Striped Bass Fishing at Blue Marsh

In early May 2014, striped bass conditions were ripe in the vicinity of Blue Marsh Dam in Berks County.

Heavy rains had raised the level to five feet above normal.  A few days earlier the tributary in-flow had peaked and now the dam operators had decided to open the flood gates.  I am going to assume that the current toward the flood gates then began to draw plankton, which drew the gizzard shad and alewife, and behind them the striped bass.

I went to Blue Marsh, actually, that day to catch walleye, since the season had just re-opened in Pennsylvania.  I soon discovered the walleye gear in my hands was going to be insufficient.

After I broke off two hooked fish, I figured what was biting was much bigger than walleye.  I put out an APB to fishing buddy, Billy Bassman: "Something big is neath the waters.  Bring bigger gear, pronto"

Within 30 minutes, the Bassman was there with surf rods and only minutes before I had broken off for the third time.  But this time, I got the beast close enough to see what it was.  "Stripers," I yelled to Billy as he handed me a 9-foot rod, spooled with 20-pound test.

We got over the hot spot, near a deep dropoff, and flipped out the hot rig -- a nightcrawler on a #4 hook, six feet beneath a float with 2 or 3 split shot halfway between for balance.

Within a few minutes, my float disappeared, just like it had the previous three times.  This time I just hung on, and by the time the striper had hooked itself, it was 50 yards from where we were fishing.  It was a pleasure this time to play the striper in on the bigger gear.

We were able to land another four stripers over the next four days, ranging in size from 23 inches to over 30 inches.  The weights were in the 20 to 30-pound range. We used the same nightcrawler rig, only altering it to raise or lower the float a foot or so, or adding more than one nightcrawler to the hook.

And here's the thing, the next time conditions are the same -- high pool level, high tributary in-flow, and high flood gate out-flow -- take a trip the the lower part of Blue Marsh to see if the striped bass bite happens again.