Stripers Finally Arrive Off Island Beach State Park by Ed Valitutto

Posted on December 1, 2021 by VHFC

With good striper action recently reported off IBSP and a decent weather / wave forecast for Monday November 29th, members Alan Goracy and Bill Dabney joined me for some striper action. We cleared the inlet at 6:45 and birds were diving from the pocket northward.

We started were throwing paddle tails and it didn’t take long for the hookups to begin. Most fish were ~ 28″. Two fish just under 28″ were fitted with bonus tags and three fish over the 28″ line joined them in the cooler. Bill had applied recently for his bonus tag but hadn’t yet received it so several potential slot fish were safely released. I’d estimate we caught 20 fish total with most in the first two hours.
The last picture shows the stomach contents of one especially fat striper. There are two adult bunker and 6 peanuts clearly visible!

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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.