Striped Bass fishing on Long Island can be fantastic. There are many good areas to fish right off the beach, from jetties, from piers and of course from a boat.

The Chesapeake Bay is well known for striped bass but Long Island is definitley one of the best locations to fish to striped bass. Montauk is world famous for sportfishing. And there are many great charter boat captains in Montauk with whom we have filmed a number of episodes for our television show, ADVENTURES IN FISHING WITH CAPT. RAY KELLY. We filmed a great striped bass and bluefish show on board, MY MATE, with Capt. Joe McBride, and another great show was filmed on board TO THE POINT CHARTERS, with Capt. Paul Dixon. Although the stripers were not feeding that day, the false albicore were, and it really made for some nice action.

Montauk Point is a beautiful place that was recently featured on another television fishing show, The Walker's Cay Chronicles. The Montauk Point lighthouse marks one of the best places on Long Island to fish for striped bass. We have a number of filmings scheduled this summer, one of which will be on shark fishing and the other featuring striped bass.

Another fantastic location to fish for stripers is in Shinnecock Inlet in Hampton Bays, New York. It seems on most days when you go for striped bass in Shinnecock, you will get one. Last year there were alot of short fish caught. They must be at least 28 inches to keep, and you can only keep one striper of that size or larger per angler.

Lanny Molner of Molnar's Landing in Hampton Bays is one of the best striper fisherman I know, and he's taught me may things. He is more than happy to share his knowledge with other anglers. Stop in to Molnar's Landing to get your bait and if Lanny is there ask him about striper fishing in Shinnecock. Molnar's Landing is also known as Striped Bass Central - that should tell you something. Two years ago we filmed Lanny fishing for striped bass and sure enough he landed two monsters in less than three hours.

I am very partial to Shinnecock since that is the area that I primarily fish. For the anglers that do not have boats, they can fish the Jetty and some anglers do quite well. You also have the old Ponquogue Bridge fishing piers. Stripers can be taken regularly from these piers.

There are a number of ways to fish for Striped Bass. You can cast bucktails, rubber eels, kastmasters or hopkins lures. The retrieve should be very slow. Of course the speed should be varied if you do not get any hits. An angler can also bottom fish for stipers. By that I mean he/she can use bunker chunks and cast a weighted line out off the beach, pier or boat and let it sit on the bottom. Use a float to keep your bait off the bottom and away from the crabs that will otherwise eat it.

Some anglers also know that striped bass feed on baby flounder. Flounder have to be 11 inches to keep. A great lure that imitates a baby flounder is the Petri-Fish. The Petri-Fish 'fake flounder' lure really looks like a live flounder in the water. Striped bass love the lure. I have landed two good fish with this bait. It comes in three sizes but the Petri-Fish Jr. is my favorite. The inventor, Steve Petri, is currently working on a smaller version of the lure which I am sure will be just as good if not better than the larger lures. I'm told the smaller version will also work on fluke.

Chumming also works very well with striped bass. Chumming is done by setting out a chum slick of clam bellies. This can be expensive but it works. Remember not to over chum. Entice to fish to that boat but do not over feed them. After the chum slick is started, put a clam belly on your hook and let it drift out with you chum. It shouldn't take that long before you're hooked up. Some anglers swear by live eels and they do work well.

Moriches Inlet is another great area to fish for striped bass. Orient Point is also well known. Many of the charter and party boats run special striped bass charters. The Prime Time III, the Nancy Ann and the Orient Star are some of the best.

There have been many books written on this quarry. I could go on and on about striped bass fishing but I can only give some of the pointers in this article. The Fisherman and Nor'East Saltwater are another good source for learning tips and techniques on fishing. Starlight Productions will also be hosting THE LONG ISLAND FISHING SHOW this year. It is scheduled for October but the date has not been finalized.

My final tip is that the only way to catch a striped bass is to get out there and give it a try. You can catch striped bass from the beach, fishing piers, jetties and boats. And don't forget to get children involved in sporfishing. It gives them lasting memories and is an excellent alternative to drug abuse. And remember that if you are not going to eat the fish, practise catch and release.

If you want to go fishing with us, give ADVENTURES SPORTFISHING a call at (516) 929-6711. We have reasonable rates specializing in children and beginners. Experienced anglers can have a great time also. If you would like to be featured on our television show, ADVENTURES IN FISHING, we can do that.

And remember- "Let's get kids hooked on Fishing...NOT on drugs!"

Visit Capt. Ray at his website http://www.adventure-fishing.com or drop him a line at [email protected]