Notes:  Swimming plugs come in a vast array of different shapes, sizes, colors and material. Smaller 5-inch sizes are great for schoolie-sized stripers and those keyed in on smaller baits and 7-inch sizes are more appropriate for larger fish or those keyed in on large baits such as mature herring, large squid, mackerel and bunker. Swimming plugs are very easy to fish and are a good choice for relatively inexperienced anglers. Since the action is “built-in” to the lure and they also lend themselves well to trolling. Use them when conditions are not weedy

Casting Retrieve: B, C Fish with a horizontal rod tip or rod tip pointed slightly downward. Play with retrieve speed. This lure has neutral buoyancy, meaning it has a horizontal decent when sinking. This is a very natural presentation so a series of pauses are recommended on the retrieve.

Casting Application:

• Open water-feeding fish: Similarly to other sub surface lures, work the perimeter of the school. A slider will give you extra weight without a fast sink. This si a go to lure when stripers are feeding on large baitfish.
• Over Structure: A slider is at home over structure, particularly in a blind casting situation. Long steady retrieves allow you to cover a lot of ground.
• Casting in heavy current: A slider will swim happily in moving current. A slider will not dig in and swim too deeply in current.

Jigging Application: Not applicable for jigging
Colors: The usual: pink and amber, green, black and blue and olive to imitate squid, mackerel, herring and bunker respectively.

Notes: The spook is probably one of the more under utilized lures on for stripers. I would argue it is a cross between a swimmer and a pencil popper. They are easy to cast and draw crazy strikes. If there was a downside to them, they don’t fish well in rough water and are slightly more technical in presentation requiring constant observation and adjustments in retrieve to ensure the best presentation.

Casting Retrieve: Twitch Twitch, Pause, Twitch Twitch Pause

Casting Application: My favorite time to fish a spook is in calm conditions. A spook with a good rattle will draw attention from pretty far away. An ideal situation would be working it slowly over big boulders or some sort of structure. For whatever reason, I do best with spooks early in the morning or at sunset.

Jigging Application: Not applicable for Jigging

Colors: The usual: pink and amber, green, black and blue and olive to imitate squid, mackerel, herring and bunker respectively.

Notes: Unweighted soft baits imitate just about every baitfish around, especially eels, squid and sand eels, three of any striper’s favorite meals! They have amazing action, and come in a variety of colors natural colors. They best way to rig them is with a Hogy Swimbait hook which each hook sized and designed to interface with each of the softbaits we offer.

Casting Retrieve: A, B, C Hogy Original Softbaits rigged on Unweighted or lightly weighted Swimbait hooks can be fished in all manner of ways from skipping on the surface to slow and low.

Casting Application: 

• Shallow water estuary situations: There is not better bait than a Hogy 7” Original fished in skinny water. Rigged on a Swimbait hook, Hogy Originals are weedless and snag proof. They can be scuttled on the bottom or twitching on the top.

• Heavy structure such as boulder fields: the larger 10” size is most popular in heavy cover situations where the larger size best replicates a live eel.
• Shallow rips, shoals and heavy currents: Hogy Originals in both 7” and 10” sizes are killer in the rips. Cast Up tide, let the bait swing into the rip. Stripers will be laying in ambush waiting to strike. Best to rig in this situation with a weighted Swimbait hook.

Jigging Application: Not ideal for jigging.
Top Colors: Black, Olive, Bone, Pink and Amber colorations are all you need to imitate eels, sand eels, and squid, in that order.

Eels: The Hogy Pro Tail Eels are excellent imitators of sand eels and squid due to their long slender profile. They are internally weighted like the Paddles and are best suited for a subsurface presentation, whether cast-and-retrieved or vertically jigged.

Jigging Applications:

• Vertical Jigging: The heavier versions of the Hogy Pro Tail are designed for jigging. The drop is slower on the Paddles than the Eels due to the vibrating tail on the former, but fast enough to cover the water column on a vertical presentation. You get two speeds in one jig: slow on the way down with the paddle and fast on the way up.
• Slow, Targeted: Drop the bait to the desired depth. Slowly raise and drop the rod tip. This will simulate a wounded baitfish that can’t make much progress swimming.
• Colors: Hogy Pro Tail Eels are excellent imitations of sand eels and squid. Our best selling colors are olive, pink and white.

Notes: The Hogy Epoxy Jig® Lure is a very unique jig in that its largely made out of a light weight but durable resin. This is important to mention because the clear epoxy offers natural light refraction through the lure that simulates the translucent nature of many bait fish. The lure also has a heavy length to weight profile so that it casts well but has a far slower sink rate than a metal jig. They light(er) weight nature of the Hogy Epoxy Jig® Lure allows for a deadly wobble and any speed. They come in a variety of lengths, weights and colors ranging from 3/8oz all the way to 4oz.

Casting Retrieve: The length, weight, density ratio of the Hogy Epoxy Jig® Lure is balanced such that here is no wrong way to fish it. Play with retrieve speed, rod angle, rod motion and pauses. The lure will come to life. The higher the tip and faster the retrieve, the more the lure will skip on the surface.

Casting Application:

• Open water feeding fish: Go with the skippy retrieve! It’s as much fun as it is effective. Keep your rod tip pointed toward the sky and reel quickly while imparting shart rod tip twitches. The lure will simulate a fleeing baitfish skipping in the water in a very frightened manner.
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• Over Structure: Slow retrieve with very short pauses so you don’t snag.

• Casting in heavy current: Hogy Epoxy Jig®Lures do well in shallow water with heavy current. You can cast the lure up tide and fish the swing. Hogy Epoxy Jig® Lures have a sexy tumble when fished on a dead drift.

• Blind Casting: Rotate through all the retrieves. The varied commotion is very effective in eliciting strikes when fish are in the area but behaving in a finicky manner.

Jigging Retrieve: Do to their light weight, this technique is limited to size 2oz and up.

• Fast, Varied Water Colum: 2oz+
• Slow, Targeted: 2oz+
• Twitchy, Targeted Marks: 2oz+

Colors: Pink, Olive, Silver and Green are great imitators of squid, sand eels, herring and mackerel.

Notes:We brought this small “peanut” into the fold with the large influx of peanut bunker in recent years between Cape Cod and New Jersey. Obviously the “Peanut Bunker” coloration pattern is a true imitation but we have many other colors that imitate other small baits including squid and juvenile herring. This lure has a deadly wobble at a medium retrieve speed.

Casting Retrieve: The tall but thin pectoral to pectoral width of this lure result in a wicked swimming action at a slow to medium retrieve with the rod tip at a 45 degree angle downward angle if fishing on a boat and a horizontal to slightly upward presentation from the beach. These highly finished lures are hand airbrushed to offer a highly imitative appearance at slow speeds. The first in the series was the “peanut bunker” color but we have since offered patterns in all the hot baitfish patterns.

Casting Application:

• Finicky fish: If stripers are being finicky, fish the parameter of the school on a slow to medium retrieve speed. Let the fish get a good look at the lure, especially if they are feeding on peanut bunker.

Jigging Retrieve:

• Slow, Targeted, Twitchy: This lure is relatively light and is best fished in less than 30’ on a slow or twitchy jig retrieve. Find a depth and work it.

Colors: Peanut Bunker, eChix and Blue are excellent imitators of peanut bunker, squid, and juvenile herring.

Notes: The Hogy Sand Eel Jig is a very literal interpretation of a sand eel, hence the name. The Sand Eel Jigs have a long slender body that cast very well. By far, the top selling color is in the natural olive and silver pattern though these lures are made in pink and green to mimic deeper water juvenile squid and mackerel. They are suitable for casting at up to 3.5oz and we make larger jigging sizes in 6.5oz and 8.5oz for deep-water applications.

Casting Retrieve: On a cast, this lure likes a faster retrieve to get the maximum amount of action from it, particularly Hogy sand eel jigs 2.5oz and above. The smaller, 1.25oz version can be retrieved at a much slower speed.

Casting Application:

• Open water feeding fish: The Hogy Sand Eel is a long casting lure and is a great go to when fish are spooky and feeding on sand eels. The lure is also dynamite in heavy wind situations.
• From The Surf: Many shore anglers prefer the Hogy Sand Eel in situations where sand eels are pushed into the beach.

Jigging Retrieve:

• Fast, Varied Water Column: The Hogy Sand Eel has a medium fast sink rate with periodic flutters. It fishes well at high speed, which makes it a go to in speed jigging.
• Slow, Twitchy retrieve: It’s long slender design lends itself very well to the twitchy jig, a technique where you drop the lure to a specific depth and twitch the rod with sharp, short, rapid snaps.

Colors: Olive is for sand eels!