Quote Originally Posted by buddy View Post
A lot of good comments and information.

Reading these comments has me thinking about what I usually throw at "jumps." I remember numerous times I have been in jumps and could not get anything to bite. I could feel the lure hitting the bodies of the fish but no bites. Do you all try to match the lure to the bait? I tend to throw a jointed red fin (red and white) or silver jointed sliver. I have throw a Gizzit 4 to get deeper--if the jumps stay up long.

It gets frustrating when you think this time of the year "jumps" are few and far between but equally upsetting is when you are fortunate to be siting in an area with fish jumping all around and you can't get any bites. I have never thrown anything small but when I see baitfish this time of the year--the baitfish looks smaller. Do most of you try to match the size of lure to the baitfish or find the biggest or heavy lure, so you can cast it far?

I'll make 2-3 casts with a topwater plug. If no interest, switch to a bucktail and vary the depth that I fish it. You can also throw a bucktail in the general area after the school goes down.


With a bucktail, I'll do a 5 count, then start reeling. Next cast, a 10 count. then a 15 count. Start back over at 5. Often, the larger stripers are hanging below the school and will eat the bucktail. A bucktail will also cast well.


When stripers get real keyed in on a certain bait, you pretty much have to match the hatch. I've seen them busting small threadfins before, but would not touch a large gizzard shad when thrown to the jump. A number of years back one of my fishing partners caught the biggest striper of the trip on a 1 1/2 inch deciever fly. Used a weighted bobber (launcher) to give him enough weight to cast to the jump. I have also fished similar flies in front of a slab spoon.


You also have to keep in mind that you may have several hundred stripers chasing 100,000 shad or more. Your one lure has to stick out a little from the rest of the school to have much of a chance of getting eaten.