How to fish for Stripers off Cape May New Jersey
How to fish for Stripers off Cape May New Jersey and Delaware Bay
Stripers are the cream of the crop for New Jersey Fishermen, especially off Cape May and in the Delaware Bay area. Striper fishing is not only fun and exciting, they fight hard until the last second, and the are very good eating. Another great thing about Striper fishing is they can be caught from the surf or beach, and on the nearshore Cape May Rips and in Delaware Bay. Truth be known, the entire New Jersey Coast offers great Striped Bass fishing north and south, but we’ll discuss the world class Striper Fishing in Cape May and the Delaware Bay in this article.
Striper Fishing Techniques
There are at least a hundred ways to catch Striper, and every Striper fishermen has their own strategies and techniques, but even still, the two most tried and true ways to catch Stripers are chunking Menhaden and drifting or free lining live baits in the channels, sloughs and breakers around the point of Cape May New Jersey. We’ll cover a couple of the most popular techniques for catching Stripers off New Jersey and Delaware Bay below.
Chunking for Stripers using Menhaden.
Chunking for Striped Bass usually starts around the beginning of October each season around New Jersey coastal waters. See our Fishing Spots for Stripers here. A great place to look for Stripers is deep channels with breakers nearby that channel Menhaden and Stripers through these sloughs. Stripers chase schools of Menhaden through the channels and even into the breakers. Stripers will stop at nothing to crush menhaden as they rip through these bait schools.. It’s truly a sight to see up close!
Menhaden School being crushed by Stripers or Striped Bass as they approach the outer Shoals off Cape May New Jersey and Delaware Bay
Some of the menhaden in those schools are seriously in trouble if the Striped Bass push them up onto a shoal area! It’s game on when this happens as the menhaden have no where to run, no where to hide. This is a great time to pay close attention to the tide and moon phase and note the location because that probably happens there more than you would think. If you take the time to take down these notes, your fishing game will improve 40-50% because you start saving time and look in places you know are good instead of guessing as much. Of course, this goes for any type of fishing.
Drifting for Stripers and Free Lining live Bait near Cape May New Jersey
A very popular and close second place runner up to Striper Chunking is drifting for Stripers using live Menhaden, Eels or Spot or Croaker. The fishing spots and areas we’ll cover below and the Cape May Rips also, known as simply “the rips” is an area where the bay and ocean meet just off the beach at Cape May Point. As mentioned, these areas teem with Menhaden Schools and other baitfish making this a prime area to drift your live baits as these aggressive Stripers feed on the bait schools as they push through the channels and across the shoal areas. When drifting for Striped Bass, a variety of tackle is used. Most of our fishing Guides use a circle hook from 5/0 – 9/0 in a light, but strong wire with a mono leader around 3 feet long made of 60 pound test. If the rig is weighted, the most popular weighted method is using a drail weight to prevent tangles and makes leader change outs easy. As with chunking, as the season passes into December, look for birds to give you the bait school or Striper activity locations.
Fishing The Rips isn’t for everyone. No matter which method you choose or like most, this area is extremely dangerous and very rough on certain tides and wind/weather conditions. Breaking white water across the shoals up to 6 feet is common here. So, if you’ve never fished the rips off Cape May for Stripers, it’s probably best to hire a guide or go with someone you really trust to show you the ropes of breaker fishing, if you’re not familiar with it. Don’t get me wrong… it’s very productive and there are some really nice days out there, but when it goes bad, you need the boat handling knowledge and skill set to handle some serious water.
Popular Striper Rips and Shoals found off Cape May New Jersey
Some of the best Striper fishing spots are located off Cape May point in southern New Jersey to get on some serious Striped Bass fishing in the fall season. Whether you Chunk for Stripers or Drift for Stripers, these are the top locations for catching good numbers of fish using either method.
Striper Fishing Shoals off Cape May include Prissywick Shoal, Eph Shoal, Middle Shoal and Overfalls Shoal to name a few. We’ve put together some of the best Fishing spots for Stripers in and around these areas as part of our Striper Fishing Map.
Good luck this season and be safe in the break! Tight lines to all of you, our loyal customers, from New Jersey Fishing Spots!