Species › North America · Saltwater › Striped Bass
Saltwater · #2 most targeted in the US
Striped Bass
Morone saxatilis · striper, rockfish, linesider
Photo: Timothy Knepp · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Overview
Striped bass are silver-sided with an olive-green to steel-blue back and seven or eight unbroken dark stripes running from gill to tail, a wide forked tail, two separate dorsal fins and a large mouth. Big fish develop deep, heavy bodies and are nearly always females, called cows. White bass and hybrid stripers (wipers) look similar but are smaller, deeper-bodied and have broken, irregular stripes.
Native to the Atlantic coast from the St. Lawrence to northern Florida and the Gulf coast to Louisiana, striped bass are anadromous: they spawn in spring in the fresh reaches of rivers, chiefly the Chesapeake Bay tributaries, the Hudson and the Delaware, then migrate north along the coast as far as Maine for the summer and return south to winter off Virginia and North Carolina. They were introduced to the Pacific coast in 1879 and thrive in San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Landlocked populations, first discovered in the Santee-Cooper reservoirs in South Carolina, are now stocked in reservoirs across the South, Midwest and West, from Lake Texoma and Lake Cumberland to Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Their preferred range is 55 to 68 F (13 to 20 C); above 75 F reservoir fish seek the thermocline and become stressed.
Stripers are schooling predators that follow bait: menhaden, herring, sand eels, mackerel and eels on the coast; shad, herring and shiners in reservoirs. They feed hardest in low light and at night, around moving tides, rips, inlets and bridge shadow lines, and will blitz bait on the surface in fall migrations that draw birds and anglers from miles away. Coastal fish are highly migratory with the seasons; reservoir fish follow shad schools across open water and run up tributary rivers in spring.
From Montauk surfcasters to Chesapeake trollers to Lake Texoma guides, striped bass support more recreational effort than any other coastal fish on the East Coast. The Atlantic stock crashed in the 1980s, rebuilt under a moratorium and strict management, and is again under tight slot limits after recent declines, making responsible release a central part of the fishery.
Where & when
Along the Atlantic the spring run peaks in April and May from the Chesapeake to New Jersey and the fall migration peaks October and November from Massachusetts to Virginia, with summer fishing centered in New England; Southern reservoirs peak in spring spawning runs and again in late fall and winter, and West Coast delta fishing is best in spring and fall.
How to catch
Gear
Lures
Baits
Regulations
Coastal striped bass are managed jointly by the states under the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission with a narrow slot limit, a one-fish bag, mandatory inline circle hooks with bait and a ban on harvest in federal waters beyond 3 miles; each state sets seasons and may be stricter, a saltwater registry or license is required, and inland reservoir and West Coast limits are set separately by state fish and wildlife agencies.
Records
IGFA all-tackle world record: 81 lb 14 oz (37.14 kg) — Long Island Sound off Westbrook, Connecticut, 2011 (Gregory Myerson); landlocked record 69 lb 9 oz, Black Warrior River, Alabama, 2013 (James Bramlett). State and regional records are kept by each fish & wildlife agency.
Frequently asked
When is the best time to catch striped bass?
On the Atlantic coast the spring run (April and May) and the fall migration (October and November) are the peaks, with the fall blitzes from Massachusetts to New Jersey the most exciting fishing of the year. Within any day, dawn, dusk and night on a moving tide beat midday, and a strong outgoing tide at an inlet or rip is ideal.
What is the difference between a striped bass and a hybrid striped bass?
A pure striper has seven or eight unbroken stripes, a streamlined body and reaches 40 to 80 lb, while a hybrid (striper x white bass, called a wiper or sunshine bass) has broken, offset stripes, a deeper body and rarely tops 15 to 20 lb. Hybrids are stocked in many reservoirs because they are sterile and tolerate warmer water.
Can you keep striped bass caught in the ocean beyond 3 miles?
No. Possession of striped bass in federal waters, more than 3 nautical miles from shore along the Atlantic coast, has been prohibited since 1990. Fish must be caught, kept and transported only within state waters under that state's slot and bag rules.
Where can you catch landlocked striped bass?
Stripers are stocked or self-sustaining in dozens of reservoirs, including Lake Texoma on the Texas-Oklahoma border, Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, Lake Murray and the Santee-Cooper lakes in South Carolina, Lake Lanier in Georgia, Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, and Lakes Powell, Mead and Havasu on the Colorado River. They also run the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay in California.
Bite forecast — Striped Bass
Recent catches
Posted by anglers on the live map, filtered to Striped Bass.