The Best 5 Hybrid Striped Bass Lures

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There are more than 5 – these are some of the best!
April 10, 2019
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1. Live Bait Setup (Alewife, Gizzard Shad, Herring)

My preferred way to fish for striped bass is at night from mid-spring through mid-summer. After sunny days in late spring is perfect because this makes the baitfish active and spawning which makes the stripers active and feeding. Get to the lake around 10:00pm with a cast net to catch baitfish, My preferred way to fish for striped bass is at night from mid-spring through mid-summer.

Spend 5 to 30 minutes netting alewife, shad, or herring. Buy large minnows if you do not have a cast net or if a cast net permit is needed for the lake.

Then troll the banks slowly and listen for striped bass. Striped bass make a distinct and very loud popping sound when feeding on baitfish near the surface at night. Once the center of the activity is found anchor the boat about 30 feet from shore in about 5 feet of water. If you do not have a boat hybrid bass can defiantly be caught from the shore if there is access to a good spot. Cast a live baitfish on a small hook about two to five feet off a small bobber with a light on it and wait for a fish to bite. It is very exciting when they do! The action usually lasts until around 2:00 am when fishing hybrid bass at night.

When fishing for striped bass in deep water ranging from 10 to 40 feet a hook with a sliding ½ to ¾ ounce egg sinker weight that is stopped by a barrel swivel is a great option. A 2 to 4-foot leader after the swivel is a good length. Slip bobbers can be used to fish mid-depths. Fresh cut bait also works well when fishing deep. Cut bait leaves and oiling sent trial that fish can follow to the bait. Use the hook recommended above with 15-gram foam float bobbers with glow sticks are perfect for fishing with bobbers at night. Ten glow sticks that last about 10 hours are included.

Glow In the Dark Bobbers

glow-in-the-dark-bobber-15-gram-with-glow-sticks-made-of-foam
50 glow sticks for 15-gram float bobber. Each glow stick lasts 10 to 12 hours. No worrying about light bulbs and batteries, this is a great way to add light to bobbers for night fishing.

2. Black Bombers (Great for Night Fishing)

Black Bomber striped bass lure

This stickbait works great on ledges. The plug can be jerked and twitched similar to how a Husky Jerk is fished. During the pauses, the lure floats up slowly and this frequently triggers strikes. The bombers also work well when trolling topwater or on a downrigger for deeper fish. Storm thundersticks would be another similar lure frequently used but I typically use the bombers. Bombers come in 3 1/2 inch and 4 1/2 inch sizes. My favorite color patterns are silver blue or pearl black back orange belly during the day and the purple-black at night!

3. Rapala X-Rap Jerkbait Hybrid Lure

Rapala X-Rap Jerkbait Hybrid Lure

The plug is 2 1/2 inches long and weighs 1/8 ounce. Glass Ghost is a shiny white lure with red highlights which does a great job of matching the color and appearance of shad. Reflective tails on the trailing trouble hook work great for stripers! This Jerkbait works great in 1 to 8 feet of water in early spring during the daytime. This is the lures of choice for many die-hard striper fishermen. Glass Ghost or black and silver are great colors to match the color of typical baitfish hybrids feed on.

4. Heddon Super Spook Jr

Heddon Super Spook Jr
This lure is often used by freshwater fisherman for largemouth bass, hybrid bass and striped bass. This same lure is available for saltwater fishing but comes with stainless silver hooks which are better for saltwater. This cylinder or cigar style plug is very popular with striper fishermen. This lure works best when fished slowly as with poppers. This lure is typically fished walk the dog style. This is done by working the fishing pole side to gets slack in the line with each twitch while reeling in slowly and pausing occasionally. As with poppers, this works best early morning, in the evening and at night. This is not a popper and if that is what you are looking for a Chug’n Spook is a good option. The Super Spook Jr is a 3 1/2 inch 1/2 ounce top water top water plug with a loud rattle.

5. Storm 360 GT Searchbait Minnow Shad

Storm 360 GT Searchbait Minnow Shad
These are great jigs. They can be cast and retrieved, vertically jigged, or used while trolling. I like 1/8 once, 3.5 inch for casting and 1/4 ounce 4.5 inch for jigging. The hooks are not super strong so be careful to not fight the fish to aggressively if line heavier than 20-pound test is being used. The search-bait minnow comes in 3.5 to 5.5-inch sizes and weights from 1/8 ounce to 3/8 ounce.