I got on the Gambler out of Point Pleasant today for their first striper jigging trip of the season. I had my Butterfly set-up ready to catch my first striper with this method.
We took a fairly long ride north along the beach, until we stopped in an area where the birds were diving. All morning long we had bluefish, bluefish and more bluefish up to about 10 lbs. I had to change up my tactics a little bit. I took off my Shimano Butterfly jig and replaced it with a much cheaper knock-off brand and added a tail hook for those gators. I was glad I did too, since those choppers really beat the heck out of those jigs. Plus I had a couple of them bit off as well. Oh well! Better to lose a couple $5 jigs than the $20 jigs!
By the afternoon it seemed that it was going to be all bluefish for me. But with about 1/2 hour left in the trip,
BANG! I nailed my first stripe on the butterfly! Not a giant, but a respectable 12lb. fish! It definitely felt good to finally snag one on this technique. And since the jigging season has just begun there should (hopefully) be many more before the season's done.
So the final score for the entire boat was a bunch of blues and 4 keeper stripers. With the pool winner going 17lbs. It should only get better from here!
-Bob
