Herring / Surf-casting 6- to 10-inch casting plugs, large surface poppers, and shad-style soft-plastic lures or shad bodies fished on jig heads. Try a green, blue, gold or pearl back fading to a white underbelly. Related Feature: Jersey’s Winter Stripers
Match the Hatch for Stripers
Sand eels / Surf-castingPlugs: Gibbs, Boone, Hab’s and Super Strike are favorites. Metals: Metal jigs are often effective. They sink fast and respond to different retrieves that create varied action. Soft-plastics: Jerkbaits fished on jig heads and long eel-shaped plastics fished with 1- to 3-ounce jig heads.
Match the Hatch for Stripers
Herring / Boat FishingTrolling: Large diving plugs, umbrella rigs and shad rigs fished just off of the bottom.
Match the Hatch for Stripers
Sand eels / Boat FishingDeepwater jigging: Diamond or vertical jigs in weights from 150 to 200 grams. Trolling: Use umbrella rigs fished just off of the bottom.
Match the Hatch for Stripers
Herring / Fly-fishing Bunker flies or other herring patterns will work. Fish these flies both from the boat and from the surf on an intermediate line or a floating line.
Match the Hatch for Stripers
Sand eels / Fly-fishing Clousers, Half-and-Halfs and long, skinny streamer-type patterns. When boat fishing in deep water, use flies with weighted heads to keep them deep.If there is a strong current, sinking lines such as the Rio Outbound series Type 8 or about 30 feet of aRio T-14 head attached to an intermediate running line will sink fast, with minimal drag.