Frozen bait can be effective, but if given the choice, always buy fresh-even if it costs a little more. This often means bait that is caught locally though that isn’t critical in most cases. I would urge you to only consider buying bait from a tackle shop with the freshest offerings. Using bait that is spoiled, old, dried-out, freezer-burnt, or lacking any scent is a waste of time. How fresh is your bait?įresh bait is extremely important. While there are certainly times that lures-and even flies-can be more effective than bait, over an entire season bait is going to produce more fish and larger fish on average.

The scent of the bait is really what makes the difference in this case, and it’s hard to replicate that with a lure. If you’re fishing in clear water on a bright day, stripers might be picky and wary of any artificial offering. This is especially true when stripers are being fussy. Quite simply, except in some rare exceptions, bait is going to be more effective in catching all sizes of stripers. Instead, you should be thinking about these factors in choosing which is best for your next fishing trip.

There’s no single bait that is best for striped bass. Yet, with all kinds of bait available at your local tackle shop, how do you choose? This guide will help point you in the right direction for choosing the best bait for striped bass. Are you fishing open-ocean beaches for big stripers? Or are you trying to catch as many fish as you can from a quiet, sheltered, back-water mudflat? Each kind of fishing requires something totally different. When choosing bait, think more about what you want to accomplish with your fishing rather than what everyone else is doing. Striped bass are opportunistic and will not pass up any kind of easy meal. The best bait for striped bass varies on the time of year, weather conditions, location, and a wide array of other factors.

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