Week 15 of the 2026 Striper Cup is in the books! Five anglers from Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut took home gear this week as the first signs of the fall run started to show along the coast.
REGISTER FOR THE 2026 STRIPER CUP →
Shore — Christopher Mearls
Plymouth, MA
Wins the PENN Authority 4500 Reel
Boat — Austin Goad
Centerbrook, CT
Wins the PENN Authority 5500 Reel
Kayak — Donald Campbell
Magnolia, MA
Wins the PENN Authority 4500 Reel
Youth — Caz Pendleton
Eliot, ME
Wins the PENN Battle IV 4000 Spinning Combo
Costa Photo Contest — Lucas Reale
Scituate, MA
Wins a pair of Costa Sunglasses
See the full 2026 prize lineup →
Striped Bass Migration Report: The First Signs of Fall
It’s still August, but the first hints of the fall run are showing up along the coast. Bonito have invaded southern New England, bluefish and bass are blitzing at first light in Rhode Island, and the bite up in New Hampshire is starting to feel more like October than midsummer. The bass are still keyed on bait, and there’s plenty of it around. Here’s where they’re biting this week.
Cape Cod & Massachusetts
Massachusetts anglers are finding trophy striped bass around the offshore pogy schools, which are under siege by whales, tuna, and bass anywhere from Minot out to the 21 Can. The South Shore has been hit or miss, but the night crews keep scoring by boat, kayak, and shore throughout the North and South Rivers and Duxbury Bay, with bass from 30 to 43 inches coming on parachute rigs around Long Island, Rainsford, and Peddocks. Kayakers are doing well on flutter spoons under the pogy schools, shore anglers are chunking off Wollaston Beach and Hull, and out on the Cape, bonito have arrived in force from Buzzards Bay to the outer beaches.
New Hampshire & Maine
Up north it’s starting to feel like fall. Mackerel have pushed inshore and sparked excellent striped bass fishing from the Piscataqua River to Maine’s beaches, with an uptick in action anglers are calling almost reminiscent of the fall run. Live and free-lined mackerel along the Piscataqua has been productive, and there’s been a resurgence of the offshore Isles of Shoals big-bass bite, with open-water blitzes tipping you off to the bedlam.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island is showing the earliest signs of the fall run, with bluefish and stripers blitzing early in the mornings and bonito numbers climbing by the day. The striper reports have stayed very strong, and inshore anglers are buzzing about the influx of bonito into local waters. The tautog bite has been decent since the season reopened, and bottom fishing for sea bass and fluke rounds out the options.
Connecticut
Connecticut’s striped bass bite is holding strong, especially in the cooler water of the eastern Long Island Sound, where the reefs are giving up the best fishing. Eels and topwater plugs during low-light windows continue to reign supreme, with needlefish plugs and live eels producing on the night shift and deeper presentations like GT eels and spoons working through the day. Bonito have pushed into the eastern Sound too, though be ready to share your bass with the brown sharks east of the Connecticut River.
New Jersey
New Jersey is still in its summer grind, but there are stripers around for anglers who fish after dark. The Point Pleasant Canal has been giving up bass at night on eels, with bluefish mixed in, and there are fish holding around docks and bridges on softer structure. Fluke, crabbing, and an offshore tuna bite are carrying the daylight hours until the fall run kicks into gear.
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake striped bass fishery remains closed for the month of August, so there’s no targeting bass in the bay right now, even catch and release. Anglers are keeping busy with a stellar bluefish bite, plus Spanish mackerel in the bay and bluefin, mahi, and white marlin offshore. The stripers will be back on the menu in September, when the bay’s fall fishing starts to heat up.
The bait is thick and the first fall-run players are showing up. Find the bait, fish the low-light windows, and you’re in the game.
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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