Striper fishermen are staunch traditionalists. Peek inside a plug bag, and you’ll see lure designs like the darter and the pencil popper that have barely changed since they were first dreamt up 60 or 70 years ago. Thankfully, many of the Northeast’s talented lure builders think outside the traditional tackle box, creating previously unheard-of versions of traditional lures, and new lure categories entirely. Here are some of the most interesting and innovative striped bass fishing lures, made by local lure builders, available for 2026.
Bluff Lures Bunker and DoorMantis
Dan Termini has a full lineup of innovative lures and swimbaits, which he’s made to be fished with inline single hooks that are easier on the fish. Many of the lures, like the Bunker Swimbait, blends a hard lure body with a soft, replaceable tail. They also feature a magnetic catch, which keeps the inline single hook in an ideal position to hook biting fish, and then releases, to prevent the fish from throwing the hook.
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Dan designed his mantis shrimp jig (the “DoorMantis”), to imitate one of the fluke’s favorite foods, but mantis shrimp are also a favorite food of stripers. In the book The Trophy Striper, author Frank Daignault shares a story of 40-pound bass plucking mantis shrimp off bridge pilings. In more recent years, fishermen in the Cape Cod Canal find great late-season action with stripers eating mantis. 
Here’s Dan’s story on the creation of the Doormantis:
“It was last fall run on the NJ shore when Austin Lucisano and I were waiting for a school of striped bass blitzing bunker to move a little bit closer into casting range. It was then he started telling me about an old fluke fisherman who taught him how to cut up a curly tail grub in such a way that made it mimic a mantis shrimp. A technique that he claimed landed him multiple doormats. The conversation did not leave my head and when I had some downtime this offseason I decided to bring it to life. The result is a 7.5-inch Mantis Shrimp Jig head and Tail. The head, 1-, 1.5- and 2-ounce, incorporates a Mustad 9/0 3x swinging hook and the tail is articulated allowing the lure to recreate life like swimming and head bobbing action of a real mantis. The fins on the back (the “uropods”), pulsate back and forth when jigging, recreating the natural movements of a mantis swimming or fleeing.”
Bluff Lures are available through seasonal “drops,” that Dan announces two to three weeks in advance via his newsletter and Instagram account. The Bunker will be available at the Saltwater Fishing Show in Edison on March 13, as well as his website, and the Doormantis will be available in April.
Check out the Bluff Lures Website.
Swimduck Lures 10-inch Minnow
Have you ever looked at your SP Minnow and said, “I wish it was twice as big.”? Well, if you have, the Swimduck Lures minnows made by Justin Tilman would be right up your alley. Justin makes a 10-inch minnow plug designed for bigger bass, in addition to his 7-inch wooden minnow, a souped-up version of the popular plastic models.
Last spring, he made a couple XXL minnow for Vinny Cebara, incuding a 14-inch and a 16-inch, but does not offer these for sale.
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Check out more on the Swim Duck Instagram
Golden Ticket Mole Crab
Drifting sand fleas (sand bugs, mole crabs) for summer stripers has grown in popularity among Long Island and New Jersey fishermen over the last few seasons. Surf fishermen, realizing that resident stripers chow down on these small crustaceans right in the surfline, began catching stripers well beyond the spring migration. Chris Fabiano of Golden Ticket Fishing designed a lure to tap into the striper’s weakness for sand fleas. This squarebill crankbait is 2.5 inches and 1-ounce, and looks like a big sand flea scurrying for shelter as it swims.
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At $43, it’s expensive for a squarebill crankbait, but testing of the lure has turned up stripers, fluke, and even blackfish. You can buy one at Golden Ticket Fishing’s Website.
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Always looking for something new for the three bays jimmy, nice article and hope they are at the show in RI next month.- Tight lines.