Surfland Bait and Tackle

I spent half of Saturday at Surfland’s Surfcasting Demo Day and as always, it was a great event that really brings along that old school surfcasting atmosphere. In speaking with so many local anglers I was able to piece together a solid picture of what’s going on right now in the waters local to the shop. There are stripers exiting the Merrimack River, these are fish that wintered in the river and are now moving downriver to feed. At the same time, there are some a few early-arrivals making landfall on the local beaches. The holdover fish tend to look a little duller or yellower and won’t be sporting sea lice, the fresh fish are brighter and have been covered in sea lice. The sizes have ranged from schoolies under 20 inches to a few bigger fish in the 30- to 35-inch class. If you just want to hook a striper, a worm on the bottom is a good bet. If you want to fish actively, small to medium soft plastic paddletails and even a small topwater plug like a 1-ounce Super Strike Popper or a Jumpin’ Minnow will do the trick. Look for the striper bite to improve greatly over the coming the week. Shad are running in the Parker and Merrimack Rivers, it doesn’t sound like the run has hit peak stride yet, but that should be coming soon!

I spoke with one of the younger clerks at Surfland and he was excited about the 35-inch striper he had landed Sunday morning from the mouth of the Merrimack River. That fish hit a paddletail shad and he was pretty sure it was holdover making its way out of the river. You may remember that there were a few small bass running the beaches last week, but there were no new reports from the sand this week. Shad action continues to slowly pick up speed, the North Andover area has been the hot zone. And the local runs are loaded with herring, which is a great since fresh stripers are well on their way. The shop is buzzing with excitement for their Demo Day slated for this Saturday, May 9th. With great deals in the shop, reps from high-end surfcasting companies like Van Staal and St. Croix and a chance to grab some custom wood from the likes of Guppy Lures and Goo Goo Man, it’s day you don’t want to miss!