Night Striper Fishing by Bob Dodds

Posted on May 9, 2022 by VHFC

My cousin Joe & I booked Capt. Brett Taylor for Wednesday night 4/27 for a 7-10 PM charter for bay stripers. It was cold with light winds so we fished a number of spots on the West side of the bay.

Joe just turned 78, 8 months before me and has a few medical issues. However, we started fishing together over 70 years ago but haven’t in 55 years or more, so we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. We talked about how life & families get in the way of doing what you used to do.

That said, the excitement of competition from our youth was alive and kicking. I was in my glory as I caught the first four. Then, bummer, he caught the next six. We went back and forth after that. We finished with 10 each from 15 -25”. I caught the largest, so I have some bragging rights.

Bottom line, we plan to enjoy a lot more “youthful” competitive fishing in the future for as long as we can.

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.