With the Fall Run of striped bass in full swing, Jersey anglers are hitting the surf hard to beach linesiders spanning between 10 and 50 pounds. Just this week I landed a pair of bass at 34 and 38 pounds and hundreds of other anglers were also putting quality fish on the sand. Bait schools bring in the bass and keep them within casting distance from shore as a mix of rainfish, peanut bunker, adult bunker and sand eels are on the menu – and that means a variety of artificial lures will work when you need to match the hatch.

For small to medium class 5 to 20-pound bass, excellent rainfish imitations include 2/0 bucktail hair teasers, Ava 007 jigs, Williamson Gomoku jigs; peanut bunker profile lures include 1 to 2-ounce Crippled Herring jigs, Storm or Tsunami swim shads; sand eel dopplegangers include Ava 007 to A27 size jigs, #2 Deadly Dicks, and Tsunami holographic sand eels; historically favorite swimming plugs are Bomber Long-A and Bomber A-Salt or Daiwa SP Minnows. When gearing up to go for cow bass over the 25-pound mark, go large with 3-ounce Gibbs pencil poppers, Danny metal-lipped swimmers, and Tactical Angler darters. Terminal tackle to put the rigs together include 100-pound Spro Barrel swivels, Seaguar Fluorocarbon line of 25 to 50 pounds, and 50 to 125-lb class Tactical Angler clips. Solid all around surf sticks span 9 to 12 foot long with a moderate action, such as a Lamiglas XSRA 1084-2 matched with a Van Staal VS150 or Shimano TRS12MHA matched with a Shimano Ultegra XSC 10000 reel. Spool up with 40-pound Power Pro braided line.

Ok, you’ve got the gear, now its time to put in the time. Sunrise hours have been prime times to target bass with poppers and shads as they crash and blast bunker schools once the sun comes up, but dark hours are ultra productive to toss black or purple Bomber A-Salts into the cuts and sloughs. Be mobile. If you’ve got beach buggy access, use it to run and gun along the beachfront to find actively feeding bass on bait schools. Move around the coastline trying out different cuts, holes and sloughs in various towns and beaches. The first wave of 20 to 40 pounders moved through this past week in Jersey and historically they will run strong through the third week of December. Hit the sands hard to tangle with some of the best surf striper fishing the world has to offer. And if you miss the run in Jersey this month, then catch it in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina as the winter rolls on.