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The striped bass, or striper (Morone saxatilis), is a handsome game fish prized by many anglers. It packs a punch when hooked.
They are popular seasonal fish that migrate into New England waters starting in late spring and run into the fall.
If you are successful in landing a legal one, they make excellent fish for the dinner table, as the meat is firm and flaky, chock-full of flavor.
For a nice legal catch, you have to make sure you are within the slot of 28 to 31 inches after pinching the tail and closing the mouth. You are allowed one fish a day per person.
For sure, the tight slot makes it challenging on another level to land this fish.
Unfortunately, spearfishing this fish is not legal in Massachusetts, but it is perfectly legal in Rhode Island as long as you can land a fish within this slot.
I travel all the way to Rhode Island to be able to land this fish alongside the numerous other fish Rhode Island has to offer. Yes, you read that correctly: Your Massachusetts fishing permit is valid in Rhode Island.
Spearfishing this fish is another experience, as sometimes you are surrounded by a whole school of hundreds of stripers.
The initial approach involves diving down very slowly to flatten yourself against the seafloor and wait silently for any skittish fish to come by.
You definitely get overwhelmed, as you need to quickly choose a fish that looks about right among the school before you take your shot.
It takes much practice to know how to visually gauge a legal fish underwater.
I had to do a lot of studying of the legal slot from a distance on a ruler to train my eyes to gauge a fish before I got confident enough to land one.
One key thing you can do is put a ruler on your pole spear or speargun and use that as a reference.
Over time, with experience, you will get much better at visually gauging a good slot fish.
Ryan Park, a Marblehead resident and practicing dentist, writes “Beneath the Blue,” an occasional column in which he shares the experiences, challenges and discoveries of freediving in photos and words.
