Striped bass will eat almost anything — but they're maddeningly selective about when and how they eat it. The lure that slays on a nighttime outgoing tide won't get a look during a daytime flood. That's why the best striper boxes aren't full of one type of lure. They carry a bucktail for working the bottom, a plug for the surface, a jerkbait for the middle column, and something shiny for when all else fails.
These seven lures cover every presentation you'll need from surf, boat, or jetty. All are proven producers with decades of striper catches behind them.
Building Your Striper Box
You don't need all seven on day one. Start with a bucktail jig (SPRO) and a minnow plug (Daiwa SP Minnow or Yo-Zuri Crystal 3D) — those two cover 70% of striper situations. Add the Heddon Super Spook for topwater blitzes and the Rapala X-Rap for finicky fish, and you'll have a box that handles everything from a nighttime surf session to a daytime boat trip.
Match your lure colors to the local bait: white and chartreuse for bunker and herring, bone and silver for silversides, olive and pearl for sand eels. When in doubt, white bucktail with a white Gulp trailer catches stripers everywhere, every season.
