headed out last Thursday for some early season striped bass trolling on the "Last Chance" with Joe Kennedy. we kept it simple, two umbrella rigs and a stretch 25 down the middle.
I've noticed early in the season the larger females move south in waves before the rest of the bass. Since there are schools of bunker these bass, in my opinion are more likely to go after a stretch, bunker spoon or drone.
late in the day we picked up a 43" 33lb bass on a stretch 25 down the middle. Captain Mario on the "North Cote" picked up a nice bass Saturday. this time of season the bass are scattered mixed in with weak fish and snapper blues. there is a lot of bait around the lumps. with the water temp averaging around 61 degrees i believe we'll see the majority of the bass in temps around 57-59 degrees
this is without a doubt an exciting time of year, there's still tuna offshore and the striped bass are starting to move in, NJ striped bass fishing at its best is very hard to beat