Pro Talk: Night Kayaking for North Shore Stripers

We spent 15 minutes on the phone with Erick Attridge to discuss night kayaking for north shore striped bass with the Hogy Original Series. Here's what we learned... 

Location: North Shore, MA

Tides: When fishing shallow boulder fields, it’s best to plan your nighttime trip around the top of a high tide. The best fishing seems to occur once the tide begins going out.

Approach: This technique works best when working shallow boulder fields in 4-8’ of water. It’s best to start looking for fish in waters that are adjacent to deepwater access. Most stripers will hold in deeper water during the day, then wander onto the shallow flats under the cover of darkness. To locate fish, begin searching out areas of fast moving water that form calm water breaks. These slack water areas adjacent to fast current are perfect spots for lazy stripers to lay up and wait for an unsuspecting meal to drift by.

Rigging Selection: A light weight, very strong jig head, like the 1/2oz 6/0 Barbarian Jig Head.

Bait Selection: The Hogy 10inch Original

Why This Bait? The larger profile of the 10-inch Original Series is perfect for jigging up large stripers at night.

Colors: Black or Blamber offer the best contrast at night. They also closely resemble an eel in color and movement.

Retrieve: A series of 3 short hops are used to bounce the jig across the bottom, then pause for a couple seconds to let the bait rest. Most times the bass will grab the bait on the third hop and slam it hard. When you feel the fish hit, a hard solid hook set will drive the Barbarian hook home.

OUTFIT

Rod: 7’ Lamiglas Kayak Select Rod Heavy Action

Reel: Avet SX 5.0:1

Line: 30-pound test Power Pro Braid

Leader: Seguar 40-pound test fluorocarbon connected to the running line with a SPRO inline micro swivel.