The following are some tips and tricks I've learned over the year's that will help you catch more and bigger fish once you get used to following them religiously.
The farther back you go from the open sea, the tides will last later as well as longer. Tidal fluctuations are also larger since it takes longer and more water to fill ponds, back coves, rivers and estuaries.
View each day as a new set of problems. Take nothing for granted.
Pay close attention to the small details at all times, as they do make a difference in how many fish you catch on a consistent basis.
Moderate on-shore winds will concentrate the bait along the shoreline that it is blowing on. Look there first for gamefish and monster stripers.
When it's windy, the wind will speed up or slow down the flow of water as it moves in or out. Wind with the tide (faster), wind against the tide, (slower).
Pilings are best fished the first hour of sunrise or in the evening as the sun goes down.
Learn how to tie "Loop-Knots" for your poppers, swimmers, flies and jigs. Your lure and flies will work much better and move more life-like, than by adding any type of hardware to your line which in most cases will impeed its action.
Try using plastic battery boxes to store your gear in on board your boat. They are great for tools and other supplies. The vented top prohibits moisture build-up which in turn prevents rusting. They are good for lure storage as well.
Narrow spool bait casting reels will cast smaller jigs, poppers and swimmers better and farther than the wide spool models. Narrow spool bait casters are also less prone to backlashes, since your thumb covers more of the spools surface during the cast.
When you see or notice birds flying high overhead, it usually indicates that the biat is far beneath the water's surface. When the birds are diving and hitting the water it indicates fish are beneath pushing bait to the surface.
Make sure you back-off your fishing reels drag system after each trip. Your drag will last longer and work better if you do. Keeping the drag tight will compress the drags washers or cork and can cause it to stick or slip when fighting a good size striper.
Use a heavier leader or shock tippet on light tackle so you have something to grab hold of when the fish comes to the boat or close to shore. Learn how to tie a Bimini Twist knot to attach leaders to your main line. It's one of the stongest connections known for this purpose.
Low tide is a good time to drift baits at the mouths of rivers or inlets. Many monster size stripers are taken when the tide goes slack in an awful lot of places up and down the coast.
Monster stripers can and will become concentrated in holes and in channels during periods of low water. Focus on these areas to catch more big fish.
After making a drift through an area where you have found fish, don't go back through it over the same drift line. Instead, make a wide swing out and around so you keep the noise and disturbance to a minimum.
This one isn't for catching fish but it's important. Make it a point to learn First Aid and CPR before venturing out on the water. You never know when you will need that knowledge to help save someone's life or even your own.
Experiments at various universities continually show and indicate that fish can learn very quickly what lures to avoid. Even when they have been fed only a little food to keep them hungry, they still refuse any artificial offerings. Scientists have learned that there really are smart fish and stupid fish. The smart fish grow up to be monster size stripers, while the dumb ones are caught or eaten by something else.
Remember that fish are cold-blooded creatures. therefore they are comfortable at any temperature. What temperature does and how it effects the fish is, it will either speed up or slow down his feeding activity. In either case the fish still has to eat. The curretent popularity with winter time fishing has shown this to be true. The water is extremely cold, yet the fish do eat. Maybe not every day, but they still eat.
When fishing on clear night (s) with a bright moon and no wind or clouds, try using clear see-through lures. They will be harder for the fish to see and give off a clear silhouette against the sky's background making it more difficult for the fish to clearly identify it as a fake. In most instances, they wind up eating it just to be safe. Clear lures work great on these types of nights.
For keeping your mono line on your spinning reel or casting reel limp and supple, try a product from Blackmore Lure Company called "Line Magic". You spray it on the line and it lubricates the line as well as helping to preserve it.
Fluorescent chartreuse is one of the most visible colors to fish. Nothing like it exists in the natual world but fish still seem to go for it with abandon. Red is the most visible color in water of less than 10-feet deep, while yellow is a good color in turbid or dirty wate and on cloudy and overcast days.
Keep these tips in mind the next time you are out on the water looking for that monster striper. It all these little things that help the pro's put more and bigger fish in the boat on a consitent basis.
