Higbee's Bait and Tackle

Each day this week, even the days when the wind blew 30-plus knots, anglers found stripers on Fortescue Beach. Higbee’s Bait and Tackle reports that bloodworms are the go to bait and the demand for these baits exceeds the supply on many days. Call ahead to make sure you can get bait before heading down to the beach. The fish are here in good numbers and a lot of them are falling into the keeper slot range, with the larger fish were pushing the 43-inch mark this week. Some perch were caught as well right from the beach, and a couple of drum in the 25- to 28-inch range also sucked up bloodworms intended for stripers.

While some anglers fished early in the week and scored some stripers from Fortescue Beach, by mid-week, the beach was basically unfishable according to Higbee’s Bait and Tackle. But that all changed on Friday and Saturday when anglers hit the beach hard were rewarded with a plethora of stripers. Many of the fish were between the 30- and 40-inch size range, and there were a couple of smaller fish around 20 inches and some as big as 46- inches caught as well. All the fish that we heard of came on bloodworm baits. The beach has been crowded during the daylight hours, but thins out as nightfall approaches. Nighttime has also seen some of the larger fish being caught either due to feeding patterns or just less fishing pressure.