Best Bait for Striped Bass of 2025, Tested and Reviewed

Anglers in pursuit of striped bass face an almost overwhelming choice of lures to catch them. But, you only need a few lures to reliably catch stripers. In fact, you might be a bit underwhelmed if you look at the lures I carry when targeting stripers. I usually fish variations of just a handful of lure types that are well matched for the circumstances. I’m completely confident with that handful of lures because nearly 50 years of striper fishing experience has helped me narrow down the choices to my proven favorites. You can cut out the 50 years of trial and error by using my picks for the best bait for striped bass. If you’re just getting started or looking to add to your striper box, these best baits for striped bass are an excellent place to start.

Best Live Bait for Striped Bass

• Adult menhaden
• Eels
• Bloodworms
• Spot Croaker
• Peanut Bunker
• Calico Crabs

Best Bait for Striped Bass: Reviews & Recommendations

Each of my top picks has an application where it shines and my lure choices for any given trip will depend on water conditions, whether it’s day or night, and whether I’m fishing from surf, kayak, or boat. I’ve picked some lures that are best used in specific situations like at night in rough surf, and others that I always have in my bag.

Best Bait for Striped Bass Overall/My Personal Favorite: S&S John Skinner Striped Bass Fixed Hook Bucktail

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Pros

• Can be presented properly in all conditions and environments
• Extremely productive
• Design makes for solid hookups and few lost fish

Cons

• Mediocre casting distance

Key Features

• Weight: ½ to 5 ounces
• Smiling Bill Head
• Hand tied
• Mustad 34184DT Hook
• Hackle feathers and full skirt for lifelike profile

Bucktails are the best bait for striped bass overall because they can be presented properly and are highly effective under all of these conditions from boat, surf, or kayak. There are many excellent bucktail manufacturers, and I chose the S&S brand bass bucktails because they are improved versions of what I tied for myself. My disclaimer is that I designed them, but they’re the product of years of experience catching striped bass on bucktails. Of particular importance is proper hair density and the addition of hackle feathers on the hook shank to fill out and lengthen the bucktail’s profile. S&S produces an exceptionally well-tied bucktail with high-quality hooks of the proper size in their U.S.-based workshop. 

Bucktails present a profile that matches many of the things stripers feed on. A bucktail of the correct weight and hair density can be made to swim properly in challenging conditions such as strong currents and turbulent surf. While there are numerous retrieve styles, if you can glide a bucktail near the bottom at a slow to moderate retrieve in the presence of stripers, you are likely to catch one. The biggest mistake I see beginning anglers make with bucktails is that they go too heavy. You don’t want to drag or bounce on the bottom, but swim above it. I tip my bucktails with 4- to 6-inch strips, such as Otter Tails and Fat Cow Jig Strips. The combination of a familiar profile and a natural presentation offers stripers what looks like an easy meal, often causing them to eat it. I find bucktails to be so effective for catching striped bass that I wrote a book on how to fish them. 

Honorable Mentions: MagicTail, Joe Baggs, Andrus

Best Daytime Surfcasting Lure: Savage Gear Panic Pencil Popper

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Pros

• Long casting
• Erratic surface thrashing entices fish, even in calm and clear water

Key Features

• Length: 5 ¾ and 6 ½ inches
• Weight 1 ¾ and 2 ¾ ounces
• Thru-wire construction
• Two 4X treble hooks
• Wide array of colors

A pencil popper is one of the longest casting lures in a surfcaster’s arsenal, but its real power is that it can pull fish to the surface even if they’re not actively feeding. That’s why a pencil popper and specifically, the Savage Gear Panic Pencil, is my pick for the best daytime surfcasting lure. Lures catch fish through a combination of imitation and obfuscation. A properly worked pencil popper can interest fish in calm and clear water because it tears up the surface in such a way that the fish can’t tell that it’s nothing but a piece of plastic or wood. Pumping the rod while using a slow retrieve will get this lure up on the surface and dancing. As with any surface lure, you can use it to find active fish and don’t need the fish to eat it for the fish to give its presence away. A semi-interested boil behind a plug is extremely valuable intel when you’re trying to find good striper spots. 

Honorable Mentions: Dark Matter, Gibbs, Tsunami Talkin Popper

Best Striped Bass Bait for Night Fishing in Calm Water: Daiwa Floating Salt Pro Minnow Plug

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Pros

• Excellent prey imitation
• Works day and night

Cons

• Minnow plugs are relatively mediocre for casting distance

Key Features

• Length: 5 1/8, 6, and 6 ¾ inches
• Weight: ⅞ to 1 7/8-ounce 
• Dives to 3 feet
• Saltwater hooks
• Internal weight transfer system
• Large selection of colors

Minnow-shaped plugs imitate many of the baitfish stripers feed on and are highly effective. The Daiwa Salt Pro stands out because of its long casting distance and versatility. Daiwa SP Minnows cast well for this class of lure thanks to an internal weight transfer system built into the lure. It also handles turbulence and current better than other minnow plugs. The SP Minnow will cut through a stiff wind in your face, and given a deliberate steady retrieve, will plow through moderate surf turbulence while still swimming correctly. Its erratic action puts out vibrations that fish can locate in the dark and can’t resist at any time of day. 

Honorable Mentions: Cordell Red Fin, Bomber Long A, Yo-Zuri Inshore Minnow

Best Striped Bass Bait for Night Fishing in Rough Surf: Super Strike Little Neck Swimmer

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Pros

• Good casting distance into the wind
• Able to handle rough surf

Key Features

• Length: 6 inches
• Weight: 2 3/8-ounce 
• Two 3/0 treble hooks

Fishing rough surf at night can be extremely productive for striped bass and in those conditions it’s a tough choice between tying on a darter or bottle plug. But, the bottle wins for versatility and its superior casting distance. My pick for best bottle plug is the Super Strike Little Neck Swimmer because it casts great, has excellent action, and its plastic body lasts indefinitely—it even stands up to bluefish. Bottle plugs can cut through very significant wind, and with a few fast cranks, can be dug into rough seas. When a bottle plug is swimming correctly it pulsates the rod tip, giving valuable feedback to the angler that the plug is working correctly. Bottle plugs match the profiles of large baitfish and have a good reputation for catching quality stripers.

Honorable Mentions: Gibbs Casting Swimmer, North Bar Bottle Darter

Best Darter: Super Strike ZigZag

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Pros

• Can be fished in the fastest rip currents 
• Exceptionally productive

Key Features

• Length: 6 ⅝ inches
• Weight 2 ⅜ ounces 
• Two 3/0 treble hooks
• Swims 2 to 3 feet deep

Next to the bucktail, a darter might be the most productive lure for big surf caught stripers at night. The best darter is the Super Strike ZigZag because each one swims properly right out of the package. Also, because it’s plastic, it won’t waterlog or get damaged by bluefish. Despite choosing a bottle plug over a darter in the nighttime rough surf category, I’ve spent more time fishing a darter than a bottle after dark. I think I can say with confidence that darters have probably landed more big stripers for surfcasters at night than bottle plugs. 

But, darters take practice to use. When you fish a bottle plug you’ll feel a pulsation on the rod that signals it’s swimming correctly. With a darter, you’ll need what I call “darter faith” to have confidence that a darter is zig-zagging as intended. One tip for fishing a darter correctly is when you’re fishing it in current or moving water, dig it in with a few fast cranks to get it swimming. When there’s water pressure applied to the lip, it will dart back and forth in an inconsistent pattern that triggers stripers. 

Honorable Mentions: Northbar Montauk Darter

Best Needlefish: Super Strike Super N Fish 

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Pros

• Excellent casting distance
• Can handle rough water

Key Features

• Length: 5 ¼, 6 3/8, 7 ¼ inches
• Weight: 1 to 3 ounces 
• Imitates sandeels

Needlefish are already versatile lures, but the length and weight options of the Super Strike needles allows anglers to dial in just the right lure for the given conditions. A needlefish plug appears to be little more than a stick, but pull it through water with some current or turbulence, and there’s just enough wobble to get stripers to commit. Needlefish lures have accounted for some of the largest fish caught on the striper coast. As with bucktails, there is a lot of variation in size and weight with these lures, allowing the angler to adapt to changing conditions.

Best Popper: Super Strike Little Neck Popper

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Pros

• Casts far
• Surface splashing entices fish, even in calm and clear water

Key Features

• Length: 4 ¼, 5 ¼, 6 inches
• Weight: 1 to 3 ¾ ounces
• Types: Floating, sinking, and extra heavy sinking

Popping plugs are excellent search baits that draw fish to the surface. The best popper is the Super Strike Little Neck because its three lengths and eight weights translates to versatility in profile matching and handling wind and water conditions. Standard surface poppers are usually in my surf bag, right next to pencil poppers. They share many of the qualities of pencils, such as being long lasting and able to pull stripers to the surface. But, they can move more water due to their large cupped face. I prefer the Super Strike Little Neck Popper because it’s made of plastic, which means it won’t get water logged and stands up to toothy bluefish. It also has high quality hardware that doesn’t need to be swapped out. 

Honorable Mentions: Gibbs Polaris, Tsunami Surface Blaster

Best Spook: Musky Mania Doc

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Pros

• Zig-zag glide mesmerizes stripers
• Rattles for added attraction
• Durable

Cons

• Relatively poor casting distance
• Not great in rough conditions

Key Features

• Length: 7 and 9 inches
• Weight 2 3/4, 3 1/4 ounces
• Plastic body

When the bite gets tough, stripers will hit a spook when they won’t touch other lures, and the best spook for stripers is the Musky Mania Doc. This is a lure that can catch stripers when nothing else will, which might be surprising because the original spooks were designed for largemouth bass. Spooks are particularly effective in calm water when they are retrieved slowly with rhythmic pulls on the rod that get the plug making wide back and forth darts and leaving a wake on the surface. These lures are most popular with New England striper anglers, but they work anywhere hungry stripers swim. 

Honorable Mentions: Dark Matter Astro Spook, Jigging World Spook

Best Metal Lip Swimmer: Gibbs Danny Surface Swimmer

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Pros

• Excellent when stripers are feeding on large bait fish 
• Works day and night

Cons

• Relatively poor casting distance
• Not great in rough conditions

Key Features

• Length: 4.5, 6, and 7.5 inches
• Weight 1 1/2, 2 1/4, and 3 ½ ounces
• Tunable by bending the line tie

The Gibbs Danny Surface Swimmer has a seductive action and large profile that triggers big stripers, which is why it’s my choice for best metal lip swimmer — and one of the overall best baits for striped bass. As with the spook, these are not great casting lures, but the seductive action is irresistible to stripers. These are particularly effective when the bass are feeding on larger baits such as adult bunker, snappers, or herring. They’re simple to use too. Just retrieve slowly, and the plug will do the rest. You can also try a sporadic twitch of the rod that makes the bait skitter and splash to trigger a strike. There are many great metal lip swimmers on the market, but my go to is the Danny Surface Swimmer because Gibbs makes high quality baits that always swim great out of the package, nice finishes, and quality components.

Best Metal Lure: Tsunami Diamond Jig

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Pros

• Unmatched casting distance
• Gets to the bottom fast
• Great sandeel imitator
• Can handle the roughest water

Cons

• For surfcasters, if casting distance isn’t an issue, there are usually better choices

Key Features

• Weights: ½ to 16 ounces
• Colors: Chrome, Gold, Glow
• Erratic fall

You need a diamond jig in your tackle box because no lure casts farther, and they come in a wide range of weights, making them ideal for boat anglers fishing varied depths and current strengths. Few lures are more simplistic than a diamond jig. They’re just a diamond-shaped piece of lead with a reflective coating and a single hook. But, they’re also one of the most popular saltwater lures. They are ideal boat fishing lures because they can be fished very effectively in deep rips. Popular boat presentations include yo-yoing and squidding. Yo-yoing is where you repeatedly sweep the rod skyward and let the jig fall, usually near the bottom. Squidding involves dropping the jig to the bottom and retrieving it quickly through the water column. When stripers feed on sandeels, diamond jigs probably account for the bulk of the stripers caught. But, I’ll usually only use diamond jigs for surf fishing when the fish are out of reach of other lures. 

Best Soft Plastic: Tsunami Swim Shad 

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Pros

• Very realistic appearance and swimming action
• Versatile

Cons

• Bluefish and other toothy predators can destroy them

Key Features

• Lengths: 3 to 9 inches
• Weights: 3/8 to 6 1/4 ounces
• Pre rigged
• Paddle tail

Few lures can imitate a baitfish better than an internally weighted soft plastic swim shad. Tsunami offers nine different size and weight combinations that make this a lure as versatile as a bucktail. Few lures can imitate a baitfish better than a soft plastic swim shad. Just drag it through the water, and it will swim like a real fish. You can use a steady retrieve, jig them, or vary your retrieve to elicit a bite. The key is choosing the right length and weight to match the size of the predominant forage and the depth the stripers are feeding. The Tsunami Swim Shad’s versatility and ease of use make it my top choice for a soft plastic lure.

Honorable Mentions: Storm Swim Shad, Lunker City Slug-Go

Best Trolling Lure: Hogy Perfect Tube

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Pros

• Phenomenal productivity
• Can troll in as little as 5 feet of water

Cons

• Gets bit by interference fish such as porgies and sea bass

Key Features

• Lengths: 16, 19, and 24 inches
• Colors: Black, wine, and bubblegum
• Mustad Hoodlum Stinger Hook

These lures have an almost magical ability to get big stripers to hit any time of the day. From shallow kayak trolling, to boat fishing over deeper structure with the aid of egg or drail weights, these lures trigger hits. Real worms are not necessary, as I’ve used Berkley Gulp worms on the ends of my tubes for many years with great success. You can catch big stripers with a tube and worm in a few feet of water in the spring or 20 or more feet in the heat of summer. It’s rare to find a lure that can cover so much of the water column with a perfect presentation, but the Hogy Perfect Tube does it. I troll these weightless in my kayak in 6 to 10 feet of water, but can easily move out to 25 feet with the addition of a one-ounce egg sinker. Deeper water can be fished with heavier sinkers. The key to catching fish on a tube and worm is to troll them slowly. I aim to troll these lures at around 2 mph, adjusted for the current speed.

The Best Live Bait for Striped Bass

Although there are heaps of proven striper lures on the market, it’s hard to deny that live bait can be more potent. The only hang-up, however, is that many of the best live baits need to be trapped, raked, cast-netted, or caught by the angler. While some are available in well-stocked bait shops, a few of the ringers require you to put in a little extra effort ahead of time to gather them. It’ll be worth it, though, when your reel starts screaming. Here are my picks for the best live baits for striped bass.  —Joe Cermele

Adult Menhaden (Bunker)

Depending on where you live on the striper coast, you may call these baitfish bunker or pogies, but it’s all just regional lingo for menhaden. And no matter where you go, menhaden is going to be among the best bait for striped bass. One of the most important forage species for salty striper, these oil-rich, protein-packed fish amass inshore in schools that can stretch for miles. You’ll often see them rippling, flashing, and splashing on the surface, and the easiest way to secure some for your livewell is with a cast net. Where legal, anglers also use weighted treble hooks to snag them. 

Adult bunker can measure up to 14 inches long, so when one gets picked up by a striper, you can usually count on the fish weighing 15 pounds or more. It’s fair to assert that adult menhaden account for more 40-plus-pound stripers per year than any other live bait. 

Eels

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If any bait can be considered a classic in the striper scene, it’s live American eels. Whether cast from the surf, a jetty, or drifted along the bottom from a boat, they are positively lethal, especially at night. Before running a hook through their eyes, many anglers will grab their eel with a rag and give its head a sharp—but not too forceful—knock on something hard like the boat gunwale or the edge of a bucket. You don’t want to kill the eel, but you want to diminish its energy, otherwise it can ball up around your leader and create a tangled mess. Live eels are still available in many bait shops, but these days they can set you back as much as $3 a piece. If you’re willing to make the investment, you’d better hope there are no toothy bluefish around. 

Bloodworms

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The scent given off by a live bloodworm is practically irresistible to a striped bass. Though less popular in the ocean, they are a staple in back bays and tidal rivers, especially in the early spring. These ugly red ribbons live in the mud, and dark mud flats heat faster than areas with sand bottom, which is why bloodworms are one of the first prey items bass hunt for early in the year. The problem with bloodworms is that most of the East Coast’s bait shop supply comes from Maine, and worm farming is a dying business. Supply struggles to keep up with demand, so you can expect to pay $20 to $30 for a dozen worms at the bait shop. They’re also easily stripped off the hook by nibblers like white perch, but if you can work through a few stolen baits, a juicy worm can be the ticket to your first keeper striper of the year.

Spot Croaker

A small member of the drumfish family, spots are popular live baits from Virginia through New York, especially in the fall. These hearty little fish are not nearly as fragile as menhaden, and I’ve even caught multiple stripers on one bait. Depending on your location, you might find live spot for sale, but anglers often buy them in bulk from suppliers and keep them in a pen for the fall season. You can also catch your own spots with pieces of squid, shrimp, or clam in bays and tidal rivers, though they’re often most abundant in late summer before the bass run gets heavy.

Peanut Bunker

Peanut bunker are simply juvenile menhaden. Measuring 5 inches or less, these little guys spend most of the summer in the back bay, then migrate offshore in the fall. They are just as important of a food source to stripers as adult menhaden, though they are a little more delicate and tougher to procure. A good cast net throw on a big school of peanuts will fill your livewell in a flash, but your  bait will die easily if you send it out on too big a hook or while using a heavy leader. 

Peanuts are most commonly used to target smaller stripers on lighter gear, but there are times when trophy cows gorge on them, too. If you find yourself in that scenario, scale back to 20-pound leader, use a small circle hook, and loosen up your drag a bit. 

Calico Crabs

Step back in time to the 1940s through early 1960s and you wouldn’t have much difficulty finding someone raking calico crabs on beaches from Southern New England to the Mid-Atlantic. These mottled pink, white, and red pinchers have a broad range, and they were once considered a top bait for bass, particularly in the surf. The truth is, stripers still gobble them down, it’s just that not many people want to put in the effort to secure them. 

You’d be hard pressed to find live calicos in a bait shop, but if you rake your own along the surf line, you’ve got gold. First, break off their claws because they’re usually ornery and ready to fight. When it’s time to fish, run your hook through the outer point of the shell. Don’t be afraid to cast short, as stripers will come in tight to the beach hunting for crabs.

FAQs

Q: What baits do striped bass eat? 

Maybe the better question is, “What won’t they eat?” Despite all of the mystique surrounding stripers, they are scavengers. When I used to keep an occasional striper, I would always examine stomach contents, and I’ve found just about every kind of fish and crustacean in their environment. I even found a red and white ball-point pen in the stomach of a 28-pound striper. The only thing I’ve not found in a striper’s stomach is another striper. I did however encounter a big dead striper with a smaller striper stuck in its throat. 

Q: How do I target large stripers? 

I think the most direct route to a big striper is a live or rigged eel fished at night. There’s a saying that goes “What’s the difference between a striper caught on an eel and one caught on a lure?” Answer: About 20 pounds. Eels do a superb job of attracting large bass and culling large bass from schools of predominantly small ones.

Q: Are worms good bait? 

If fish size doesn’t matter, worms are a phenomenal striper bait. If my life depended on catching a striped bass, I’d fish with sandworms after dark. The standard bottom rig has a small cigar float to keep the worms a couple of feet off the bottom. That’s not to say that they won’t work in the daytime, but you’ll likely encounter more interference fish. 

How to Choose the Best Bait for Striped Bass

The best advice I could give to a new striper angler would be to purchase a few proven lures, and go from there. 

A good start for a surfcaster would be to get bucktails in weights ranging from ¾ to 2 ounces, along with the strips mentioned in the bucktail section. If you’re going to fish inlets, you might need some 3-ounce bucktails depending on depth and current. You’ll also want a couple of pencil poppers in the 2-ounce range. Add a couple of floating 6-inch Daiwa SP Minnows. If you’re going to fish moderate to rough surf at night, include a bottle plug and 6-inch sinking needlefish. To round out your surf casting kit, include a few Kastmaster lures in the 1-2-ounce range. I mention these over diamond jigs because they can be worked shallower. 

If you’re a boat angler you’ll want the same lures, but instead of the Kastmaster, go with diamond jigs of the appropriate weight for where you’re fishing. These will likely be in the 2-6-ounce range. 

With all of these bass lures, keeping it simple with natural colors and white is always a good choice. It’s also vital that you become a regular customer of a well-respected tackle shop close to where you intend to fish. These are the local experts and in almost all cases will help you enthusiastically. 

Final Thoughts

My approach to identifying the best bait for striped bass is to stick to what I have confidence in, because that eliminates one variable in the equation of catching fish. There are so many other things to think about, such as whether the tide is right, or the water quality is OK, or if the fish are actually present. Only after I’ve established all of that will I experiment with anything new, and even that will likely be just a subtle change on what’s already working. New anglers, or experienced anglers on a new fishery, are faced with the challenge of building that initial confidence in their lures. If your target is striped bass, I’m confident that my suggestions for best bait for striped bass will get you to a place where you’re anticipating a hit on the next cast because you believe in your lure selection.