Pro Talk: Big Soft Baits for Block Island Sound Stripers

We spent 15 minutes on the phone with Brian Yacino to discuss casting the Hogy 14-inch Original Series for Block Island sound stripers. Here's what we learned... 

Location: East End Fisher’s Island, Block Island Sound – New York

Tides: High slack at sunrise.

Approach: This area of Block Island Sound can hold big fish during the fall. We would motor our boat in tight to the shoreline, cut the engine and let the wind begin blowing us out as we cast along the boulder field. Early morning allows a good chance at big fish that may just have finished their nighttime feeding. The biggest fish came right before and during sunrise.

Rigging Selection: X-Strong Hogy Jig Heads

Bait Selection: Hogy 14inch Original Series

Why This Bait? There were a lot of medium grade fish that were eager to eat smaller offerings. After catching lots of fish in the upper 30-inch range, we decided to upgrade our bait size to try and catch a larger class of fish. The pictured fish was the largest caught on this trip.

Colors: Amber was used as an eel imitator color.

Retrieve: A medium – fast bouncing retrieve was used to jig the bait across the shallow boulder field. The faster you worked the larger baits, the more aggressive of a response we had from big fish.

OUTFIT

Rod: G.Loomis 8’ 3” Escape Series Spinning Rod

Reel: Penn 6500 Spinning Reel

Line: 50-pound test Power Pro Braid

Leader: Seaguar 50-pound test fluorocarbon. Spro 130-pound test barrel swivel – Uni knot from leader to lure.