There are probably as many methods of fishing for striped bass as there are striped bass anglers. Everybody does it a little differently.
For some, it's a big swimmer or nothing. Some cannot get enough of tossing lightly weighted soft plastic shad. The proponents of putting chunks of fresh bait on the bottom are devoted to that system. Tube and worm trollers have an almost religious fervor for that method, while sand worm drifters are another band of true believers.
When it comes to fishing for big bass, it's whatever floats your dinghy (and puts that trophy on your wall).
But if there is one sure-fire technique for hooking striped bass that gets almost unanimous agreement from all segments of the fishing population, it is probably the rigged eel-skin plug.
The trouble is eel-skin plugs, despite their deadly day or night effectiveness on bass, are sparingly used by anglers. Why? Probably because they require quite a bit of preparation before they are ready to load into a surf bag. The idea of getting the skin off of a live eel and onto a lipped plug can be daunting.
But as Jimmy Orifice demonstrated to the assembled members of the Westport Striped Bass Club last week, once the work is done, eel-skin plug fishing is no more of a hassle than tossing a six-inch Danny straight out of the box. Once rigged, a few eel-skin plugs can last at least an entire fishing season and in some cases for multiple seasons as long as they are carefully stored between outings.
I won't attempt to give a step-by-step account of Jimmy's demonstration here; for that, you can go see Jimmy in person or there are several excellent illustrated tutorials on the Internet. One of the better, we found, was by our own Lordship Lure Company (www.lordshiplures.com).
The first requirement for making a rigged eel plug is, not surprisingly, obtaining an eel, and plenty of the slimy wrigglers converge on this area. Jimmy caught his the previous night in the Housatonic River in Shelton, but Southport Harbor or Saugatuck River in Westport are "loaded," Jimmy said. Although they can be caught on a fishing line, an eel trap (available at any tackle shop) baited with just about anything that smells is Jimmy's choice. It is important to retrieve the trap in the early morning; eels are not dumb, and after a while, they figure out how to escape. The eels are killed by putting them in a bucket filled with a solution of water and kosher salt.
Getting the skin off the eel is perhaps the trickiest part of the entire process. The skin is sliced all the way around the base of the head with a razor or very sharp knife. The skin is peeled down like a wet sock using pliers and some muscle. When done, you have an inside-out skin, which is then slipped over the plug of your choice. Jimmy highly recommends the Atom 40 or Junior Atom, depending on the size of the eel. The skin is secured to the plug with either wire, waxed line or -- Jimmy's choice -- simple rubber bands. Treble hooks are attached and the plug is ready to cast. Between fishing trips, eel plugs must be stored in the refrigerator or a cool place in jars or sealed plastic bags filled with more kosher salt.
Fishing the eel-skin plug is the easiest part of the process. Just cast it out and reel back in very slowly. Stripers cannot resist the plug's sensuous undulations.
Get ready for some jarring strikes.
cwalsh@ctpost.com
