Raritan Bay stripers weekend best bet

Raritan Bay spring striper fishing is as good as it was last year, and with easterly weather in the forecast may be easier to fish than more exposed areas.

Friday’s forecast is for east winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20, but that sounds a lot better then Saturday’s east at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30.

Live bunkers have been the best bet for stripers, but they’ve been hard to come by some days. If the birds provide some help, you may be able to get on bass willing to hit shads and flutter spoons — and there are times when stripers come up and are targets for poppers and other surface lures. Be prepared for all of those situations and you should be successful.

Tautog anglers have had to fish through lots of shorts. Lou Castellano and five others from the Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County fished aboard the Sea Owl from Point Pleasant today and also had to release plenty of sea bass. Lou managed a keeper tog, but that was the only one out of about 25. He also noted that some cod were hooked.

You just might come across a 50-inch cow full of roe at this time just before the Hudson River spawning, though this one was posted on my Facebook by Kayack fishing in Chesapeake Bay.