What Do Striped Bass Eat?
What do striped bass eat?... That
is a question that I am often asked. The obvious answer would be to say
"fish." But, more specifically, what kind of fish do they eat? And what
kind do stripers enjoy the most?
Striped bass feed on a variety of foods. They usually will eat any fish that are smaller than them. And it often depends mostly on what's available to them. Stripers that roam the ocean will have their pick at bait fish that live in that type of habitat. While landlocked stripers will feed on freshwater bait fish.
Striped Bass Feed On:
- alewives
- anchovies
- bloodworms
- eel
- flounder
- gizzard shad
- herring
- mackeral
- menhaden
- minnows
- nightcrawlers
- sand lance
- sardines
- sea worms
- silver hake
- silversides
- smelt
- squid
- threadfin shad
- tomcod
Bait
ball - striped bass love to feed on live bait fish.
Crustaceans:
- crabs
- crawdads
- lobsters
- mussels
- shrimp
- soft clams
These are just some of the many varieties of foods that
striped bass are most often known to chow on. There are many people who
will catch their own bait before they head out for striper fishing.
Some of the bait they sometimes catch are small sunfish, which includes
bluegill or perch.
A bunch
of eel, "striper candy" for striped bass.
Although, most any kind of bait fish will produce quality
stripers. The fresher, the better. Live bait is often the best choice
when available.
Other than eel, I more often use fresh shad. Shad isn't as expensive and stripers love it.
I have even hooked into quite a few stripers with ghost shrimp
as I was fishing for sturgeon. Live minnows, sardines, anchovies or
herring are also all good choices to fish with.
If you are in doubt, ask questions at your local bait shop.
Find out what bait fish they are chasing, and what baits are being used
to hook into the big bad quality trophy striped bass. Ask them what do
striped bass eat in the area you plan to fish at. Good luck fishing.
