HOGY SPRING STRIPER
CASTING & JIGGING ESSENTIALS

CAPT. MIKE'S STRIPER CASTING& JIGGING ESSENTIALS

I’m hard pressed to think of a more anticipated migration arrival than that of the striped bass. The season starts slow, often with tiny fish, with many debates as to the first caught's authenticity. Is it a "hold over" or is it “fresh”? "Sea Lice” ? is often the second question, asked only after it’s size. As the season progresses fishing can get hot and heavy almost overnight as waves of big fish seemingly appear overnight. Stripers are cool to me in that there is a potion for every pallet. In Hogy terms, you can cast, jig or troll for them. Here’s my “play list” for all the best ways to catch striped bass.

May your 2020 "striper thumb” heal quickly!
-Capt. Mike

HOGY SPRING STRIPER
CASTING ESSENTIALS

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OPEN WATER HERRING: PROTAIL

OPEN WATER HERRING: PROTAIL

I personally find that predators keyed in on herring tend to be the easiest to catch. Their silvery blue tinge is a common color pattern. Juvenile herring are more chubby than not (like me!) and have a broader, deeper profile, so small softbaits are quite effective, in addition to small metals and Epoxy Jigs. The best retrieve speed for mimicking small herring is a medium to fast retrieve with lots of twitches with your rod pointed downward.

  • Hogy Top Imitator: The Hogy Pro Tail Paddle in 3.5”, 4.5” and 5.5” are hands down our top imitators for small herring. You have some options color wise but bone UV, Silver, Blue/Blue Herring and White are the top colors. Fish these Hogy Pro Tail Paddles with your tip pointed at waist height or slightly downward toward the water while varying your retrieve speed. Hogy Epoxy Jigs and Herring Jigs are also excellent choices and they come in a multitde of colors that will do an excellent job of mimicking juvenile herring. Another option is the Peanut Bunker Jig in the Pilchard color.

Protail Paddles

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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OPEN WATER SQUID: SQUID POPPER

OPEN WATER SQUID: SQUID TOPWATERS

Although it might not be warm and sunny all the time, there’s no denying that overcast and calm conditions are almost better for fishing, especially with bright colored lures.
 
Capt. Mike Hogan and Capt. Cullen Lundholm set out to chase striped bass keyed in on squid in Cape Cod Bay with one, single lure in mind; the Hogy Charter Grade Popper in amber and pink, which is the perfect coloration for “matching the hatch,” especially when big stripers and feeding on squid.
 
When the fish are in 30 to 40-feet of water, like they were this day, fishing a popper is probably your best bet. With the cup-shaped nose and the rattling inside it’s frame, any sort of subsurface commotion will most likely draw in finicky fish.
 
Fishing the popper is simple – cast out to you desired area, and pop the tip of the rod while imparting slow, twitching motions. Start with the rod tip pointed towards the sky and as you get closer to the boat, bring your rod tip down so it almost kisses the water. You are sure to draw a reaction strike and land some keeper-sized fish.
 
If you practice catch and release methods, swim your fish by placing it into the water. The bigger fish are strong enough to let you know when they’re ready to be let go, as they will sometimes clamp down on your thumb and flare their pectoral fins. Release them quickly and get back to it!

HOGY SQUID TOPWATERS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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OPEN WATER SAND EELS: 7.5" HD PROTAIL EEL

OPEN WATER SAND EELS: 7.5" HD PROTAIL EEL

With the recent developments of fish finding technology, this technique is becoming more and more popular. In this technique, you are literally cruising around looking for targets to drop on. Search and drop is the most tactical variation of jigging in that the captain and crew work hand in hand ready to coordinate the drop. Each angler is poised, and ready for the drop at a moments notice. This is a handy skill to have mastered when there are fish in the area that are hesitant to eat. The more time spent with the lures directly in front of their noses, the more likely you are to hook up.

Steps:

  1. Identify an active area.
  2. Find a happy cruising speed, maybe around 8 knots for searching
  3. Have anglers holding their rods at all times, ready to free spook their lure at a moments notice.
  4. Along with watching the electronics, constantly look for changes in the water and be ready to cast at any water that looks “pushed” or otherwise altered.

Benefits:

  1. Pin-point finicky fish.
  2. Steady RPM’s will not spook fish.
  3. You’re more able to cover ground while studying top-water activity and keeping your eyes glued to the fish finder.

OPEN WATER SAND EEL FAVORITES

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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OPEN WATER BLIND CASTING: SLIDER

OPEN WATER SLIDERS

Notes: Although I prefer to either target stripers I can see on the surface, mark down below or use structure as a target to focus on, I do find myself blind casting occasionally in big open water.

When: This situation usually occurs just after or just before large feeds that have been in the area or at slack tide when the bait has scattered. Often this situation occurs early in the morning or on low light days.

Go-To Lures: I like large Charter Grade swimming plugs, poppers, sliders and squids that make a lot of noise. The larger the size or commotion, the wider you extend your target range. I also like simple, highly visible or contrasting colors like glow, orange or black. The lure needs to be big for 2 reasons. 1) It needs to be large enough for a striper to see it from as far as 40’ away and 2) It needs to be big enough for a large striper to justify the effort required to intercept or attack it.

OPEN WATER SLIDERS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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STRUCTURE: DOG WALKER

STRUCTURE: DOG WALKER

Notes: Although I prefer to either target stripers I can see on the surface, mark down below or use structure as a target to focus on, I do find myself blind casting occasionally in big open water.

When: This situation usually occurs just after or just before large feeds that have been in the area or at slack tide when the bait has scattered. Often this situation occurs early in the morning or on low light days.

Go-To Lures: I like large Charter Grade swimming plugs, poppers, sliders and squids that make a lot of noise. The larger the size or commotion, the wider you extend your target range. I also like simple, highly visible or contrasting colors like glow, orange or black. The lure needs to be big for 2 reasons. 1) It needs to be large enough for a striper to see it from as far as 40’ away and 2) It needs to be big enough for a large striper to justify the effort required to intercept or attack it.

OPEN WATER SLIDERS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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RIPS SQUID: SQUID PLUG

RIPS SQUID: THE SQUID PLUG

When striped bass are keyed in on squid, you’re going to want something flashy and noisy to cause a lot of commotion and draw these fish to the surface, like the Hogy Charter Grade Squid Plug. The beauty of these plugs is that they have the durability to allow you to catch multiple smaller fish without having to put new soft plastics on the hooks. They are basically the bulletproof version of the softbaits, as Capt. Mike would put it.

Fishing the Rip

Step One: Begin by casting back into the rip (remember your boat positioning as mentioned above)

Step Two: Twitch the rod, make the lure dance in the waves.; first, second or third wave (diagram above). This will simulate a fleeing squid skipping, dancing and darting on the surface.

Step Three: In this situation, both Capt. Lundholm and Capt. Hogan had fish on but if it doesn’t work as easily for you, cast and repeat until you need to set up your drift again.

“This is a very easy technique if you have little kids on the boat or inexperienced anglers,” Capt. Mike said. “Really almost anyone can do it by twitching the rod.”

CHARTER GRADE SQUID PLUGS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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RIPS SQUID: HOGY ORIGINAL

RIPS SQUID: HOGY ORIGINAL

Notes: Fishing rips is simply a variation of fishing submerged structure and also very similar to fly fishing for trout in a fly stream. In a rip line caused by a sand bar, schools of baitfish are getting swept by the tide over the sand bar or reef and made vulnerable by the commotion of the rip. Stripers who like to make eating as easy as possible, will lay right on or behind that line in ambush, picking off unsuspecting prey.

When: You need strong tide to make a rip, so obviously the peak stages of the tide are best. Rips often form in shallower areas where the water warms more quickly, which can be a benefit in the cooler months of the spring and fall.

Go-To Lures: Matching the hatch (as always) is key. In New England, hot rip fishing is often associated with squid runs and nothing beats an unweighted or lightly weighted soft plastic in terms of imitating a squid. A softbait that can be rigged weedless such as a 10” Hogy Original on a Swimbait Hook is ideal because rips often get weedy from the tide pushing weeds and debris that is stirred up. Anglers will also through pink, bone and amber top-water baits.

Method and Approach: Stem the tide with your boat just in gear with enough thrust so as to just hold your position. Pick a good spot in the rip where a u-shaped gully with peaks on either side of it have formed. Now cast perpendicularly to to 30 degrees up tide. Once the lure hits the water, your focus is to get control of the line with minimal slack between you and your lure. Now let current move the bait toward the stripers that are waiting in ambush. While the bait is drifting down tide impart action in the lure and your reeling is more for eliminating slack than to propel the lure forward. If you time it perfectly, the lure will start swinging into the rip and directly behind your boat just at or behind the rip line.

CASTING RIPS: HOGY ORIGINAL

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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RIPS HERRING: EPOXY JIG

RIPS HERRING: THE EPOXY JIG

Starting in late June and early July, large schools of striped bass migrate more heavily into the shoals just off the coast of Monomoy. There are miles upon miles of rips in the area, including Handkerchief, Bearse’s, and Stone Horse Shoals. It can be intimidating at first to figure out where to begin fishing this large area, so here are a few tips to help you catch striped bass (and bluefish) by casting jigs and softbaits into the rips using light-tackle outfits. For more on the area, check out our Monomoy Shoals spot profile.

Recommended Outfit: 7′ Shimano Terez Rod with a Shimano Saragossa SW 5000 reel. This light tackle outfit will give you extra action when you twitch your baits and extra sensitivity when feeling the initial strike. Plus, its a blast when you inevitably hook a 30+” striper or 8+ pound bluefish in this area.

Technique: The name of the game here is bouncing around from rip to rip until you find the one that’s holding the most life. The idea is to hang with the engine running right after the first couple waves of the rip or just in front in the slick water. Once your boat is in position, cast up tide and twitch the bait as it tumbles back through the rip. This diagram should help:

CASTING RIPS: EPOXY JIGS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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HOGY SPRING STRIPER
JIGGING ESSENTIALS

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SAND EELS OPTION A: PROTAIL EEL

SAND EELS OPT. A: PROTAIL EELS

This is my favorite jigging technique for fishing with soft baits and I think the most under utilized. It’s a great technique for fish you see on the fish finder that “won’t bite anything”. As compared to speed jigging, a slow-jigged lure is an easy target for lazy striper. Slow jigging works well with eel tails such as the Hogy Pro Tail Paddle and the Hogy Pro Tail Eel softbaits. You are relying mostly on boat drift and slow rod tip motions to work the bait. The natural softness of the plastic does the rest. It’s really a slow method. I jokingly teach people my method by instructing to fish like “you really don’t care about fishing.”

Steps:

  1. Drop to a specific depth that you are targeting
  2. Slowly Raise your rod tip and let it fall slowly.
  3. Every few moments, change the depth by 10’ slow cranks, then repeat slow jig
  4. Drop back to bottom and repeat
  5. Once you have too much line out, creating too great an angle between you and the lure, which is caused by the boat drifting, reel in and repeat.

Benefits:

  1. Stay in a key strike zone for a very long time
  2. Natural subtle movements to present a slow easy bait for a lazy stripers to eat. The subtle movements of a softbait tail are deadly.
  3. Easy technique for inexperienced guest on your boat.

SAND EELS: PROTAIL EELS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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SAND EELS OPTION B: SAND EEL JIG

SAND EELS OPT. B: SAND EEL JIGS

Twitch jigging is a variation of the slow jig, the only difference being a series of sharp fast twitches in the rod. It’s almost like you are vibrating the lure with rapid rod tip twitches. This technique works particularly well with the Hogy Sand Eel Jig. It’s long, slender profile responds with a lot jerking rod tip motions. The huge benefit to this technique is that you can really dial in a certain depth. This is a useful method when “sniping” fish you have identified on the fish finder.

 Steps:

  1. Drop to a specific depth that you are targeting
  2. Twitch your rod with fast short movements
  3. Every few moments, change the depth by 10’, repeat
  4. Once you have too much line out from boat drift, reel in and repeat

Benefits:

  1. Stay in a key strike zone for a very long time
  2. Faster motions might trigger reaction strike
  3. Allows metal lure depth, soft bait action.

HOGY SAND EEL JIGS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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HERRING: PROTAIL PADDLE

HERRING: PROTAIL PADDLE

You could argue that stripers and trout are similar in how they stage on structure in heavy current. While in bigger, deeper waters, a striper might behave like a trout waiting for a fly when it stages behind drop offs, boulders, wrecks or whatever large structure might be present, eagerly waiting for a bait fish to be swept down by the tide. You have three potential options here.

  1. Anchor in front of the structure and drift backwards.
  2. Keep the boat in gear to hold the position and drift the bait.
  3. Make repeated drifts over the structure

In any of the three cases, the key point here is that you are attempting to imitate a bait fish being swept down with the tide, over the available structure — all with your rod and lure.

When Fishing a Steady Position: Positioning yourself in front of the structure is a great method to focus on just one point of the structure you are targeting. Be sure to have a plan for hooking up with a large fish that requires you to drift off anchor quickly.

  1. Anchor or maintain enough forward gear to hold the boat in position about 50 feet in front of the structure.
  2. Drop your lure to the bottom and jig it upwards four or five times.
  3. Once you feel the lure rising off the bottom, drop it back down.
  4. Repeat

When Drifting: I tend to favor drifting, personally, over anchored structure jigging, as you can fish all areas around a piece of structure. In many cases, stripers will position themselves in a number of different places around the structure. Drifting is also ideal when vertically jigging rips caused by a shoal. By not being tethered to the bottom, you are able to move around more easily and try different spots.

  1. Run up tide about 200 feet in front of the structure you would like to fish.
  2. Drop your lure to the bottom and jig it upwards four or five times.
  3. Once you feel the lure rising off the bottom, drop it back down.
  4. Repeat.
Go-To Hogy Imitators: This is a hard selection here as the go-to lure often depends on the hatch. In a situation where stripers are staging, chances are they are expecting a very specific bait to blow by in the current.
 
A few scenarios might include (see chart below for reference):
  1. Squid and Sand Eels: A 7″ or 9″ Hogy Pro Tail Eel in pink would work best for this situation. The weight will depend on the current speed but I would do as low as 1.5oz in 20 feet of water and as heavy as 5oz in 60+ feet of water. The Hogy Sand Eel Jig and the Slappy Jiggin’ Eel will also do the trick.
  2. Herring: It’s hard to beat the 6.5″ Hogy Pro Tail Paddle, as far as a herring imitation goes. White, blue and silver are the most popular colors for herring imitations.

HERRING: PROTAIL PADDLES

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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MACKEREL: PROTAIL PADDLE

MACKEREL: PROTAIL PADDLE

This June morning, they were chasing mostly squid but as the sky lit up, the mackerel began to appear and the squid fishing slowed down. Switching over to the 2oz. Hogy Pro Tail Paddle, a common lure that Capt. Lundholm uses, he noted that when the squid are penned up on the surface, he’ll fish the unweighted 10” Hogy Originals.

“The fish right now are down a little bit,” Lundholm said. “They were mid-water column and what I did to work this Pro Tail was casting it out and letting it sink about a 20 count.”

This method will let the lure sink down in the water column and it can be worked back up to the surface with various retrieval speeds (fast, medium, slow, twitchy).

Lifting a decent sized bass over the rail of the boat, Lundholm noted how they are feeding heavily on squid and mackerel as their bellies are over extended and some cough up left over chunks of bait fish.

“Hopefully this bait will keep these fish here and we’ll have some good fishing for a bit,” Lundholm said as he released the fish.

One thing that most fisherman love about the Hogy Pro Tail Paddle is its durability. Common amongst many bass anglers, they find that the sandpaper mouths of striped bass, small and large alike, don’t tear up the soft plastic as quickly as some other baits they have used, allowing it to be used time after time on recreational, commercial and chartered fishing trips.

OPEN WATER SLIDERS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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MACKEREL: DIESEL MACK RIG

MACKEREL: DIESEL MACK RIG

Easy instructions from the Salty Cape Crew with Capt. Cullen Lundholm on how to target Mackerel using the Hogy Diesel Mack Sabiki Rig. Best way to catch your own fresh live bait for striper & tuna fishing on Cape Cod.

DIESEL MACK RIGS

2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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2oz (4.5inch) The EPOXY JIG™ Lure Olive

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