Sunset Striper Action

Type: Tidal
Region: Southern
Location: Gravelly Point

This past Saturday will go down as one of the epic fishing days of 2014. With an incoming tide and wind helping it along, conditions set up perfectly for a striper bite at sunset. I launched from Gravelly Point around 6:30 PM. First I spent a little time fishing for Largemouth Bass. I caught one 13 incher and also my first gar (pictured). They were caught near the surface in shallow water with a jerk bait and crank bait.

Around 8 PM, I moved to deeper water and turned my attention to the bottom third of the water column. Striper tend to prefer longer profile baits, so I tied on a deep running stick bait to see if I could find any. I got a few strikes in the first 30 minutes but did not catch any fish; I lost one striper near the boat so I knew they were there. Then around 8:30 just before sunset, the bite turned on. For the next hour, it was complete striper mania. 3 out of 4 casts resulted in a fish. By 9:30, the bite was still on, but I was worn out so I decided to head home. In one hour, I had caught 11 striper and lost 4. Most were 20-22" but the smallest was 19" and the largest was 25". It took more time to unhook the fish and snap a photo, than to get hooked up. All fish were released, but unfortunately, one did not survive.