best water temperature for stripers

[jonthepain]

I like that there are a bunch of committed folks out there

or should be

[storminsteve]

jonthe pain I always enjoy your stories, especially the hunting ones. You even mangage to make "getting skunked" while hunting an entertaining read. I do have a sense sometime when reading your stuff that you are truly "out there". At this time I don't know if it's good or bad, but you are definitely funny in a twisted sort of way.

[jonthepain]

twisted sense of humor? moi?




btw, thanks for the kind words, i really needed them; the wife has been giving me a ra...well you know what i mean.

thanks again,
jon

[Monty]

How cold is the water in November/December when all the schoolies are along the beaches? They are very active.

Storminsteve, I agree with you 100%, Dark has a great group of members. Helpful, good sense of humor, no bickering.

Thanks for putting that up, Johnny. There are a bunch of good folks who just love fishing. No whining, no holier than thou, no pissing contests to brag about who is the best angler, and the incessant jealousy and criticism whenever someone catches and releases a nice fish. Or the 10 pages of internet tough guy arguing you get on another site when somene posts an opinion that isn't necessarily popular. Or god forbid someone say something that ins't completely correct, you will have dozens of guys ready to be negative and jump down that person's throat.!

[jonthepain]

How cold is the water in November/December when all the schoolies are along the beaches?

around 50

http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/catl.html

[Stripercoast1]

One thing to remember, These are SURFACE temperature readings. Areas I fish have deep water off the reefs in the 40 foot depth range within 30 yards of shore. Ask a scuba diver, it drops 10 degrees within 10 feet of depth and can be up to 20 at 35 feet.
It's one of the reasons the reef fronts hold fish close to shore during the heat of the summer.
Just a comment on the commited part, Everyone that fishes with me knows how commited I am to catching them, and conserving them. Everyone I know that doesn't fish feels I need to be commited.

[DarkSkies]

So thanks darkskies, pebbles, finchaser, clamchucker, surfwalker, gjb1969, monty, jonthpain, bassbuddah, ripplugger, voyager, charlietuna, fishinmission, wish4fish, vpass, stripercoast1, frankiesurf (the official SnA spelling nazi) and the stripercoastsurfcasters guys, nitestrikes, jimbob,stripercrazy, capt nemo, dogfish and all the other people whose stories and crazy anecdotes (bababooey) I have come to enjoy. Sorry if I left anyone out.
I like that there are a bunch of committed folks out there who try to bring articles and knowledge to us here.

or should be

Just a comment on the commited part, Everyone that fishes with me knows how commited I am to catching them, and conserving them. Everyone I know that doesn't fish feels I need to be commited.

Thanks for the kind words there Steve. Some might look at that list above not as a list of people who love fishin, but those who only by a small stroke of luck, have not been filed away into the sanitarium. I know fishin makes me happy, glad you feel the same.

[7deadlyplugs]

I don't have science behind me, but it seems I always do better in the spring when the water temps go above 55, and in the fall when the temp starts to hit 60 or below.

[rockhopper]

Wow cool thread, I wonder what is the coldest temp anyone has caught a bass at?

[plugginpete]

For the spring I'll be on the hunt as soon as it hits 45. I have caught around that temp with bloods.

[ledhead36]

I agree with plugginpete. Seems there is some activity when the temps hit that magic 45 degree level. If there are a few sunny days after that to heat up the flats, the activity will get better.

[VSdreams]

Yes, 45-50. Come on spring and sun!

[porgy75]

How about the highest temperatures? What are some of the highest temperatures you guys have caught a bass at?

[buckethead]

I think around 75-78 degrees. That was on bait though, specifically crabs. I seem to remember they shut off for the artis around these temps. Unless you have a lot of bait around. I got some nice ones around the last new moon. They were on the bottom feeding on the crabs. One of them was all red like it rubbed up all over the rocks getting those crabs. Tried plugs and bucktailing for no results. I have caught them in warmer water at montauk but that was when the water was loaded with bait, chock full of it. Otherwise they sit like logs on the bottom and in deeper water at the higher temperatures.

[captnemo]

I agree with buckethead. We found stripers at higher temperatures but it had to do with a lot of bait as he said. According to my logs once the water hits 65 to 70 degrees it pushes most of the stripers to look for cooler water.

[CharlieTuna]

Wow cool thread, I wonder what is the coldest temp anyone has caught a bass at?

I have caught them right outside of Boston Harbor in early winter when the water reading was 43. We were jigging them and they were aggressive. They were on herring though. Without the herring to charge them up things might have been different.

[clamchucker]

I found that below 42 they shut down for jigging from a boat or artificials from the beach. Have seen that reflected in the recent reports here also. Dark and finchaser have mentioned that several times. We have caught them while worming perch in the back bays in the winter. They seem to shut down around 40 degrees for those areas. The perch will still bite but the bass stop. I can't tell you an exact temperature but that is the way it has been for me.

[finchaser]

40 to 65 IMO is prime under 40 and the fat lady sings

[baitstealer]

I found that below 42 they shut down for jigging from a boat or artificials from the beach. Have seen that reflected in the recent reports here also. Dark and finchaser have mentioned that several times. We have caught them while worming perch in the back bays in the winter. They seem to shut down around 40 degrees for those areas. The perch will still bite but the bass stop. I can't tell you an exact temperature but that is the way it has been for me.

40 to 65 IMO is prime under 40 and the fat lady sings

Thank you for your experience. Very informative.

[porgy75]

I was going back over some of the questions I asked when I first joined and this was one of them. Thanks so much for all the helpful info guys.