December of 2023 and into January of 2024 was utterly epic striped bass action for Middle Chesapeake Bay anglers, as swarms of massive 40-plus-inch rockfish flooded the area and chewed on plentiful schools of bunker. In fact, we enjoyed several weeks of the most consistent action seen in the area in decades, perhaps in lifetimes.
Wait a sec—what about all that chatter saying striper numbers are trending down? Well, they are. But for whatever reason nature conjured up, the stock of large fish that remains became exceptionally concentrated last winter (and to a lesser degree in 2022). These are the same big fish that trekked down the coast, setting off red alarms for anglers in New York, then New Jersey, and then along the DelMarVa coast. And they were sticking rather close together; through most of the migration anglers just 10 or 15 miles north or south of the action couldn’t buy a single bite.
Will they be back in the Middle Bay in the next month? Or, will they instead set up shop at the CBBT as they did decades ago? Might they even keep heading south and spend the holiday season off the Carolina coast, like back in the 90s? It’s completely, entirely, 100 percent up to the fish. But my fingers are sure as heck firmly crossed, and we do know one thing: if those mega-rock pull off a return, we anglers will want to be prepared to get in on the action.
Tackle for the Striped Bass Titans
You can catch a 40” or even a 50” rockfish on a light rod, 3500 reel, and 20-pound braid, but extending the fight with these fish is positively shameful. Long battles lead to exhausted fish and increased mortality rates. We know this for a fact, so there’s zero excuse to play them for an extended period of time. Medium rods, 4500 reels, and 30-pound test with 40-pound fluoro leaders should be considered the bare minimum. If someone shows up to your boat with smaller stuff in-hand, it’s incumbent upon you to gently let them know the score and put something bigger into their hands.
These fish are often breaking water, and there’s a huge temptation to throw topwater. Give in to it, for sure, but not before switching out all the treble hooks on your lures for single hooks. These beasts have a mouth big enough to suck in your entire arm much less that six-inch Badonk-A-Donk, and it won’t make a dang bit of difference in your hookup ratio. Lures smaller than six inches should be left in the tacklebox, because they’ll get inhaled deep and make a safe release less likely.
Whether they’re breaking or not, most of the time you’ll catch the bulk of these fish on jigs (more about that later). One- to two-ounce heads with seven- to 10-inch soft plastics are appropriate. You won’t catch as many of the 20-somethings going to 10-incher baits, but if you truly want to target the catch of a lifetime that’s a good thing. During much of last December anglers casting six- and seven-inch baits spent so much time fighting smaller fish that they never hooked up with a biggie.
Note: during a two- or three-week timeframe many anglers reported that they didn’t hook up on large baits but they did score on smaller baits. It’s true that the bulk of the bait was smallish, and smaller baits did match the hatch better—so you do need to show some flexibility on this count. Remember people, these are fish we’re talking about and we often have to bob and weave to be successful.
Which baits should you throw? There are a ton of good ones out there, and some we used last year with solid success included the 10” Boss BKD in white or chartreuse (purple glitter for cloudy days); the 10” Game On Big Occhi in pearl; and nine-inch Old Skool OG eels in white pearl and chartreuse flake. Others may find different, but when the fish were in up-and-down mode breaking water for very brief periods then hanging at mid depth, we found straight-tail plastics out-fished paddletails and were often struck on the initial sink as opposed to during a retrieve.
Finding the Fish
As a rule of thumb, you’ll be tipped off to the fish’s general location by birds, or by clusters of boats that have already found the birds. However, these fish are often up and down fast and you can’t count on casting under working birds all of the time. A good pair of gyro-stabilized binoculars and a close eye on the radar will help get you into the vicinity. After that it’s time to work with the fishfinder.
When you approach an area where a frenzy has taken place, don’t just stop the boat and start casting. It’ll be tough to hold back, but keep that powder dry and begin circling, remaining on the move until you spot absurdly large marks. If you have a good side-scanning unit set the range to the maximum you’re comfortable with. When you’re sure you’re within casting distance of some mammoths fling out those jigs and let them sink to the appropriate depth, or if unsure of their depth, to bottom. Remember that these rockfish are chasing bait, not orienting to structure, so they could be in eight feet or in 80. Once you get beyond 50’ or so the fish usually won’t be tight on bottom and you’ll have to use your electronics to determine their depth.
While your jigs sink keep the bail closed as you drop your rod tip as quickly as possible while maintaining minimum tension. When your tip gets down to water level, flip the bail open momentarily, sweep the rod tip up to release line, then close the bail and begin dropping the rod tip again. As mentioned earlier, often the strike will come on the initial sink—you need to be on a hair-trigger, ready to set the hook when you feel that bump. If the jig reaches bottom or sinks beyond the target depth start a normal jigging retrieve. Vigorous snapping isn’t always best at this time of year when water temps are low and the fish tend to be moving a bit slower. Instead, long, sweeping motions are often the ticket.
Prepare yourself to burn lots of gas and do lots of running around to get on these fish. Most of the time the action is sporadic and after a few casts you’ll need to either search the area to relocate the fish, or pull up stakes and look for another school entirely. And prepare yourself to cross those fingers and keep ‘em crossed as we all hope those tremendous trophies return to Chesapeake country.
Critical Measures
Remember people, what we saw last winter wasn’t more rockfish, it was a higher concentration of rockfish. It’s critical that we all practice best catch-and-release methods with these big spawners. The critical measures include:
- Getting a Pic –To take a pic, lip the fish with one hand while staying clear of the gills and gill plate, slide the other hand under the fish just aft of its belly as you lift its head, and hold it horizontally. (Holding them vertically by the jaw alone can cause serious injury). As you remove the fish from the water take a gulp of air and hold your breath. When you run out of air remind yourself that the fish can’t breathe either, and get it back into the water asap. After you get your hero shot, release additional fish by lipping them next to the boat and removing the hook without taking them out of the water.
- Landing Nets – It’s best not to net these fish, but we understand that in some scenarios (such as a kid catching their first fish over 40” or a new PB), you’ll want to use one. Never, ever use a landing net with knotted nylon—if you still have one it’s long past time to throw it away and get a proper release net with mesh covered in rubberized coating. Don’t drop or dump the fish onto the deck, where it may flop around and injure itself. The netter should maintain control while the angler removes the fish from the net using the same method as described for removing one from the water.
- Slime Retention – Anything dry and/or absorbent touching the fish can remove its protective coat of slime. Always wet your hands, any article of clothing, or anything else before allowing it to come into contact with the fish. It can be awfully cold out there in December so remember to pack a towel for drying your hands afterwards.
An open challenge to all the anglers out there: consider crimping down the barbs on your hooks. Yes, this will result in lost fish. But it will also result in fewer fish injured or killed. We at FishTalk commit right now to keeping heads and topwater plugs with crimped barbs on-hand at all times, and after an angler catches one fish of a lifetime, requesting that they switch. Who will join us?