Striped Bass Surface Strikes

The Spring Run of striped bass along the Eastern Seaboard is an insane time of year. May through June, vast schools of menhaden, aka bunker, choke the nearshore waters, attracting large breeder bass between 20 to 50 pounds to follow them northward for an endless buffet.

When striped bass are aggressively feeding with tunnel vision mentality, topwater poppers garner knee-shaking, jaw-dropping strikes. “I don’t think there’s anything more exciting than a reaction strike from a bass on a surface popper,” says Jersey striper guide Rich Swisstack. “We’ll mark fish hanging in scattered packs, then work a surface popper to create noise, which triggers bass to come up from the depths to inspect what’s going on.”A 2 to 4-ounce Yo-zuri Bull Popper, Williamson Popper Pro, and Gibbs Polaris Popper all dopplegang the profile of large adult menhaden. “Once one bass becomes entranced with the commotion, usually more follow it up to the surface,” notes Swisstack. “Cast poppers on the outskirts of active bunker schools, working the popper back almost in a slow side to side roll to present an injured appearance. The key is to pull the fish off of the bunker schools and don’t stop working that popper all the way back to boatside. A charged-up bass thinking its chasing a wounded bunker will follow it all the way until it runs into the boat.”

While packed menhaden schools are obvious places to find bass feeding, also pay attention to structure such as rock jetties, Inlet areas, and seawalls where stripers will hang under the protection of the rocks as ambush points to pounce on prey. “Make your casts close to the jetty and place that popper right off the tip, working it back slowly as there are usually plenty of submerged rocks a good 20 yards off that tip where bass are hiding, waiting to ambush anything on the surface,” adds Swisstack.

Reaction strikes on topwater poppers are enough to buckle an angler’s knees, and when the payoff is a 40-pound striped bass, the joy is that much sweeter. Target the shores of New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts May, June and July for an epic topwater battle with striped bass.