December Striper Fishing

[6pt-sika]

Wednesday Decemeber 21st two friends went on a fishing trip with 10 others out of Rudde Inlet in Virginia Beach Virginia for Trophy Rockfish or as I call them STRIPERS !

Anyway about 10:30 AM that day one of my friends called and told me they already had 22 fish on board !

And two of them were over 40 pounds a piece .
My friends weren't the ones that got the two big boys but they still caught a pair each in the 25-35 range .

Here's the largest a 56 1/2 pounder that was 52 inches long !



Now the same guy with another fellow that has a 42 pounder that was 47 inches !



The catch !



And the folks that went !

[Blaine]

Holy Cow...that's outstanding Do those eat pretty good?

[KirkD]

I've wanted to catch a Striper for 40 years ..... but I'd like to catch it from the shore like I read about a long time ago in Field and Stream.

[JerryB]

That's right Kirk, does anybody still surf fish like they did in the old days?

[6pt-sika]

I think they still do up on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard .

You still can as well down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina but I doubt you'd seriousely have a chance at catching one that big .

[6pt-sika]

I'm not a big fish eater but the few times I had Striper it was pretty good !

In resteraunts around here broiled is pretty decent . And a couple times my friends have cooked it on the grill and it was pretty decent .

As long as I have no bones to deal with it ain't bad .

[Warhawk]

We have a big lake full of stripers down here on the Texas/Oklahoma border. One of very few lakes where stripers reproduce.

Stripers are my third favorite fish to eat, after crappie and walleye.

I've been fishing at Texoma many times, unfortunately Texoma stripers don't usually get as big as the ones in your pics.

Yours truly with a nice Texoma striper


My son and I with a few nice ones


Typical days catch for 2 fishermen

[6pt-sika]

Striper/Rockfish fishing in Virginia , Maryland , the Potomac River and the bay can be a hassle as they all have different seasons and limits .

I'm not sure what the regs are when they went out yesterday other then I know it was 2 per person . I've been out in the past and the had trophy and slot limits meaning one over a certain length and then they had a slot under that say 20-28 inches .

In Virginia and Maryland it all hinges on having a good captain and a fair amount of luck lately !

[bdhold]

a great trip. good times, and good eats.
Tough to brave the coastal winter winds, I bet.
(though I've been out trout fishing at 19 degrees in the winter, but that was dead calm)

When we have floods, stocked stripers come through the flood gates from the reservoir above into our tailwater where they get pretty big eating rainbows.
My friend Jeff landed this 32-lb'er on San Juan worm and a 4-wt fly rod.

After he filleted it, he found out it would have been a fly rod record.

this is the TX state fly rod record, 36.65 lbs and 43 inches - my friend John hunted this down and they caught several close to that size that day


we have a blood feud with them in our trout tailwater - both fish above had gullets filled with big rainbows.
Several stories of people landing rainbows only to have them plucked by a striper right at their feet.
I went out one day swinging size 10 streamers for rainbows and landed two stripers over 20" on my trout rod


I went back several times over the summer (a bit better equipped) and my total was 7 for the summer


The best of these was pushing 30 inches.
Especially in the big flows we had that summer, they're pretty amazing fish in the river, and will fight until they expire - one of you is going to.
Rainbows always head upriver first and wear themselves out in the current.
But stripers always head downriver, you have to stop and turn them (well into your backing), they come back upriver and then start lunging once they see you. You will be tired when you net one.

[6pt-sika]

I've never been what one would call a hardcore fisherman . But when I was trout fishing with dry flies only I was kinda into it ! Back then I'd fish about 4 days a week !

But over the years I've come up with several fish I would like to have for the wall !

One being a striper of the size those two fellows caught wednesday , the second being a Musky that was 48" or longer , the next would be a 4 pound Brookie on a dry fly and then last but certainly not least a 2 pound White Crappie on live minnows !

Kinda strange grouping of fish that I hold in high regard !

[RIHMFIRE]

Those are some dandy fish guys! congrats to all...

During the summer they run up the St Johns River in Florida and stack
up in the springs...where the water is a constant 72 degrees.....
Its real neat to dive among a big schools of strippers....
in the cool clear water.....but they are not that big! wow

[kimwcook]

Not much of a fisherman, but those get to be some good size. Hate hearing about them eating the rainbows though. We've had large and small mouth bass introduced into some lakes around here that used to have a nice supply of crappie and perch. No more. Those dog gone bass eat'em all up. As a kid I would walk down to Moses Lake and get a whole bucket of crappie in about 30 minutes. Great eats.

[6pt-sika]

Not much of a fisherman, but those get to be some good size.

If I'm not mistaken the present record Striper/Rockfish for the east coast is something in the 75-80 pound range !

[rogn]

Most current record I know was 78# out of NJ, but i think theres one a bit bigger in the works. Surf fishing is possible from Maine to NC. The NC coast should be OK from now thru Feb or March. Incidentally the 78# was caught from the rocks in Atlantic city. Theres a pier on the CBBT that might get you a fish on some days, its at least 4mi offshore.

[Old Savage]

Wow, pics of some great fishing there!

[Leverdude]

Theres some surf caster fisherman here but most catch them from boats. Those are biggies for sure! I think they need to be 28" before we can keep them now. Was 36 at one time.

[adirondakjack]

Looking at the first batch of pics my thoughts ran to a 5 wt fly rod from a kayak. I've caught a few Northern Pike that way, but a 30 lb striper would be a hoot.

[Shrapnel]

December fishing here is a bit colder, no Stripers, but there are Rainbows...

[BAGTIC]

The all time record was a pair of 125 pounders caught in a beach seine in North Carolina just before WW1 (I forget the exact year). They may have spawned before they were caught so keep trying. There may still be a big one out there.

Stripers are pretty good eating bu the smaller ones are better. Besides the big ones are all female and it seems a shame to remove them from the breeding stock. Perhaps a slot limit?

[rogn]

There are undoubtedly some big ones out there. About 30 years ago, I saw one in a spawning river here in MD. I saw about 4' of fish and that may have been just 1/2 of the fish. There ae many more and bigger fish in the population now. If someone with the right tackle shows at the right place and time. Id not be surprised at a greater than 100# fish.