Striper fishing 2023

[Jon P]

Finally got out to visit my grandparents out in connecticut, a yearly tradition I haven't gotten to do since 2018 thanks to the pandemic and all sorts of other drama. Fish weren't nearly as active as we've seen them in the past, but we found a few groups of feeding fish over a three day period and absolutely POUNDED them on big baits. My grandfather is a fly fishing purist, and usually anchovy and squid pattern flies are the modus operandi on his boat. This time I brought some swimbait gear to see how the salty bass felt about the tackle I throw at little largies. Initially my grandfather was pretty skeptical of the big bait's effectiveness "oh you gotta put that sh*t down an pick up the 8wt, they're eating squid, they won't touch that sh*t" but after we got the fish dialed in he became convinced that any cast that didn't produce a fish was indicative of a lack of fish in the area and we'd move spots. Really need to put a swimbait bag together just for doing stripers, this was one of the best big fish trips I've ever had, usually the bulk of the fish we catch are 20" schoolies but I managed to completely avoid those fish while my grandpa had to sort through schoolie after schoolie on the fly. The big striper, while not measured or weighed, certainly blows my old PB out of the water. In my 12 year old memory the fish in that polaroid was twice as big as the biggest striper of this trip. Sadly I lost an even bigger fish on the punker since I had it rigged with owner ST-36s which all got straightened out while trying to back the fish away from some lobster pots.

[Bud95]

So sick. Nice fish man.

[monkeyonthemoon]

Awesome fish! Stripers on big baits is a great time

[danthefisherman]

What a blast!

[Fourxquad1]

Thats an awesome trip..