snap-jigging the offerring back toward the boat. This kept the lure swimming and bouncing below the surface frenzy but still within the top third of the water column.
Hookups were often and frequent each night. The sun had already dipped well past the horizon; evening was turned on and so were the fish. The feeding windows narrow as temps climb.
