Stripers and Sand Eels in November

Sand Eels in November

I pause on the crest of a big, bulbous dune to soak up the scene that lies in entrance of me. My breath is available in small puffs of vapor that dangle like fog round my face, clouding my imaginative and prescient. It’s chilly tonight. The sand glistens like one million minuscule diamonds below a heavy dew and full moon. Whereas the air is nearly totally nonetheless, the rolling surf breaks the silence with rhythmic pulsations of churning water. It’s a weak surf, however the sound carries far within the crisp air. The celebrities are so vibrant and clear that they really feel shut…as if I might attain up and maintain them in my hand. In a fleeting second of childlike creativeness, I need to restrain myself from attempting.

Motion to the suitable catches my eye. I flip, disturbing the stillness round me with the swish sound of my waders. A fox is working the tide line, his nostril down, darting and swerving as waves break and roll towards it. It’s a bit late for me to run into my season-long nocturnal companion, but right here she is. She pauses momentarily to examine some potential meal. I believe to myself, “I ponder if this would be the final evening I see her this season?” I frown. The thought is one more harbinger of a season coming to an in depth.

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This thought brings with it some urgency and pushes me out of my reflective, passive commentary of the seashore and into an lively looking mode. I half stroll, half slide down the slim path minimize within the dune grass. The fox appears to be like up all of a sudden and turns rapidly to flee. She bounds away, after which stops for a second, glancing over her shoulder, showing to replicate on my sudden and alien look. She could also be questioning the identical primary thought that many different fishermen would probably be pondering—what am I doing out right here so late within the season?

As I attain the waterline, I give her a fast half-wave/half-salute and watch her dissolve into the evening. I flip again towards the horizon and concentrate on the duty at hand. The lure choice is automated—an unloaded Cotton Cordell Crimson Fin. My fingers are already somewhat chilly, however anticipation pushes it out of my thoughts. I can see the sand eels glowing in entrance of me, proper on the surf line, in addition to out into the trough. I snap on the lure and take a forged. Solely 20 or so ft into the retrieve, I’m tight to my first striper of the evening.

For the rest of this tough, vitreous evening, I catch bass all through the complete tide to about 12 kilos. Regardless of my late arrival and the constant motion, the evening nonetheless feels lengthy. The moon disappears, and I find yourself fishing by inky darkness and into the morning, unable to tug myself away. Twilight passes languidly, however as gentle begins to peek over the jap horizon, I tally my nighttime catch at nearly 40 fish.

But, it’s not over. All of the sudden, stripers start swirling in all places within the wash. They’re rolling on shimmering balls of sand eels thick sufficient to ripple and rile the flat floor. I’ve stopped catching, because the fish begin to reject my plugs, however I can see fish cruising tight to the shore. I make the choice to endure the lengthy stroll again to the automobile and seize my fly rod. I word as I unlock the door that my car is roofed with frost.

Upon hustling again to the surf, my fly rod in hand, I discover the fish aggressively breaking within the surf because the solar rises totally over the jap horizon. I lay out a properly positioned forged, however it hardly issues. I don’t even get an opportunity to strip my line earlier than I’m tight to a fierce, keeper-sized striper. I grin ear to ear—it doesn’t get significantly better than this.

November is a lonely, determined time for the New England surf fisherman. There appears to solely be a handful of diehards left as everybody else has both given up striper fishing for the season or began making lengthy drives south. This isn’t stunning, and even unjustified. Late-fall fishing within the New England surf may be powerful. Huge expanses of shoreline are devoid of life, places that, solely weeks earlier than, had been full of blitzes of reckless, seemingly indignant, migrating fish.

Studying the story above, it’s possible you’ll surmise I’m speaking about October in South County Rhode Island or November in New Jersey. Nevertheless, this particular evening occurred on Cape Cod in mid-November. Over these 12 hours of fishing, I caught greater than 60 fish, and through that November I caught greater than 120 from that single spot. To these new to the game, or those that have forgotten historical past, November within the Cape surf was once a first-rate month for big fish, although I by no means noticed these days. Whereas issues have modified considerably, I nonetheless discover strong tides full of schoolies to teen-size fish every season deep into November. Persistently catching these fish has come down to 1 easy tactic for me. I key in on one forage species, to the exclusion of all different components. I concentrate on sand eels.

Why Striper Fish Round Sand Eels?

It’s easy, actually—they keep put. Sand eels are totally different from many different types of bait. If there isn’t a loopy onshore storm that comes late within the 12 months and lasts for a really very long time, the eels don’t transfer round a lot. As soon as you discover them, you may rely on them being there for a lot of weeks, and even months, late into the season. As such, they entice and maintain the final remaining migrating fish as they head south or offshore. Cape Cod might be the sand eel capital of New England, if not the Northeast and holds concentrations that may boggle the thoughts. The opposite good thing the Cape has going for it’s seashores that face each route the wind might probably blow. Because of this, if there’s a predominant northeast wind sample, Cape anglers can fish the greasy-calm situations of the south-facing seashores—and vice-versa. This could be a actual asset later in November.

How one can Discover Sand Eels

Past discovering the sand eels, in the course of the tail finish of the season, selecting, testing, and sticking with productive spots turns into paramount. You have to begin early. I don’t fish many of those late-season spots in the course of the extra productive durations of the autumn run as a result of there are higher possibilities of larger fish on bigger forage. Nevertheless, I normally drive myself to fish a few evening tides in October and even late September, testing my common November spots, figuring out I might be glad I did so afterward. If I discover bait and even only a few schoolies, I do know I’m most likely in luck.

Whereas it’s November now, don’t fear – it’s not too late to get began. Go tonight or tomorrow, if you happen to can. Don’t attempt to catch fish instantly; as a substitute, exit and hit as many probably spots as you may, in search of good sand eel concentrations—concentrations being the important thing phrase on this sentence. You don’t need only a few or scattered pockets; you desire a strong, thick swath of bait. And, ensure you are sand eels and never spearing or different minnow-sized baitfish. I generally discover figuring out sand eels simpler at evening utilizing a headlamp. For those who flip in your gentle and the bait darts away, showing to vanish fully earlier than your eyes, you realize you’re on sand eels.

When you’ve discovered the sand eels, begin fishing. I recommend not losing any time at spots with no fish this month regardless of how a lot construction or bait there may be. Not like within the spring, summer time, and early fall, I don’t “stick it out” at spots that “look good.” No fish throughout an evening or two? I’m not coming again for some time, if in any respect. Nevertheless, as soon as I discover some fish, I’ll sit on them for so long as I can. Even when they’re small, I attempt to not go away fish to seek out fish. The presence of smaller fish suggests there’s something totally different about this spot, and bigger fish might seem. This doesn’t essentially imply I’ve to catch a dozen fish to deem a spot productive, however I’m in search of an space with greater than only a single schoolie over a few nights. It takes time to get a really feel for it, however when you get into the sample and construct some confidence, you’ll nearly intuitively know when a spot is smart.

As for the particular traits of the spot, I’m not fussy about nuance. I merely search for sandy areas near well-known migration routes or close to main holdover areas (i.e., rivers and estuaries). They don’t must be instantly adjoining, however the nearer the higher. That’s about it. Whereas I obsess over water motion, construction, and different components earlier within the season, I don’t fear an excessive amount of about it in November. It’s all in regards to the bait and intercepting the remaining fish as they both head south or gap up for the winter in our native backwaters. (Word that this doesn’t apply simply to the Cape, but additionally to different areas in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.)

After getting a spot with sand eels and have caught a few fish, ensure you’re focusing on the perfect tide. This may occasionally sound like an intuitive “duh” assertion, however it may additionally show essential. For me, fishing sandy seashores this time of 12 months is all in regards to the incoming tide. The water tends to be hotter, and an incoming tide will increase water depth. Since I’m usually fishing shallow areas, this deeper water appears carry the fish inside casting distance. Nevertheless, this may increasingly not apply to your spot. I recommend attempting as many tide phases as you may, and logging them in a fishing log. Each evening out is knowledge and an funding in your future success. Moreover, I urge you to fish solely the evening tides until you’ve gotten limitless availability to fish across the clock. This time of 12 months, many fishermen change to fishing late afternoons and evenings, however I believe this to be a mistake. The most effective fishing nonetheless stays after darkish, similar to all season lengthy, and I nonetheless fish the very late “witching hour” tides effectively after midnight.

Lastly, proper now, I favor to fish with the wind at my again, which is counter to what many are inclined to suppose. Actually, throughout early durations of the autumn, massive waves, white water, and wind-in-your-face situations may be dynamite. Nevertheless, this time of 12 months, I fish flat situations nearly completely. It’s actually not in regards to the fish, it’s extra about my consolation degree. When it’s solely 40 (and even 30) levels out and the water is just 50, with the wind blowing in my face at 25 mph, my arms don’t are inclined to perform very effectively, even with gloves (and I hate gloves). So, I concentrate on calm situations out of egocentric consolation and adapt my angling to catch what I can. Fortunately, calm situations are extra conducive to getting sand eels to come back up and out of the sand, attracting extra fish.

Sand Eel Lure Imitations

In the case of plug alternative, that is the one time of 12 months that I closely use plastic minnow-style lures. They mimic the bait measurement, they’re low cost, and so they forged effectively. I really like an unloaded Cotton Cordell Crimson Fin. With a wind at my again, I’ve no drawback casting them, and the unloaded Crimson Fin appears to be extra productive for me in shallow, clear water than the loaded model. This lure has extra dramatic motion, which permits it to be fished very slowly whereas nonetheless having that seductive roll. I additionally like Yo-Zuri Magazine Darters, Bomber Lengthy A’s, and Daiwa SP Minnows. Nevertheless, Lunker Metropolis Slug-Gos may be the one factor that catches at occasions, so I at all times have them available.

Needlefish of assorted sizes are additionally at all times in my bag, however they must be very sluggish sinking. I cycle by all of those, each dozen casts or so, as I believe the fish may be comparatively fussy in these late-season, shallow-water conditions. It generally takes some experimentation to lock into the perfect lure alternative.

For my fellow fly-rodders, November is a improbable, and neglected, time to focus on stripers and bait near shore. I fish intermediate and floating traces on my 10-weight rod and usually use a straight, 15- to 20-pound chief of seven to 9 ft lengthy. It’s easy and works nice—I’m simply capable of shoot the total line, blind-casting measurement 1/0 flies for hours on finish with out an excessive amount of fatigue, and don’t have any drawback pulling teen-sized bass by the final wave.

The wonderful thing about fishing at evening is you don’t must go loopy with gentle tippets. I nearly completely use cheap Deceiver flies, or Clouser minnows if the water is somewhat deeper. Sizes between 1 and 1/0 work simply wonderful, and by focusing in on one bait profile, issues keep easy.

Late Fall Striper Surf Fishing

I’ll speak in confidence to you one thing that not each fishing author, information, and even simply “Joe Fisherman” is prepared to confess. Some years may be awful, and I catch only a few stripers—maybe solely a dozen or two in the complete month, regardless of substantial effort. Nonetheless others may be actually rewarding and yield good numbers of fish each evening for weeks. This comes all the way down to a number of components; nevertheless, a very powerful is luck of the climate.

Climate can completely destroy any probability at catching something. Throughout September and October, fishing 4- to 6-foot waves is not any drawback; throughout November, it may be a catastrophe. It might probably disperse the sand eels and drive them out of a spot or offshore, and generally, for no matter purpose, they only by no means come again. It additionally tends to push the remaining migrating fish south. Since I insist on specializing in particular tides at evening, if a number of storms come again to again with solely a handful of days between them, it may wreck a whole tide cycle, and even the entire month. As such, when the window of alternative opens, I deal with these tides like I do these in Might or June—I encourage, borrow, or purchase my method out of any obligations and fish like my life relies upon upon it. I keep totally dedicated to the surf, proper to the bitter finish, as a result of I by no means remorse it in February.

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