Striper Fishing in November this season was a true tale of polarized fishing. We had a skunk on November 2nd followed by good fishing the next few trips only to have a skunk again on the 10th (Which we salvaged with some Togging). After that we would have trips with five man limits and multiple releases only to be followed up the next day struggling to put a catch together. Fishing hard for a couple of keepers and a couple shorts. We found our best jigging lures this year to be black hogy's and the best trolling lures to be the black or natural 9ers. Like most of the captains I saw fishing, I made it a point to start out where I caught them the day before. This year that happened to be the coast guard station. Most mornings we would be greeted by aggressive bird play and fish rolling on the surface but we would have to work to get them to bite. Most days when the bite would slow inshore we would move out to about 50 feet of water and we could find fish that were hungry again.

I started using a downrigger this fall and every single time it outfished my wireline setups as well as my drail setups. It puts your umbrella rig exactly where it needs to be in the water column and you aren't catching skates and sundials if you set it correctly. In addition the angler can fight the fish on lighter tackle because the bulky wireline rod becomes unnecessary.

Friday was my last scheduled trip for the season but I am going to keep the boat in for a couple more weeks. If the striper bite picks up I can be convinced to fish so give me a call.