Best Striped Bass Lures For The Season

Best Striped Bass Lures for the Season

When it comes to catching striped bass, timing is everything—and so is using the right lure. If you’re searching for the best striped bass lures for the season, you’ve come to the right place.

Want to outfish the crowd and tie into the biggest Stripers of the season? It starts with the right lure at the right time.

Whether you’re chasing spring-run schoolies in the back bays or targeting cows during fall blitzes, selecting the right lure can make the difference between a slow day and a fish-filled one.

This all-season lure guide breaks down what works best by season—plus bonus year-round striper slayers that should be in every surf bag or tackle box.

Why Does Lure Selection Matter by Season?

Striped bass are opportunistic feeders whose behavior shifts with seasonal bait migrations, water temperatures, and light conditions. Matching your lure to the baitfish present and adapting to seasonal patterns gives you the best chance at consistent hookups.

Why Matching the Hatch is Key to Striper Success

One of the most important principles in lure selection is to “match the hatch”—a concept borrowed from fly fishing but just as critical in the world of striped bass.

The best Striped Bass lures are those that closely match the hatch—perfectly mimicking the size, shape, and motion of seasonal baitfish.

As different types of baitfish begin their seasonal migrations—like sand eels in spring, peanut bunker in fall, or baby bluefish (snapper blues) in late summer—the most successful lures are those that mimic those patterns.

For example, as snapper blues flood the back bays in late summer, tossing a lure like a swimbait or a lip plug that resembles these juvenile fish can trigger aggressive strikes. The better your lure matches what the bass are already feeding on, the more success you’ll have. This is why adjusting your lure choice throughout the year is so critical for consistent hookups.

What Are the Best Lures for Spring?

Spring marks the kickoff of the striped bass migration, with waters warming and baitfish like sand eels, silversides, and early herring making their appearance.

Read All about the Seasonal Migration Patters of Striped Bass in my Post Striped Bass Season – Migration, Gear, And Hot Spots, and don’t forget to grab your free copy of the Annual Striped Bass Migration Guide

At this time, bass are transitioning from winter lethargy into active feeding, often focused on smaller, more delicate forage. The key here is to use lures that mimic this early-season forage—subtle presentations, lighter profiles, and realistic baitfish action. Here’s what should be in your box:

Best Lures:

• Zoom Super Fluke (rigged weightless or on jigheads)

• Bass Assasins (rigged weightless or on jigheads)

• Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ (on a Redfish Eye jighead)

• JoeBaggs Patriot Fish (paddle tail swimbaits)

• Bucktails with pork rind or curly tail trailers

• Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow (for river mouths and bridges)

Live Bait:

A Sand worm, or Blood worm threaded onto a Circle Hook with a Fluorocarbon Leader with a fish finder rig and small weight, drift fished in a moving tide will produce Striped Bass as well as other fish that crave these live baits such as Fluke, Porgy, Bluefish and SeaRobin.

• Bloodworms
• Sandworms

Tips:

• Drift Fish if on a boat or kayak or just use the moving tide instead of a retrieve.
• Focus on tidal creeks, estuaries and drains during the early season.

Which Lures Work Best for Summer Striped Bass?

As summer arrives, striped bass behavior changes drastically. Warmer water temperatures push many bass to deeper structures by day, while others cruise shallows and inlets at night and the early morning hours.

In some regions, bluefish and schools of peanut bunker or small herring create a smorgasbord of options for stripers. The trick is to use baits that can be seen, heard, or felt—topwaters at dawn and dusk, or larger profile plastics and plugs mimicking what’s most abundant at the time.

Best Lures:

• Super Strike Little Neck Popper (dawn/dusk surface action)

• Creek Chub Knuckle-Head (walking bait for night fishing)

• Hogy Pro Tail Paddle Series

• Tsunami Eels

• SP Minnow by Daiwa (casts well, great profile)

Live Bait:

• Eels (nighttime is prime)
• Chunked bunker (especially near structure)

Tips:

• Fish early morning or at night during the full moon.
• During the heat of day, go deep with jigs

What Are the Go-To Fall Lures for Stripers?

Fall is arguably the most exciting time to target striped bass. The waters are loaded with bait—mullet, peanut bunker, snapper blues—and the bass are feeding aggressively to bulk up for winter migration. This is blitz season. Your lure selection should replicate the baitfish that are thickest in your waters at this time, and be durable enough to withstand rapid-fire strikes. Think flash, vibration, and aggressive action.

Best Lures:

• Savage Gear Sandeel (especially in rough surf)

• Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper (Work it with long, steady sweeps during low-light hours or dawn blitzes—perfect for big surf or when bass are keyed in on fleeing baitfish.)

• Heddon Super Spook XT (Use in calm to moderate chop with a walk-the-dog retrieve—deadly at slack tide near inlets or back bays at sunrise and sunset.)

• Ava Diamond Jigs with teaser hook (green/yellow). (Drop and jig vertically during outgoing tides in deeper channels—ideal in fast-moving water with sand eels in the mix, or cast out and retrieve.)

• Berkley Magic Swimmer (Steady retrieve near the surface at dusk or dawn—crushes inshore schools when Stripers are targeting wounded baitfish.)

• Tsunami Pencil Popper XD Bunker (Cast far into breaking surf and retrieve with a fast, erratic pop—great for windy conditions and matching bunker schools.)

• Tsunami Tidal Pro IPOP Popper (Fish aggressively at first light along rips or rocky points—pop-pause cadence mimics distressed bait triggering reaction strikes. Beware Bluefish Love them too.)

• Acme Cast Master (Long casts and fast retrieves over sandbars or jetties—ideal for windy days when fish are holding in deeper troughs, mimics Peanut Bunker, and other small baitfish.)

Umbrella Rigs (with soft plastics like Fin-S Fish, or colored surgical tubes over hooks. Troll slow around channel edges or drop-offs—deadly in spring and fall when Stripers are chasing schools of small baitfish, such as sand eels.)

Live Bait, Livelining:

Live bait fishing for Striped Bass is one of the most effective ways to catch Striped Bass, especially when using the species that they are feeding on such as Peanut Bunker or Mullet.

To keep your bait lively and appealing, always maintain clean, oxygen-rich water, free of dirty water that can become contaminated with blood or slime as it can and will shorten the life of the live baits. A Dirty contaminated bait well will ruin a day of fishing killing the premium baits captured or purchased.

If you’re snagging bait with weighted treble hooks, inspect each one carefully—quarantine any baitfish that are bleeding heavily or appear lethargic to prevent stress and potentially reduce the liveliness with the rest of the baits.

Healthy baitfish swim naturally and provoke strikes; damaged baits often drift and can be ignored. Bait condition and presentation is critical to consistent action and induce more bites and hookups.

Always use a separate holding bucket for injured baits and rotate fresh seawater into your livewell regularly for maximum vitality.

• Live bunker (snag-and-drop)
• Mullet

Tips:

• Match bait school size (downsized lures during peanut bunker runs)
• When fishing with lures retrieve speed should match bait behavior (fast for blitz, slow for pods, and try and mimic an injured fish with twitches)

What Should You Use for Late Season Stripers?

Late Autumn and early Winter fishing for striped bass can be tough, if the migration has passed through your area, but it’s not impossible.

The bass that remain inshore or near warm water outflows move sluggishly and hug the bottom. Matching the hatch here means using jigs and soft plastics that mimic cold-stunned or slowly moving bait. Slow, low, and subtle presentations are key. Here’s your cold-water lineup:

Best Lures:

• JoeBaggs Resin Epoxy Jigs (Cast and count down—then work it with a twitch-pause motion. Excellent for when bass are holding mid-column on small bait.)

• SPRO Prime Bucktail Jig (Bounce it slow along the bottom or swing through current—add a pork rind trailer for more action in tidal creeks or breach-ways, and drains. These ducktails are ideal for fluke in smaller sizes)

• Storm Wildeye Swim Shad (Slow-roll near bottom structure or riprap—great for murky water or nighttime fishing when scent and vibration matter, match lure color with water conditions as well as matching specific baits running such as juvenile bluefish aka snapper run.)

• Hogy Heavy Minnow Jig (Cast into rips or blitzes—let it sink and retrieve with aggressive rod pops. Match the hatch when bass are blitzing peanut bunker.)

Live Bait:

• Bloodworms
• Eels (slow retrieved deep)

Tips:

• Fish slower than you think—bass metabolism is low
• Downsize and go deep, especially around warm water outflows

What Lures Work All Season Long?

While certain lures shine in specific seasons, there are a handful that consistently produce no matter the time of year.

These versatile lures are proven across conditions—from spring estuaries to fall surf blitzes—and are often the first lure many anglers tie on. Their ability to mimic a wide range of bait and perform under various conditions makes them essential staples.

• Yo-Zuri Mag Darter – Gets down deeper with erratic wobble

• LUCKY CRAFT Sammy 115 – Ideal for Walking the dog both steel and glass ball bearings gets stripers to react and bite.

• Rapala Skitter Pop 12 – Especially effective when sand eels are thick

TGT 10.5 Inch Rattling Bunker Spoon – Troll a Bunker Spoon and wait for the strike during the Fall Run You may just hook that Cow Bass Personal Best you seek.

How Can a Teaser Boost Your Hookup Ratio?

If you’re not using a teaser ahead of your main lure, you’re likely missing out. Teasers—small flies, soft plastics, or feather jigs—mimic small baitfish and often draw strikes even when the main lure is ignored. From my experience, the teaser acts like a panicked baitfish being chased, triggering the striped bass to strike the more vulnerable-looking target. In many cases, the fish hits the teaser instead of the main lure. Rig a teaser 12 to 18 inches above your main lure using a dropper loop or three-way swivel for maximum action.

Grab the Free Annual Striped Bass Migration Guide

Want the full breakdown on striper seasons, migrations, lures, bait strategies, regulations, and gear? 

Includes:

• Seasonal Lure Charts
• State Regulations
• Spawning Ground Maps
• Inshore Gear Checklist
• Best Striper Baits & Lures

FAQ — Striped Bass Lures

Q: What’s the best striped bass lure overall?
A: The Storm Swim Shad or SP Minnow are two of the most productive all-season lures in the surf and from the boat.

Q: What colors work best for striped bass lures?
A: In clear water: white, silver, bone. In murky water: chartreuse, yellow, pink, and white.

Q: Are topwater lures good for striped bass?
A: Yes—especially at dawn, dusk, and during fall blitzes. Use pencil poppers, or spooks to walk-the-dog and have a striper follow you home.

Q: Should I use different lures at night?
A: Yes—focus on profile and vibration. Eel imitators, big plugs, and dark colors work well.

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