A sheet of skim ice covered the lagoon behind Margate, NJ as Captain Ed Berger maneuvered the FM Tuna out of the slip and toward Great Egg Inlet. I’d bumped into Ed the day before at Tackle Direct in Egg Harbor Township, and he invited me to join him and his friend Craig Rogers of Steelfin Angling for some striper fishing.
Though it was cold—26 degrees as we left the dock—there was no wind and flat calm seas, a rarity for late November. The fish were scattered, and the bait, bunker, were deep, which made trolling the best option. We were a couple miles off Margate when the rod trolling a Mann’s Stretch 30 doubled over with the first fish of the day.
Staying in that area, the bite was steady, with rod going down every 10 or 15 minutes. The stripers ranged from 34 to 36 inches, and all had sagging guts full of big bunker. They looked like I felt after my second helping of turkey on Thursday night. Mixed in the with bass were a few spiny dogs and a big bluefish.
As Ed was releasing another chunky striper, Craig spotted a fish on the surface and grabbed a topwater-rigged rod out of the rocket launcher, and within a couple twitches, had a bass explode on the lure. At that, we pulled in the trolling gear and began casting with light tackle to breaking bass. The fish were keyed in on tiny baitfish, but we managed a few before heading for the dock.
Beautiful healthy fish. I am not judging anyone here, but i usually never see photo’s of fish being released. I’m sure all of the veteran fisherman practice selective harvest. I like to share in that harvest myself, but I do release far more than I catch. It does my heart good when the experts and the pros educate the new ones to this sport. Please show it when you can. Thanks.
your such a stick in the mud ! try something like nice catch guys !
JMW, before you get so self-righteous, read the article, don’t just look at the pictures: “As Ed was releasing another chunky striper, Craig spotted a fish on the surface …”.
No sign of land. Hmmmm.
My phone is full of pictures of over flowing coolers of stripers. They were all caught 1.6 miles from the beach via trolling. In Cape May County, in December. I am busy deer hunting, didn’t catch any myself.
PUSH EM BACK NORTH I MISS EM ALL READY!!!! no ice yet and no striper. bass fishing is slow.
I have always been a catch and release sportsman. I don’t blame /shame those who catch and fillet. What the hell is the point otherwise ! ?? Love the fight but stripers are not as good to eat as they are to reel in. Just my perspective. The thorn in my ass is commercial fisheries. My observation at 52 years is that if every sportsman caught their limit, fillet’d it every time, it would still pale in comparison to the damage that commercial by-catch does to our fisheries ! I followed a commercial vessel heading back to Hatteras this past late summer. In its trail were between 90-200 dead trophy sized strippers during my 10 minute observation. It was like red tied. Not just strippers, blues, a few albacore, reds. That’s a boat . Someone’s occupation that probably does the same damage 5-7 times a week. I just retired from the Air Force and its the same conundrum everywhere in the US. NOAA (I could go all day about these vegetables; worked there 3 months) has very flawed data about Red Snapper and Grouper. They are killing the sportsman but doing nothing to control the commercial harvest as long as their not killing sea turtles. Gimme a break ! Although all fisheries are poorly analyzed, the net result shows that it’s incredible how proper conservation has given new life to our Stripper heard. There is no harm in a sportsman keeping their catch. The fishery is strong and the fish mature quickly.