On a slightly overcast morning on a Mantoloking New Jersey beach in late October, working birds alerted surf fishermen to an on-going striper blitz. The surf fisherman waded out into the surf trying to cast to a pod of peanut bunker slowly moving south. They were catching stripers for a while, but soon the action moved past them.

About a hundred yards to the south another surf fisherman was waiting for the blitz to get to him. It soon did. He was using a rig that consisted of a single treble hook, with an egg sinker located about 15 inches above the hook. This was a bunker snagging rig.

When the pod of peanut bunker came within range, he cast it out into their midst. He quickly snagged a peanut bunker. He stopped and let the snagged peanut bunker fall to the bottom. Within a minute his rod bent sharply. He was onto a fish.

Within a few minutes he landed the fish, It was a decent size striped bass. This striper was not out of the water long at all. The fisherman quickly unhooked it and released it. He then cast out again. Soon he had another, which he also released.

Then the the pod of peanut bunker was past him. He jumped in his beach buggy, and drove down the beach to try and intercept it at another point. Other surf fishermen were joining the chase.

But now the pod of peanut bunker had moved out. It was in range of boat fishermen. Soon they were catching stripers. They were likely also using snagging rigs cast from their boat.

On this same day, striper blitzes were reported all along the New Jersey Coast, from Sea Girt to Atlantic City.

Pods of baitfish moving along close to shore, with fish on them and birds signaling their presence, are not every day occurrences. Between these eagerly anticipated events, fishing for stripers goes on along the New Jersey beaches.

Fishermen fish the surf with bunker chunks and clams. The best times are during the hour and half before the sun sets. Stripers who have been staying out in deeper water to avoid the sun (striped bass do not have eyelids) come back into shallow water to feed on whatever has been uncovered by the pounding surf. They come in close. Most surf fishermen put out two rods, one cast in close, and the other further out. Often the closer in one catches the stripers.