Doc's Perspective on Striped Bass

Call them rockfish, greenheads, squidhounds, linesides, or stripers, the striped bass of Mississippi coastal waters will steal the show during the fall if given half a chance. Striped bass throughout their range along the northern Gulf are almost exclusively a coastal fish, seldom ranging more than a few miles offshore. They prefer cool waters near tidal rips, reefs, rocky outcroppings, jetties, bays, inlets, channels, canals, and reedy flats along coastal marshes. During the summer months, Mississippi striped bass become lethargic as a result of high water temperatures. Experienced fishermen still catch their share in deeper waters of the bays and river systems or in areas that are cooled by freshwater springs. Trolling techniques using ThinFin Shads, Queen Bingos, Cisco Kids, and similar deep-running plugs work well to catch these fish during the summer months.

By the time November and December come around, the water temperatures have dropped considerably; and now the stripers are inclined to move out of their deepwater summertime haunts and into the adjacent flats to do some serious foraging before winter sets in. Small schools of striped bass can at times be found throughout the bays systems feeding on shad, menhaden or other baitfish near the surface. And, like typical surface feeding activity, this usually draws gulls aplenty; and observant fishermen are generally not too far behind.

Catching these surface-feeding fish requires no special skills. In fact the same techniques that work well with spotted seatrout, ladyfish, bluefish, and other predators that frequently feed on the surface, will catch stripers also. Tandem jigs fished either with or without a popping cork are as reliable as any bait for catching these fish. A big topwater plug like a Zara Spook, Rebel, Devil's Horse, or MirrOlure will, however, get you strikes from larger fish. If you prefer using live bait, shrimp, of course, are always dependable, but not always available. An excellent alternative is any of the so-called coastal herrings - menhaden, Spanish sardine, threadfin shad, thinscale sardine, etc. These are among the favorite prey species of the striper, and they make choice baits for the fisherman that can throw a cast net and catch his own.

In recent years, the striper activity has been good in all three of the major bay systems. In the Bay St. Louis area, stripers have been caught with regularity in Cutoff Bayou and near the mouth of the Jourdan River. In Biloxi's Back Bay, the Big Lake area has historically been the best producer. In both the east and west Pascagoula Rivers, the mile or so of water either side of the I-10 Bridge has produced its fair share of stripers.

The fish can be found virtually anywhere in the water column on any given day. Generally, however, the larger fish will be taken near the main thread of the prevailing current. Casting upcurrent and retrieving the bait in natural fashion with the current or at a slight angle to it is a dependable technique that has worked time and again for me. As long as the fish are, in fact, near the surface this modus operandi will work fine. If they're holding near the bottom though, you will have considerable problems getting the bait to them. In such situations, using streamlined, heavy baits and making longer casts upcurrent will help. For lighter plugs, try adding several split sinkers three feet or so ahead of the lure.

Most all of the striped bass caught along the Mississippi Gulf Coast will average between three to five pounds in weight; but each year there are also a number of fish in the fifteen to twenty-pound class that will be taken by enterprising anglers. There are reliable records, by the way, of a 125-pounder having been caught off North Carolina in 1891; but there's little danger of an encounter with such a linesider in these waters . Besides, a mere five-pounder on an Ambassadeur 5000 and a baitcast rod is more than enough to snatch you breathless. . .