September Migration
By Tim Sherman

At right: Tim Sherman shows that early September is a great time to look for stripers migrating to rivers.

Light tackle striper enthusiasts of the upper Chesapeake get excited when September comes. They know that it is the one month that signals a change in
the mentality of fish. Sure, stripers have
to eat to survive all year. In late summer, they begin a migration from deep bay waters to shallow rivers in pursuit of alewives and shad. Finding the migration routes is the key to the catch early in the month. As air temperatures fall, so too does the water temperature. As soon as the downward temperature trend is established, the fishing gets exciting.

Over the years I have learned how to find river stripers in fall from experts Chuck Prahl and Captain Jerry Sersen. They’ve shown me how cover and structure hold fish. The terms cover and structure are often confused for each other. Structure is the contour of the bottom of a body of water -- tapering points and drop offs are great examples. Grass beds, rock piles, old eroded pilings, and ballast dumps are examples of cover. Stripers will relate to structure and cover to rest and feed.

In early September, structure and cover at the mouths of rivers are where you want to start. The main factor that anglers should look for is bait fish. If your fish finder doesn’t show balls of bait, the best thing you can do is move on. If you do mark bait, there is a good chance that stripers will be nearby. If you encounter breaking fish on the surface, well, that’s a no-brainer”. Don’t be afraid to check out the shallowest water around structure and cover, especially during low light. Stripers often cruise the shallows looking to ambush prey. Stripers in cruise mode can’t resist and easy meal, which is why surface lures are so effective. Poppers and spooks mimic injured baitfish that stripers are instinctively drawn to.

You may find stripers in the shallows all day long if overcast skies dominate the weather pattern. Though on sunny days, you will have to follow them to the nearest deep water. You see, not only are there seasonal migrations, there are daily movements as well. “Deep water” does not mean that you look for an abyss. Merely moving along a point to where depth falls off a few feet can put you back on the fish. When you do relocate them, the surface bite is not likely to continue. A plastic jig or rattle trap presented in the deeper water is a better tactic.

Grass beds are excellent cover that many light tackle anglers neglect. Like largemouth bass, stripers use vegetation to their advantage. Largemouth anglers often dissect a grass bed to find a bite, but striper fishermen do not need to expend as much effort. Stripers tend to line up on the outside edges of grass beds, facing into the current to wait for forage to swim or wash by. Focusing efforts on these outer edges can bring a quick limit to the boat. Captain Jerry Sersen uses bass techniques to fool these stripers. He’ll cast plastic frogs over the grass for surface strikes, and goes back along the edge with spinnerbaits and chatter baits. Weed lines are productive throughout fall and must be given their due.

From mid-September through the rest of fall, upper Chesapeake stripers find their way into tributaries. Yes, there will still be plenty in the bay proper itself, but you can more easily find them in rivers. Find the cover and structure and you will find the fish. Most modern GPS/fish finder units show depth changes and underwater obstacles with the GPS navigation mapping. Using this piece of equipment to its fullest can bring on more bent rods and tight lines.

The upper bay arsenal of bass lures can be simplified by keying on the activity level of stripers. Obviously, topwater lures and weightless plastics are the norm for surface feeding frenzies; but what about when the foray stops? Feeding often continues below the surface, so fast moving lures work well. Rattle traps, jerkbaits, and plastic shad baits draw strikes. Start your day with fast moving lures if there are no signs of surface activity. Following up with plastic jigs and bucktails is the next course of action.

Even though early September is in summer, stripers are looking to begin their fall migration. Look for them at the mouths of rivers and follow them through fall. Find your cover and structure in the feeder tributaries to find fish from trip to trip. Light tackle river striper fishing starts before you know it. Try them now.