# Beach striper fishing



## Youngbuck757. (Jan 10, 2013)

Anyone surf fish for striper in sandbridge ? How do you fish for them? Baits. Lures. Things to look for?best places? Thanks


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## Fishman (Apr 23, 2000)

Metal, bucktails with plastic twister tails and chunked bait would be a good start.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

Ocean Stripers are very difficult to come across in the VB/SB area compared to places like Jersey, Montauk, RI, Cape Cod etc.... That being said, I think they are more available than the average VA saltwater fisherman will know or tell you. In my experience most VA guys fish in daylight and like to soak bunker chunks or troll the beachfront roads for birdplay which is seldom within casting range. First and foremost, FISH AT NIGHT, and try clam(whole fresh in the shell knife them open clams not dirty half frozen clam snouts in a plastic tub) and also eels instead of just bunker or mullet. Also make use of artificials at night, not metal, but bucktails with soft plastic trailers, rapala bodies, topwaters, and soft plastic swimbaits.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

****P.S. Make sure you do some daytime scouting in order to mark some good structure. Since it is a tough game don't waste your patience and resolve on crappy tides, current, or wind either......pick your battles wisely.


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## SurFeesher (May 5, 2010)

Also remember that if blues are around, the soft plastics will get destroyed. The only one I ever caught off the oceanfront (in VA Beach) was on a 2 oz stingsilver. Nice 26"er in early April. Seen them caught on cut bait and finger mullet rigs also.


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

We used to have a decent late fall/winter striper fishery in Va. Beach (and the Outer Banks, for that matter) about 10 years ago, but it kind of crapped out. Chic's Beach at the foot of the CBBT was a sure thing from Thanksgiving until Christmas every single night as seagulls swarmed over baitfish in the lights after the sun went down. There was also the occasional daytime blitz if you were willing to put time in chasing birds from Ocean View all the way to Sandbridge. I remember one day around Christmas 2002 when huge stripers were all up and down Sandbridge during a hard noreaster, from the Market all the way to the pier. I saw plenty of fish over 40" pulled out of the wash on stingsilvers and striper swipers.

But these days it's tough. Blame it on the loss of bunker, overfishing, pollution, natural cycles, global warming, whatever. The fish just don't come around in the numbers they used to. If you want a nice fish your best bet is to head for the Seagull Pier or Lynnhaven Inlet after dark. Jig the pilings. If you want to soak bunker I'd say you should try right next to the jetty at Rudee Inlet, but all the beach pumping has sanded it in so bad there's no structure. Still, it's worth a shot. You'll never know if you don't get out and try. The water temps need to drop more. Keep your rods strung and aim for the period between Thanksgiving and New Years.


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## jay b (Dec 1, 2002)

Matt as far as the blame goes don't forget the two "new" pound nets that Dimitri fishes that are right off Chics. 

I've fished that area between the CBBT and the Lesner for over 30 yrs. and remember when the moratorium fist came off the Rockfish, those were the days !!


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## Aristokles (Mar 5, 2013)

There is a "Dimitri" here? Good name.


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

jay b said:


> Matt as far as the blame goes don't forget the two "new" pound nets that Dimitri fishes that are right off Chics.
> 
> I've fished that area between the CBBT and the Lesner for over 30 yrs. and remember when the moratorium fist came off the Rockfish, those were the days !!


Totally forgot about that. Those nets have really screwed things up around Lynnhaven.


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

Fish don't go out to the movies. They only go out to eat.


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## Fish'n Phil (Nov 11, 2002)

Last year's striper fishing in Lynnhaven Inlet was practically non-existent for me. Usually I think of Thanksgiving as the start but this year the bite has already started. So far the fish have been healthy and hopefully they stick around.


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