Stripers Over the Line

[Billfish715]

In some really "sporty" conditions on Sunday, we found some big stripers. We wanted to stay away from the crowds on the beach so we kept plodding offshore to the 3 mile line where we found bait but not the fish we were looking for. So, we kept going and soon found the birds and the fish. By this time we were well offshore of the line. It didn't matter because we were okay with catch and release. The fish at times were stacked up on top in big patches as they slurped tiny rainfish. It was tough to get on them before they would go down, but when we could, the stripers would take shads or poppers as soon as they hit the water. Several of the schools were so densely packed that they turned the water brown. We chased scattered schools of bass for over an hour in some very rough conditions casting to them with spinning tackle. These were all large fish with our biggest taping out at 42". The steep troughs and building seas had us leave the fish biting and head inshore where we found whales and porpoises harassing schools of bunkers. If anyone is looking for the missing inshore stripers, look offshore and think about fishing for sport and not for supper. My guess is that these fish might just keep heading south just outside the three mile line on their way to Virginia.