EP 65: 15 Tips for Spring Striped Bass

A tiny rise in water temperature can flip the striper switch, and we’re putting you right where those micro-warms and ambush lanes collide. Spring season just opened in New Jersey, so we pull together 15 field-tested tactics from our guests and our own time on the flats to help you find fish fast and waste less time guessing.

We start with heat: why dark mud warms faster than sand, how wind can either add warmth or strip it away, and where shallow protected coves outproduce open channels. Then we stack timing on top of that—midday sun, outgoing tide, and the second day of a warming trend—to funnel bait off flats and set stripers on ledges. You’ll learn to work the entire water column with compact suspending baits and small soft plastics, slow your cadence with longer pauses, and keep action alive even at cold-water speeds. We lay out the simple pattern that repeats all spring: find the bait, then fish the nearest edge, seam, or shadow line.

Bait matters now more than ever. Bloodworms, shrimp, clams, and small crabs match what’s actually in the system before big bunker and herring waves arrive. We cover structure strategy—bridges, docks, sod bank points, jetties—and explain why night fishing around artificial light lines can be lethal for bigger fish. We also talk tackle that protects subtle bites without underpowering surprise cows and the one rule that saves whole sessions: stay mobile if the water feels lifeless.

Finally, we demystify electronics. Even a basic fish finder can reveal temperature breaks, bait clouds, and size separation if you tune it right. Read your screen, chart your edges, and stop driving past the fish. If you’re eyeing the Raritan, we share a simple starting plan, safety tips around ripping currents, and the lures we trust when water sits in the 40s. Subscribe, share with your fishing crew, and leave a review to tell us which tip you’ll test first this week.

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Transcript

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Opening And Solo Show Setup

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 0:00

If you've never seen a temperature break on your electronics on your fish finder, you need to learn more about your fish finder because nearly every single model, even the cheap ones, will show you a temperature break that's in the water. Hello and welcome back to the Fat Dad Fishing Show. I'm your host, Rich Natoli. Tonight's gonna be one of those solo shows, and uh yeah, it's gonna be all about strike bass. And uh I guess you can you can figure out why it is time to start fishing, at least in New Jersey, which is where most of our audience is. Uh so we're gonna talk a little bit about the backwaters. I I gotta tell you, it's uh got cold again. It was warm for a couple days, got cold, and that really does change what we're gonna do in order to uh target these fish. So so welcome to the show again, Sola Show Striped Bass. Season just opened in New Jersey yesterday. So we're gonna go through some tips. And what I'm gonna say is it's gonna be basically 15 tips for fishing spring striped bass. And you know, it's it's gonna basically focus on the backwaters because that's typically what we're focusing on. Uh, so I'm gonna go through that. It's gonna be stuff that's been pulled from all of the guests over the past several years, uh, some of my personal information. And I would like those of you that are in the chat to chime in. You guys often know more than me. So before we jump into that,

Season Start And Topic Overview

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want to go through the sponsors. Start off as always with Great Bay Outer Outfitters on Radio Road in Tuckerton. Anything kayak fishing related, check them out. One of the largest dealers for Old Town. We got Crescent, we got native, uh in the entire region. So if you if you need something, go down there, check it out, talk to Paul. He does do on-the-water demos, which is probably the most important thing you can do when you're considering buying a kayak. And uh it's it's no more ice in the water. So you can actually get out there and do it right now. And it's that time of year where he's just moving a lot of products. So even if you're not getting a new boat, he's got all of the stuff that you need to outfit that kayak and get it set up the way that you want it, including power, electronics, everything, and all the regular accessories, uh, like rod holders, everything that you need. He's got including reels. Next one, quad state tune. Kevin Driscoll is your guy. If you have a Toyota truck, a Tacoma, Tundra Forerunner, Lexus 460, 470, uh, yeah, all of those. Those engines, he's got the tunes for them. It's gonna get you better mileage, better torque, better horsepower, better performance overall. If you are towing a boat and you've got a Toyota, talk to Kevin. He may be able to help you out to get better performance out of that vehicle. And if it turns out that it's not something that's recommended for you, he will just flat out tell you, you won't collect your money. He won't do anything. He'll say, Nope, you don't need it, move on. And then me, real estate in southeastern

Sponsors And Community Shoutouts

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 3:00

Pennsylvania. I am a realtor. I actually manage an office in Bluebell, Pennsylvania, and I cover all of Montgomery County, Bucks, Berks, Chester, Delaware, some of Philly, too. I actually have a listing coming up in Philadelphia. So if you have any real estate needs in southeastern Pennsylvania, please reach out to me. My phone number is 267-270-1145. And I'm just going to say this because I did talk to a guy who said, Yeah, I wasn't sure if I should call you. I didn't want to bother you. It's how I pay my bills, my friends. So you're not bothering me if you have potential business for me. It is always welcomed. And I love working with people that have found me or somebody that has watched the podcast or live stream has sent my way. It's just, it's just a cool twist to it. So reach out. And with that said, we're going to jump in and we're going to talk about basically, I kind of went through, I'm a dork, man. I listen to these old shows because I learn a lot from the guests that are on. So I've I've been going through the striped bass ones because I want to get on the water, want to start fishing for striped bass. Didn't really do it last year at all. Definitely didn't the year before. So it's been quite a time off the water for me. So I was getting all pumped up, listening to Matus and Bayside Dave. And I figured, you know what, let's do a condensed version tonight. And let's just go through some of the biggest tips that we've gotten from everybody over that time. Now I am going to focus mostly on artificial. Okay. Mostly artificial, but I will also talk a little bit about bait fishing. And again, those of you that are in the chat, throw anything in that that you have to add to the conversation or anything that I miss, anything you disagree with as well. That would be awesome. All right. So number one, the the first thing that I'm going to throw out there as a tip or something to consider. And I know it's going to sound stupid. Water temperature is everything right now. And it doesn't necessarily mean that if it's 38 degrees, they're going to bite or they're not going to bite 42 degrees, they are going to bite, or they're not going to bite. What I'm talking about specifically is look, the water temperature is the water temperature at this time of the year. The thing that you got to keep in mind is these fish have been there. They've been there. A lot of them have been there all year. They don't leave necessarily. They don't not come because the water is too cold for them. They were here under the ice, they're here right now. But what does matter is the variance in the temperature, especially in the backwaters. They're really going to look for those temperature differences. And it's really key to try to find those. And there are some ways that you can do that. One of the things you can focus on is real simple. If you're going to fish during the day, or if you're going to fish early in the evening, look for the darker colored bottoms in the shallow water. Those are going to absorb the sunshine a little bit more during the day. And you may get a one degree or even a half degree difference in temperature. And often that's all it, that's all it takes. That makes that area the productive area. Whereas 10 feet away, you know, it's got a drop, it's got a current maybe, and it's one or two degrees different. And the fish just aren't either sitting there or they're not as active. So look for those little temperature variances. And again, one degree can do it. If you're going to be looking and you can and you can tell the temperature. So let's say you're in a boat or a kayak,

Why Temperature Swings Matter

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try to find something that is getting into the higher range. So if you have a lot of variance, but you have something that's maybe warmer than another, you know. So if you have a 40-degree area and then you find a 42-degree area and then you find a 44, I almost always recommend going to that 44 and at least testing that out. And keep in mind, though, that the structure is going to play a little bit of a difference in between all those three areas, but everything else being equal, go for the warmest temperature that you can right now at the start. That's going to make the difference for them. Again, they're still going to be feeding no matter what. They still have to eat, they still have to live, they're not eating for convenience, they're eating to survive. So you should be targeting them. But look for those temperature differences. And here's here's something I've mentioned before. And I think because of where we are in the mid-Atlantic, a lot of people tend to ignore this. The wind does play a factor in the temperature of the water. So, for example, let's say the water is 40 degrees. And let's say you're out fishing next weekend, where we're supposed to be in the upper 50s, maybe even to 60, and you get a little bit of a breeze hitting that water. That 60 degree air hitting that 40 degree water is going to warm that water where it's where it's hitting it. So do not go directly to wind protected areas. It may be more comfortable for you or not, whatever it is. That warm, that warm air is going to have a heat exchange with that water and it's going to warm it up, even if it's only by a fraction of a degree. And that can often be what's going to set off that bite. So keep that in mind when you're looking. If it's a warmer air blowing across colder water, look for the wind blown areas, especially if you're fishing shallow, and do the opposite. Let's say the water is 40, you know, 42 degrees and the wind temperature like today is 30, 35, and it's blowing. Well, get into the wind protected area where you don't have that cooling happening along those side banks or along the structures and everything like that. Look for the the water that is not as disturbed by the wind because it will stay a little bit warmer and it won't be cooling on the top. So that's the that's what I'm going to say about the general temperature when you're targeting the fish. The other thing to keep in mind with temperature is when you're talking about depths. Now, this this also can, if you think about a river or you think about an inlet, you think about out front, the depth does offer some variance in temperatures. If you go deep enough, you will have a thermocline in that water. You can see that on your depth finders, your fish finders, whatever you want to call it. You can often see, if you have it tuned in correctly, you can see the thermocline in the water, which means it's a very clear temperature break. And often what will happen is in that deeper water, especially during the day right now, and we'll talk about day versus night later, but especially during the day, you will see these fish go in. I often overuse this term, but it is true, they will almost hunker down during the day in those deeper, more consistent temperatures and just kind of sit down in there during the day. They're kind of stack up on each other. That's where you start seeing on the fish finders what looks like the bacon, you know, just the the the wavy lines going across the entire screen. And they'll sit underneath that thermocline in that more consistent temperature. So look for that as well. That is not as important though as these shallower areas, which is typically where you're going to see the bass feeding at this time of the year, especially, I say, but but keep that in mind if you're if you're looking at the deeper water. Next thing that I'm going to say is fish the warmest part of the day if possible. It goes along with those temperatures again, but mid-afternoon through early evening is probably going to be your best bet if you want to fish during the day. And again, it's all about the temperatures. When you had that sun beating down on the water, you're going, you are going to get some type of a temperature increase, and that can often kick them off. Again, it can be a fraction of a degree, and it could be enough to kick them off and get them moving. Again, they're going to be feeding at all times. They they have to just to survive, but they get a little bit more motivation when it's a little bit warmer, especially once you get, I typically say, you know, at a 40 to 42 degrees, I feel okay. I feel like this is a pretty good temperature. Once you get to 45, I feel great. I believe Chris Matusin believes once he's at 43, he's set. He's ready to run. He'll still fish down in the 30s, though, just as an example. Baseye Dave will fish anything anytime. So, and and Dave is really good at fishing. So, especially with the with the bait rods, he's going to be tossing out no matter what the temperature is. But look for the warmest part of the day. And again, if it's going to be a shallow area that you're fishing, if you can find a dark mud flat and you have anywhere near it a lighter sand area flat, I would always default first over to that dark mud flat. It's just going to pull the temperatures up a little bit quicker and hold those warmer temperatures longer. So as you go into evening when everything starts to cool off, look for those mud flats first. And then you can move over to the sand flats, but always try those mud, those mud flats first. That's that's my advice on that. So those are the first two. Actually, it's really the first three because I wanted to talk about the the dark bottom versus the uh the lighter colors. The other thing that you want to take a look at is a protected cove. So somewhere that is protected is typically going to warm faster than open flowing water. So if you get back into the backwaters and you can find small streams,

Reading Wind, Depth, And Thermoclines

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 12:30

small creeks, those will heat up faster. A lot of times it's because of the depth being less. However, they don't always entirely empty even on the outgoing tide. And some of that water just stays in there, and that will just cause it to heat up a little bit more throughout the day. So that's an important part of it. Before I go on, let me just see if I missed anything. There's some good ones in here. Actually, Elle Heaven and L. It's good to see you, El, by the way. This is a good comment. Fun fact I've never used blood worms for stripers. I saw a funny post where Ben, Benji, Crabbin' and Fishing, he he said that he he's basically applying for loans so that he can get out fishing because of the cost of the blood worms. I'm going to talk, and actually, why don't I just roll into that right now for the bait part of this and talk about that for those of you that want to use some type of a natural bait. I'm not going to go into all the regulations and all the different states for what you can and cannot use for live bait. I'm not going to go into the circle hooks. Either you know it or you don't. Hopefully you know it. And if you don't know it, hopefully you don't get caught. But Elle's point with the blood worms brings up a good point. At this time of the year, you typically want to go with those smaller. It goes into the size of the baits, which again I'll talk about in another topic as well. But go with those smaller, and often the softer baits work really well. And it it's not for any big reason. You know, you hear people say, well, for tog, they have softer teeth in the spring. I don't know if that's true or not. I don't necessarily think it is, but maybe it is. But that's not what this is about. This is about what's in the water and matching the hatch. And what you have at this time of the year is a lot of these smaller baits coming out. So you're going to have this small shrimp, right, at this time of the year. The blood worms, definitely. The softer baits, the blood worms. Now, yeah, you can throw a huge blood worm on there. It's still going to be a small bait, especially when you think about the size of a striped bass's mouth. It's still going to be relatively small, even stretched out. But start, I would start looking at those softer baits, clams as an example, work really well in the spring. Whereas in the fall, I'm typically saying go for the bunker first. Now, later in the spring, I'm going to change that, right? Once we have those big bunker schools coming in, I'm going to change that. Once you start getting the herring in the river, I'm going to change that. But right now, at this point, I'm looking, if I'm using natural baits at going with something like a bloodworm, despite the cost, I'm looking at shrimp, definitely. And I am also looking, even though it's not soft, at small crabs. Smaller the better often. It is by far the number one, outside of bunker and other fish, it is the number one stomach content for the striped bass that I catch in the backwaters. It's crabs. It's typically calico crabs. Good luck finding those as bait, but crabs. Just using crabs. That's why I catch and and probably a lot of you catch a lot of striped basses bycatch for tog and sheep's head because they love eating the crustaceans, they love eating crabs, and they will, they'll pick them off. So natural baits, I suggest small baits, soft baits first. And then once you start getting those big migratory bunker coming in and you start seeing the herring coming in in numbers, then I would start switching over to those. Again, small though. I would still stay on the small side. All right. So that covers that topic. That does roll into this next point. Whether you're fishing these natural baits or you're fishing an artificial, find the bait, you're going to find the bass. It's that simple. We have a low number of bait fish in the backwaters today. I don't care where you are, I'm just telling you, it's going to be low compared to the rest of the year right now in March. So what that's going to do is once those bass find them, they're there. They're going to be there. Again, they're they have to survive, they have to find this food. So if you see any signs of bunker, if you see rain baits, herring, anything that's that that's natural to the area, that's the area that you want to look. So when you're on the water, look at the surface. If you see anything moving, that's your place to target first. You're often going to find the bass underneath those.

Timing The Warmest Part Of Day

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 17:00

So this is really no different than any other time of the year. But it is, in my opinion, more important because you're less likely to have bait in a thousand areas today as you are in the middle of the summer, where it's just, it can be all over the place. It's going to be very concentrated at this time of the year. So do your homework, do your due diligence and keep keep your eyes open. If you're fishing at night, keep your ears open and look for those riffles on the top that could be bait moving through the water. And especially listen for blow-ups. If you start hearing blow-ups, I mean it's obvious, but it's it's worth mentioning as well. Slowing down your presentation. All right. At this time of year with the colder water, you have more sluggish fish. It doesn't mean that they're less aggressive. It just means that they're a little bit they're a little bit slower. They do have to really worry about with the the lack of bait fish, they have to worry about expending too many calories in order to get that next meal. They don't calculate it that way. They don't use that logic. They just know by nature that they can't go chasing things for a half a mile in high-speed chases in order to feed because they're going to be burning too many calories when there's too few fish or there's too little bait in the water to sustain them afterwards. So, in other words, if the meal ain't worth it, they're not going for it. So if you're ripping something across the top that might work in the 75 to 85 degree waters in the summer, it's not necessarily, it could work, but it's not necessarily going to work in the spring and especially in March, and it probably isn't going to work. So slow it down. Some of you are incapable of slowing it down without going absolutely bananas. I'm one of you. So we can have our own support group, but when it comes down to it, if we want to catch the fish and we want to have the best chance, we need to keep that bait in the strike zone as long as possible. The key to it is keeping the bait moving in a natural way. So it has to continue to move and it's just not the speed. You still have to have the action. So let's say you're throwing a Magdar. You better keep it moving slow, but you better keep it moving fast enough that it has the action that it needs to mimic the bait fish. We're still out there trying to get the strike. They're still smart fish, even if they're a little bit slower and they prefer things slower. They're going to take the time to look at it and really gauge whether or not it's a natural bait and worth going after. So keep that in mind. Slow down the presentation while their metabolism is slower, their speed is slower. Work the lure very deliberately. Don't be overly aggressive, but keep it moving in a natural fashion or as close to natural as you can. Again, we're just trying to fool them into thinking it's real. So make sure you do that. The next one is where are you fishing in the in the column? I'll tell you what, years ago, I used to say it had to be on the bottom. And it's it's totally wrong. And and if you've seen the episodes with with Chris on here and it's oh god, several others, you know, Scotty. Top water at this time of the year, it works. Fishing just subsurface really works. You just have to make sure that you're fishing in the right area and try the entire column.

Bait Choices For Early Spring

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But there's nothing wrong with going out and fishing on the top right now, as long as you're working it slow. What I do suggest is use a suspending bait if you can, something that can get you just under the surface. So you're not totally up on top, but just below. That'll often work well. If you're working really deep, then that's where I go to the soft plastics. I typically use a paddle tail or a jerkshad, something like that. And I work it deep. So it's, you know, again, a smaller one. So I'm using maybe a four inch, maybe four and a half at the most, but I'm not going with those big, huge, those huge baits. But work the the various parts of the water column and don't forget about the topwater. You can catch a lot of big fish on topwater. If you're on a flat, top water is essentially the entire water column anyway. So there's nothing wrong with fishing it if you're fishing it properly. So when you go out there, you don't necessarily need to bring your full bag of tricks with you. You don't have to be loaded down like you are when you're not quite sure what you're going to go after and what's going to work. Just grab a few lures that can cover the entire column. Again, on the small side, you can use metals, you can use woods, plastics, soft plastics, all of that. But really keep in mind that you want to make sure that you you can fish them well enough in those slow presentations. And and the side point of that is this you have to also keep in mind the currents. So, what you can fish slowly in a current may be different than what you can fish slowly with no current. Typically, these striped bass are going to be in a current, right? I mean, that's that's where they want to be. Structure alongside a current. That's why jetties are awesome. It's just whipping currents. It's whipping the food right past the rocks. They're able to tuck in behind them, come shooting out and attack. They're doing that year-round. So if you're going to find a place that has a current, make sure that you can work it in the current. Don't go out with your little three-eighth ounce jig head if that's not going to get you down to the bottom and that's what you brought it for. Make sure that you keep in mind still, you still have those currents. And if you're going to really slow it down, you can typically go a little bit lighter, but not necessarily, especially if it's if it's too light, you're just going to have some of these soft plastics pulling them up. So keep that stuff in mind when you're doing it. One tip that I'm going to that I'm going to give is this. When you are, as the next point, when you're retrieving, one of then one of the most famous retrieves that everybody talks about is the twitch, twitch pause cadence. So twitch, twitch, pause. Twitch, twitch, pause, and you're just reeling on the pause to take in the slack. In the cold water, you're typically going to get more strike. Now, you're usually getting strikes on the pause, but you're more likely to get it on an extended pause at this time of the year because, again, they're moving slower, they have the slower metabolism. So when we're talking about slowing it down, it's not just do a smaller twitch and another second smaller twitch, or if you're just doing a single twitch pause, just make sure you have the pause in there. And I would add just a little bit extra pause to that. Be careful when you do that near the bottom. If you pause too long, you may end up hung up on the bottom when you're not trying to fish the bottom. If you're mid-column, keep that in mind. You may need to go down on the weight so it doesn't sink as fast. You may need to use some of the soft plastics that have some buoyancy just to keep you suspended a little bit better. You may need to work the current from a different angle. Whatever you need to do, but just keep in mind that if you have that longer pause, that will often trigger that bite for that striped bass. All right. And once you get that thump, if you miss it, don't change your retrieve until the next cast if you feel like you need to change the retrieve. Don't go, you know, twitch, twitch, pause for a second, twitch, twitch, pause for a second, and then you get the thump, and now you're doing it. Twitch, twitch, pause for a half a second. Don't change it that way. Keep it the same way on the same retrieve, switch it up on the on the next toss if you feel that it was the retrieve that didn't work. That's often actually, just to share this, that's the biggest mistake that I make when I'm fishing cold water in the spring for striped bass. I will typically, as I said, I'm terrible at slowing things down. And what I find is it often takes two or three casts to the same exact

Find The Bait, Find The Bass

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 25:00

spot. I'll get one really quick rip against it, a tap, like a hard, sharp tap, but not the thump. And then I slow it down a little bit on the next cast. Then I get a then I get a decent thump, but only one of them. And it wait and it takes a longer time for it to happen. Then on the third or fourth cast, when I throw it to the same exact spot, when I really have it slowed down, I'm really deliberate, and I give it that extra pause. That's where I get the monster thump that ends up with it inhaling the bait, and I end up getting that good hook. So again, look for the look for those longer pauses when you're throwing it out there. All right, next one that I have. Fish the moving water. I already mentioned this, but make sure you're smart about it. Just because the water's moving doesn't mean that's where they're going to be. Again, we already talked about the temperatures. We already talked about other things like that, but I'm saying mainly just to be careful at this time of year. If you're fishing from the banks, be careful you're not going over the bank. Be careful you're not going through the bank and getting stuck in the mud, as a lot of people will be and actually were yesterday in New Jersey at least. I saw a couple of posts about people getting stuck and the sod breaking off a couple of times. Nobody got hurt, nobody drowned or anything, but some people got wet when they didn't want to. But keep in mind that these fish will often hold closer to the to that moving water. And the moving water is going to show the riffles off of the structure underneath. So look at the look at the creek mouths, look at the edges of the channel. If you are out in a kayak or a boat in the backwaters and you're fishing the middle of a channel, you might catch a fish, but you're doing it wrong. They need the structure, they need where that water is coming off of it because again, they're look, they're ambush predators. They are looking for a spot where they can post up, they can wait for the bait to come to them, and they can launch a quick, easy attack, a low calorie expenditure in order to get those calories in for the meal. So look for that moving water, but look for that moving water along drop-offs, along edges, along structure. If there's, you know, bridges, bridges and docks still remain king in the backwater. Any any jetties, I guess those would be considered rocks, seawalls, all of those are going to be king right now if you're fishing structure in the backwater. So look for those. Make sure you're looking for those. Next one, let's talk about time of day. So I already mentioned late afternoon into evening

Slow Presentations And Cadence

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 27:30

is probably if you want to fish the daylight, that's going to be the best time. The water is going to hold that temperature in these flats and especially these mud flats for longer into the evening. However, regardless, even if it's over sand, keep in mind they're ambushed predators. It gets dark. Yes, the temperature drops. It may get really cold. They're still going to feed because that offers them the best opportunity to ambush what they're looking for for dinner. So, yeah, fishing overnight. And you're probably going to be more productive if you can fish the night shift. If you're on third shift fishing for the next few weeks, the tip I actually think that's better no matter what time of year it is, but especially right now, they're going to be feeding. If you can find a dark area with some lights, that's even better. But even if you're in the backwaters and you're just on a flat, I am going to recommend that you go into the dark. And I'm I'm saying dark. So like pitch, pitch black. If it's a new moon, pitch black. If it's a full moon, as dark as you can get it. And when I say look for lights, I'm talking about not natural lights. So lights on bridges, something to have something that has a sharp shadow line in the water where they can sit in the black area and then launch their attack out into the light area. It's going to be your best bet. It always has been, and I think it always will. All right, next one. Focus on transitional zones. So in this, what I'm talking about is in depth of water. You'll often see changes in the water up top where you'll find eddies, you'll find swirls that aren't quite full eddies. You'll see where two currents converge. But really, I'm talking about where you see the flats meet the deeper channels. Those are going to be prime areas for striped bass. I personally prefer to fish that on the outgoing tide. And part of it is because I'm admittedly a lazy fisherman. So as the tide goes out, the water retreats. There are less places for them to hold up, but it also funnels all of that bait that was in the shallows that can't remain in the shallows that are going to end up drying. They now get pushed into the channels. So they have to come over that drop-off and down into the deeper water. There's no way around it. They have to do it. So you will see at night, you or on the outgoing, you will see the striped bass go up into those flats because they're getting those fish as it gets shallower. There's less water column to hunt. But then you'll also see them as it gets shallower and shallower posting on those drop-offs, right on those ledges. You'll see that at points where I'm thinking of one specific right now. I won't say the exact area, but it is a sound in South Jersey. And like any sound, there's like 15 exits. But there's a really good one where it's an exit from very shallow and it gets very deep right at the point of a channel, of a sod bank. And right there you get the structure, you get that water depth change, you get that warmer water coming off the flat into the cooler water, and it produces every single year. And I can tell you, I will be fishing there when I start fishing South Jersey for striped bass. And year-round, I fish that point for striped bass. Doesn't matter if it's summer, fall, whatever, as long as striped bass is open and I'm in that area, I am throwing some soft plastics, especially right there. I'm putting it up on the ledge and I'm dropping it down off of that drop-off. It is also a great spot for fly fishing. It makes it a lot easier when you have that depth really expanding because that fly comes over the top and the fly doesn't sink. It stays really high up in the column, and you can just see them come straight up from that drop-off, and you can see them come up and rise and pick up that bait. So look for that. Look for those transitions in depth. Next one. This is one that I'm just I'm just gonna say it this way. While light tackle can make it more fun, make sure you're using the right tackle. And it comes down to the fact that look, if you're going to catch and release, this is the best time of year to do it. It is the safest time of year to do it for the fish. They're not going to be as stressed out when you pull them out of the water. So if you're going to use a lighter tackle, now's

Working The Water Column

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 32:00

the time of the year to do it. However, I'm going to say don't go too light. A lot of people try to, for example, use their perch gear at the beginning of striped bass because they think they're more likely to catch perch. And by the way, there's some really nice perch being caught in your jersey, like big perch right now. So people are out there using that. You can use the same stuff. You can use the same gear, but the problem that you have is there are some very large striped bass back there right now. You're talking, and when I say very large, we're talking South Jersey, Extreme South Jersey. You got 30 plus inchers. When you're talking raritan area, there are 40, 50 inchers up there right now. So uh make sure that you're you're you're geared up properly. And I realize it may take away from the perch bite, but you're probably going to be hooking into at least some schoolies from this point forward with the striped bass. So make sure that you do that. And I will say this: you don't want to go too heavy though, because you are still going to get subtle bites at this time of the year. Slower fish, slower metabolism. They are not necessarily that they can slam the baits, but they may not. So make sure that you have enough that you can still feel that tip, a moderate action, something with something with a lighter tip, a lighter line will work. Just make sure you have enough backbone to pull them in. All right. Consecutive warm days matter more than one hot day. It goes back to the temperature. When we're looking at warming, and this is going to be important, people are going to want to go this upcoming Saturday. So the forecast, it's going to change, but the forecast right now is it's going to be cold up until up through Friday, and Saturday is going to be a nice day. Sunday is going to be slightly nicer as far as temperatures. A lot of people are going to be tempted if they have their one day of fishing to go out on that Saturday. I'm going to tell you, you're probably better off going on the Sunday after you get that one warm day and then you get the second one on top of that. The warming trend will typically help to build the bite over time. So if you get a trend going, you want to get into that trend and let it turn into a trend first. So keep that in mind. If you have limited time on the water and you can choose between days, just a little bit of advice, that's what I would do. I would go for the consecutive day, not the first day of a warming trend. You can still be successful, but you have a cold, a cold snap end and it doesn't instantly warm the water. It just helps to get it moving in the right direction. And then you get that really big impact the next day. So yeah, there's a comment in there can't go Saturday, but I'm pretty sure I can go Sunday. Yeah, SD0753. So if I were you, I would be happy with that. If the forecast holds, you're going to find that these fish are going to react more on day two or day three of a warming trend than they are necessarily on day one. The only exception to that that I will say is if there is a big barometric pressure change and it doesn't look like there's actually going to be one that's going to be truly meaningful this upcoming weekend, that's a whole different issue. That's a whole different story. So I'm not going to go too much into that. Next one, stay mobile. This one is absolutely freaking key. You can't go on these side. Well, a lot of people are going to go on the sod bank. They're just going to dunk a worm and let it sit there for hours. If you're out there hunting for these fish in the spring, you have to be mobile. Again, you have sparse bait in the backwaters today. It's going to change in a few weeks, I get it. But today, and probably for this upcoming week or two, you're going to have much less bait in the water, which means these fish are not going to be all over the place because there's not a lot of bait. They're going to be following the bait. So if you're there and you're not getting any taps, you're not getting

Currents, Structure, And Positioning

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 36:00

any hits, you're not seeing any bait, they probably ain't there. So you probably want to pick up and move and you want to move fairly quickly. I would recommend, as long as you can physically do it, give it a half an hour, 35 minutes in a spot. If it really feels dead, assume it's dead and move on. Doesn't mean it'll be dead the next day. It doesn't mean it'll be dead in the next hour or two. But unless you just are content just sitting down and you know, just tossing for a few hours, be mobile. You need to, you really need to move around if you're not seeing life. Reel it in, pack it up, and and get moving. All right. The last one that I have. Watch your electronics if they're available. This one, and we could do a whole show on this. As a matter of fact, there's a guy I'm trying to get on to do this. If you're on the water in a boat or a kayak and you have electronics, I'm going to tell you right now, you're probably not fishing tonight. You're probably not fishing tomorrow. You're probably not fishing until the weekend. Most of us don't. Take that time at night to turn on a video and have somebody walk you through how to use your electronics. Because if you've never seen a temperature break on your electronics, on your fish finder, then you need to learn more about your fish finder because nearly every single model, even the cheap ones, will show you a temperature break that's in the water. That can be the difference between a banner day and nothing, because you won't recognize it. Know how to dial your fish finder in so that you can see a bait cloud and know that it's a bait cloud. Make sure you can understand without putting the little fish icons on how to tell what's a large fish versus a smaller fish. You need to know if you're on schoolies or if you're on larger fish. You also need to know when you're on a boat or if you're on a kayak, what's the schoolies up top and the large fish on the bottom. That will happen quite often, but not always. So you may think you may hope that there's large fish underneath, but your electronics will tell you that. You'll be able to tell that if you know how to read the electronics properly. And it's different for a lot of different models. There are little subtleties to them that you have to kind of learn on your own, but you can really dial yourself in ahead of time. And look, you're not doing anything after this. You're probably just going to sit down and, you know, maybe watch the flyers, maybe watch some sports, watch a movie, whatever, just hang out. Maybe you're going to bed, but maybe tomorrow night you have some time. Maybe you have some time at lunch tomorrow at work. I I really recommend don't be a guy who doesn't read directions. Just don't do that with your electronics. You spend all that money, and it can it can truly be the difference between catching a ton of fish and understanding what you're seeing below you and catching nothing. You should be able to get dialed in with nearly every single fish finder that's out there. And while I personally very rarely use them to find fish, I can. I can tell when it's a school of bunker and I can tell when it's 20 feet off to the side of me. I can tell what the structure is that I'm going past using the side scans. I can tell the difference between different types of structure underneath when I'm using the down scan versus the regular scan. And it can be all the difference. And especially at this time of the year where the bites can be precious, few and far in between. Do yourself that favor. You you made the investment in your dollars and your time to earn that money to buy it. So that's a big one. Make sure you do that. And and specifically for this time of the year, learn how to find temperature breaks, especially if you're in deeper water, because if you can find those, you will often find those those fish. So yeah, so that that's it. Let me let me run through and see some of the comments in there. Again, just me, it's really tough. So bear with me for a second here. I do want to say, Rob Woodmeyer, he's he's he's for those that that have followed him, he he's going through some physical stuff. He's he's in rehab, he's rehabbing himself, getting ready for fishing. He's still a couple months out. I'm glad to hear that you're on that track. I have a bad back. I've been sleeping in a recliner since a week before the first big snowstorm this year. And actually, tonight is going to be the first night that I'm going to try to sleep flat in a bed again. So I'm I'm unable to go on the water right now. But Rob, I feel you. You've got even longer to go. So pulling for you there. I do also want to say, I do also want to say that Kevin Driscoll. Good to see you back and and and getting back on track. Elle, good to see you. It's been way too long. I can't wait for you to come on. We'll have to talk about the cute little flounder and why you love them so much coming up. And then let's see what else we have in here. Yeah,

Night Versus Day Tactics

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 41:00

some good comments. Winter flounder is so Elle mentioned winter flounder using sandworms for those. I would like to talk about winter flounder. It's just such a niche species right now, but they're so much fun. And I miss the days where I where I caught those. So yeah, I'm not seeing a lot of there is a question. Rariton River, a good choice for this weekend. Yeah, so I'm gonna say this. The Rariton River is going to be a good choice, as good a choice as any, all the way through the spring until until the biomass actually leaves. Now, I'm not saying that there's a ton of them there, but there are plenty of fish in the Rariton River right now. I've seen the pictures from people yesterday. I've seen the pictures from people fishing early for them, you know, not publicly, but texted to me. They're they are there. The Raritan River is one of my favorite places in the world to go for striped bass. I think that that that area right in there within three miles of the mouth of that is just probably the best striped bass fishing you're gonna find in the world. So yeah, if you if you can get out there safely this weekend, I would get out there without without hesitation. And I will tell you what I so I went through everything that I do, you know, all these tips in this episode. I will tell you what I typically start with, which is a little bit different, and I'm not using this as a tip, I'm just telling you what I do. At this time of the year in the Raritan River, I actually start right outside of the train bridge and I will fish that little flat area right up until that bridge. I will then skip inside there and fish the ledges of that channel all the way up through the bridges. I use a five-inch, almost like a root beer colored with gold and silver flecks in it, soft plastic on a jig head. That's it. I will use that and I may not bring anything else except maybe a different color, soft plastic. I use the soft plastics there. I'm looking for anything that is between eight and 16 feet. I know it gets a lot deeper. I'm staying in that that that shallower area right on that drop. That's where I got what is most likely it's unmeasured. It was, it was, I'm not even saying I landed it, but by the size of it and the length of it, it was well over 50 inches. I believe it was close to a 50-pound fish in March a few years ago, but it was right, it was right in that area. They are there, they've been there. Raritan River is always a good choice. And all of those rivers up there are going to be a great choice if you're going to be heading out this weekend. Um, yeah. So I I I wouldn't hesitate. And when you catch something, send me send me a picture because I'm not gonna make it out this weekend. I just physically can't do it. Um, so I gotta live vicariously through. All of you guys for another couple of weeks. So, yeah. All right. So that look, yeah, always heard that the flats up past the rail bridge are great. That is correct. Yes. And even further up, don't limit yourself just to just that section. Uh, if you're in a kayak, just start pedaling and just you're not going to pedal too far. You'll find them all the way up that that area. Just be careful around the train bridge when that that current gets ripping and the wind gets ripping. That is that is a horrendously dangerous area. People like to act like it's not, but it is. So just be careful there. So, yeah, everyone, thanks for tuning in. Really appreciate it. Uh, hopefully you found this helpful. Uh, I went through I went through a bunch of different um podcasts and episodes to pull together what I thought were some of the best tips. Again, I presented them as though they're mine. This was they they were not just my tips. I tried to disclose when it was just mine, um, but a lot of them did come from from a lot of our other guests in the past, Chris

Transition Zones And Outgoing Tide

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 45:00

Matusin probably being the backbone of them. Uh, but George Bucci, uh, Chris Matusin, Bayside Dave, Scotty Seven, a bunch of different guys. So um, men and women, uh, Kayla Hale as well. Um, yeah, so I appreciate you guys coming coming back. I look forward to seeing all of the photos, everything on social media. Text them to me. You guys got my phone number. Text them to me. I can't get on the water, so I want to kind of live through you guys this week. Um, as far oh L, I am not going to the Edison Fishing Expo. Uh, I wish I were, but I do not plan to go there this year. Um, again, my back, I don't really have the ability to walk for very far without having to lean over and look like I'm 143 years old. So, yeah, but have fun, share your pictures, everyone. Until next time, everyone, safely get out there, get on the water, and get some tight lines.