A Journey in the Surf Part 1: What’s in the bag?
The saying often goes, “Less is more”. However, that’s not quite the case when it comes to being prepared for a night of surfcasting. I have seen it far to many times. One guy on the beach is catching fish after fish and you just can’t buy a bite. The angler tells you what he is throwing and you drop your head in frustration, as you don’t have that lure in your plug bag.
Although my rotation consists of the same 4 or 5 plugs (the only thing that will vary is color), I always pack a couple of Plano boxes in my backpack with some extras. I most likely won’t throw any of these, however, if the fish just don’t seem interested in the usual presentations, you have two choices:
Switch your lure
Move location
Generally speaking, 9/10 times I am going to choose to switch my choice of lure instead of moving locations. Once you develop confidence in your spots; learning how the fish feed at different stages of the tide, the effects of the moon cycle, and so forth, you will know that fish are there. It is just a matter of figuring out what they are willing to feed on at any given night.
MATCH THE HATCH!!!
We are fortunate enough here in the northeast where we see a plethora of forage species that striped bass feed upon. From herring in the early spring, mackerel/bunker through the summer, and juvenile peanuts in the fall, the abundance of forage species lets us target striped bass 7+ months out of the year.
Now, back to the plug bag talk….
My main plug bag consists of the following lures: darters, needlefish (sinking and floating), swimming plugs like a Bomber of SP Minnow, and 12-inch pre-rigged Sluggos. This variety of lures will imitate just about any forage species that striped bass are known to feed on. The aforementioned lures will provide the proper profile and action to draw strikes from hungry fish. Each lure will provide a different action/profile and must be fished in the proper conditions in order to be most effective.
Darters: I prefer to fish darters in calm conditions with a steady current. Often times I will search for rips as striped bass will set up in these areas waiting to ambush prey. Calm conditions allow the darter to “dig in” and have a “zig-zag” motion throughout the retrieve. Throw these in rough surf, and the darter will not have the proper action as it just gets tossed around in the wash. As far as a retrieve, I prefer to cast up current, reeling in fast until I come in contact with the lure. This allows the darter to dig in just below the surface. I will then back off and stick with a slow retrieve speed. You should be able to feel your rod tip bouncing as the darter swims back and forth. Let it work its way down current and into the rip ensuring that you finish out your retrieve! Simple and effective….
Needlefish: These are some of the most basic yet effective lures on the market. Though it takes a lot of patience to fish them, needlefish draw strikes from large bass ambushing prey in the wash. They fish best in a heavy swell with lots of white water. The key is to cast just past the white water and work the needle through it. Baitfish are disoriented in this white water which attracting hungry stripers looking for an easy meal. Thus, this is the strike zone!!!
A slow retrieve will work best with an occasional twitch of the rod tip. I have also done well working a needlefish like a topwater plug. If you are getting hits but struggling with hooking up, tie a teaser about 12 inches above the needlefish. This will imitate a larger baitfish chasing a smaller baitfish. Striped bass go crazy over this setup and you will find they often will go after the teaser. This setup also works well when small bait is present such as juvenile peanut bunker.
As mentioned above, needlefish come in a variety of lengths and weights. Match the size of your needlefish to the baitfish present. As far as weight, I like a sinking needlefish when fishing the edge of a channel or dop and will opt for a floating needlefish when fishing shallow boulder fields.
Swimming plugs: These lures are probably the most simplistic of them all. A basic cast and retrieve will work and you can experiment with retrieve speeds as you go. These lures basically do the work for you and can be fished in just about every condition. The slim profile combined with the tight swimming action mimics many smaller baitfish species. The erratic swimming action will put fish on the feed! My top choices are a Bomber, Sp Minnow, JoeBaggs or Yozuri Mag Darter.
Sluggos: The eel-like imitations are some of the most underutilized lures to use in the surf. Their life-like action combined with the large profile draws strikes from the biggest fish in the school. I have done well fishing with these in the open surf along the sand and while wading/wetsuiting through boulder fields. Oftentimes, it is one of the first lures out of my bag because of how effective it is. It helps me find out if an area is holding fish and when nothing else is working, this lure just can’t be beaten! Vary retrieve speeds and add a twitch every so often in order to cause reaction strikes from any fish nearby.
A 48-inch striped bass that fell for an eel skin Sluggo in late July.
Over time you will develop confidence in certain plugs that you throw in the surf. Once you learn how to effectively fish these specific lures, there will be little reason to throw anything else. Of course, there will be exceptions to this, as sometimes the fish just will not be interested. Due to this, I will always have 5 or 6 extra lures with me. These will consist of metal lip swimmers, 3/4 jigs (al gags), live/rigged eels, and a couple of topwater plugs. Yes, I have caught several fish on topwater lures in the middle of the night, especially under a full moon.
They each have their own purpose and again, vary in size and action. Talk to every surfcaster and I can almost guarantee that we all have differences in our plug bag. What works for one guy, just might not work for someone else. I know a lot of guys who hate fishing darters but love fishing needlefish. And they have a ton of success with them. It all comes down to what each of us is confident in.
I encourage you to try fishing some of the lures mentioned above and if you have any recommendations of what to try out or what works best for you, send me a DM via my Instagram @stripedsurvival.
