Monday and Tuesday beatdown on the stripers !

**Msgdan** · April 5, 2023

I have been kayak fishing for stripers in the Raritan Bay for over 15 years, and I never had a day like I did on Monday. I launched about 30 minutes before first light and had a 20 minute pedal to my favorite lump in the bay that I have done great in the past. I was with 2 friends that were about 30 minutes behind me, and as soon as I was in the zone, I hooked up with two nice 36" striper that I landed.

Just when it was light enough to see, I noticed hundreds of birds crashing the surface about 1/4 mile away......I know you should never leave fish to find fish, but there is just something about seeing birds crashing that make me have to be there. I don't think I was hundreds of yards away from the birds when all hell broke loose. Fish after fish on the way to the birds. I don't know how many fish I landed, but it was just about as many fish up to 42 inches that you can catch in a 3 hour trip.

I was actually taking a break with my lure just hanging over the side of the kayak, 2 feet down and my lure got crushed and I almost lost my pole !!! It wasn't the greatest conditions on the bay, but when you are catching bass for hours....I never even noticed the snotty conditions.

I went out again on Tuesday morning hoping for a repeat of the day before, but the conditions were just too perfect and I didn't see any birds at all in 3 hours on the water. I still managed to land close to 15 bass with only one being over 40 inches, but all quality fish and a beautiful morning out before work. Heading out again tomorrow morning and hoping for the best !!

I didn't have my camera mount with me on Monday and was hoping my friends could take pictures, but we were all hooked up at the same time for hours....Just the one picture of a nice one on my lap on Monday and a couple pictures from Tuesday.. For reference, my kayak is 30" wide !!