The striper migration really snowballs once the large post-spawn females leave the Chesapeake. Some will hug the coast, showing up in the surf and inlets from Ocean City Maryland to Fire Island, New York. Others will beeline for Southern New England, arriving suddenly in Rhode Island. That’s what happened this past week, when big schools of 30- to 40-inch bass hit Narragansett Bay just as more and larger stripers piled into New Jersey and Western Long Island. The May Full Moon was a big one for the 2026 Striper Migration. At the current rate, by the new moon in a couple week’s we’ll have 40-inch-plus fish all the way up to Boston.
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Maryland/Chesapeake Bay Striper Fishing Report
Anglers are once again allowed to keep stripers in the Chesapeake, with a limit of one fish per day between 19 and 24 inches. Spawning tributaries are still off-limits to striper fishing.
The spawn is pretty much over, with Susquehanna fish the last to drop their eggs. These post spawn fish are heading down the Chesapeake Bay, with many of the larger already having departed, leaving smaller male stripers behind. We’ll find out in October, when Maryland DNR releases their Young-of-Year Spawning Survey results, if this year’s spawn was successful.
The beaches of Assateague and Ocean City (Maryland) have schools of big stripers moving north, often in surfcasting range. Smaller fish are holding in the inlet.
New Jersey Striper Fishing Report
With post-spawn Chesapeake fish arriving, the ocean is heating up with big bass to 50 pounds. Yet, the backwaters are still on fire, with fish to 40 inches and larger showing up in Raritan and Barnegat bays, and Manasquan and Shark rivers. Fish from 20 pounds and up are showing on the beaches and bays from Long Beach Island down to Cape May and up along the Delaware Bay beaches. In short, the entire Jersey coast has quality striped bass migrating through at the moment. It’s prime time in the Garden State.
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New York Striper Report
Stripers are moving along the South Shore of Long Island, with fish to 40 inches in the surf and bays feeding on the bunker moving through the area. On the North Shore, the largest fish are still to the west, with fish expected on the East End in another week or so. While the spawning is over in the Chesapeake, it’s just beginning with the Hudson, with many big Hudson spawners still staging in the Raritan and New York Harbor.
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Connecticut/Rhode Island Striper Report
Big bass are on the tails of bunker in the Western Sound off Connecticut. Farther east, it’s mainly smaller stripers, but good numbers as fresh arrivals continue to move in.
Things have ramped up fast in Rhode Island. From the first migratory fish showing up less than two weeks ago the floodgates opened over the past week, with fish as large as 46 inches in Narragansett Bay. Bunker and herring are fueling the bite. Topwaters, plastics, and glidebaits are catching.
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Cape Cod/Massachusetts Striper Report
Lower Buzzards Bay has seen a good push of 30-inch fish, mainly on the South Coast side, though a few migratory fish have appeared on the Cape as well. Look for the first wave to hit the Canal and the South Side of Cape Cod within the week.