Week 14 of the 2026 Striper Cup is in the books! Five anglers from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey took home gear this week as trophy bass fed on bait up and down the coast.
REGISTER FOR THE 2026 STRIPER CUP →
Shore — Michael Solebello
Wall Township, NJ
Wins the PENN Slammer 5500 / Carnage 10′ Combo
Boat — Christopher Gibbons
Stratham, NH
Wins the PENN Slammer IV 5500 Reel
Kayak — David Medina
Plymouth, CT
Wins the PENN Slammer IV 5500 Reel
Youth — Logan Potter
Lexington, MA
Wins the PENN Battle IV 4000 Spinning Combo
Costa Photo Contest — Jared Sweeney
Glastonbury, CT
Wins a pair of Costa Sunglasses
See the full 2026 prize lineup →
Striped Bass Migration Report: Bait Pushes the Bass Inshore
The bait has stripers on the chew from the Chesapeake to Maine, and this week the story is fish moving in close. Pogy schools that had the biggest bass feeding offshore have pushed toward the beaches in several regions, putting trophy fish back within reach of shore and kayak anglers. Here’s where they’re biting this week.
Cape Cod & Massachusetts
Stable water temperatures and a buffet of bait from Plymouth to Plum Island have spread the striped bass bite all over Massachusetts. What was an offshore game has shifted inshore, with pogy schools pushing in through Nantasket Roads and bass stacking up around Hull Gut and the Peddocks Island area, plus shore action off Wollaston Beach and Squantum. In Cape Cod Bay the fish keep chewing on squid, sand eels, and bunker, and the cows are around, including a 38-pounder that came off heavy east winds this week.
New Hampshire & Maine
Uniform water temperatures and ample bait have striped bass on the move across New Hampshire and Maine, rewarding anglers who stay mobile. Pogy schools off Salisbury Beach, Wallis Sands, and Rye are holding fish, and the small size of the bait is making for easier hooksets. Surf anglers are having to hit a number of spots to find the biomass, while boaters are doing best by getting ahead of the roving schools, which are anything but fussy once you intercept them.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island’s bay is full of sand eels and still holding squid, which means another big biomass of stripers has set up from the bay out to Block Island. The bite dried up a touch at Block Island’s North Rip but stayed strong on the southwest and southeast sides, though you’ll have to deal with some sharks. A nice push of big bluefish has also shown up off the Narragansett coastline for anyone looking to bend a rod.
Connecticut
Connecticut’s bass bite stayed good on the reefs and in the rips. During the day, go deep with GT eels, spoons, and live eels; after dark, work the shallower tide-swept boulders with live eels, big unweighted soft plastics, and big swimmers. Live eels and chunks have been pulling the bigger stripers off reef structure at night, and sea bass fishing has picked up in the Eastern Sound.
New Jersey
New Jersey is in its summer pattern, but there are still stripers around for surf anglers willing to work for them. Fluking has been quiet in the Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach surf, but bass to 31 inches came on sand bugs this week, and there are short stripers holding in the rivers. Down south, a recent upwelling and some south wind put a few fish on the feed around the Barnegat Light inlet.
Chesapeake Bay
Heads up for Chesapeake anglers: striped bass are off the table in the bay for the entire month of August, with no harvesting or targeting allowed, even catch and release. Coastal areas stay open, and before the closure the best striper action was up in the upper bay around the Patapsco River and Pooles Island. Local captains are shifting to a strong summer bluefish bite through August and will be back on the stripers in September.
For the full picture, check the Striper Migration Map and OTW’s weekly Fishing Reports.
Not Registered Yet?
It’s not too late to get in. Every Striper Cup registration includes the Striper Box (Columbia PFG shirt, Rapala lure, OTW snapback, collectible pin, and YETI discounts), a shot at weekly prizes, and a Golden Ticket entry into the grand prize boat raffle at StriperFest.
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