Frank Holleman checks the weight on a chunky St. Johns striper, caught under a downtown Jacksonville bridge.

Tne look at our fish box and you could tell we were making up for lost time on the water. A passing tropical system had kept us holed up for days. Now, after two hours of fishing, my dad Frank and I had boated twelve striped bass averaging seven pounds.

I cast a gray bucktail lure into the swift, dark water next to the same piling where I had just pulled up three fish on three consecutive casts. I felt a thump, set the hook and my rod doubled over. It was all I could do to keep this fish out of the pilings. Five minutes later, we brought a beautiful 35-inch, 19.6-pound striped bass into the boat—a very respectable fish in Florida waters.

Although we didn’t get our limit (20 fish, six of which may exceed 24 inches), we were satisfied. Our catch totaled 16 stripers, one hybrid sunshine bass and three channel catfish, so we called it quits after boating our sixth striper in excess of 24 inches.

As usual, we were one of only a few boats fishing downtown Jacksonville. There are always boats cruising this narrow section of the St. Johns River, but most are pleasure boaters visiting the Jacksonville Landing and River Walk attractions. Others are out showing support for the ever-popular Jaguars. Many fishermen, I guess, become frustrated with the swift current and abundant snags in this stretch of the river, or are simply puzzled as to the behavior of the striped bass.

The key to exciting, all-season striper action in downtown Jacksonville is learning how these great gamefish react to seasonal changes. There seem to be plenty of fish in the river. The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (now the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC) began stocking the St. Johns in the 1970s. Now, over 200,000 stripers are put into the river each year. In addition to stripers, we also have hybrids, or sunshine bass, a cross between a white bass and a striper. The fish are similar in appearance, though a hybrid can usually be distinguished from a striper by its broken pattern of stripes. A hybrid also has a considerably smaller mouth and wider body than the more elongated striper.

Stripers are by nature cool-water fish. The larger the fish, the more sensitive it is to temperature. Adult stripers become stressed when the water reaches 80 degrees. During summer months, stripers move to thermal refuges—holes in deeper water, or springs where the water is cooler. Stripers in warm water are inactive and seldom feed; as a result, they lose a large proportion of their body weight during the summer. In contrast, from November through March, stripers are extremely active. They feed more and are much healthier fish.

No matter the season, stripers are structure oriented and you will find them in the pilings like other black-and-white striped fish, such as black drum, sheepshead and spadefish.

A cool day in November may offer optimal conditions. On one memorable fall trip, we were excited because similar weather and tidal conditions had yielded a magnificent stringer the month before. It was 50 degrees but felt much colder in the shade under the Main Street Bridge. It was so cold my hands were beginning to sting as I relentlessly flipped a shad-tail jig around the abutments with great anticipation.

“Look here!” said my dad as his drag began to scream. “He hit right at the boat.”

I scrambled to get all the lines in and out of his way. I reeled in the rig with a mullet and sinker, but left the mullet dangling on the surface to keep it alive. My father’s striper just barely curled up in the net. We decided to break out the scale and weigh the trophy fish. “Sixteen five, sixteen six, sixteen pounds six—hey get that rod!” my dad yelled.

Something had inhaled my mullet and almost pulled my rod overboard. I saved the rod but the fish freight-trained for the pilings, snapped the line and sped away. After two hours of probing the bottom unsuccessfully, we decided we had stumbled across the secret to catching wintertime brutes, which was simply to keep our baits on the surface.

Cool-water stripers are much more exhilarating to catch than warm-water fish. With five times the fighting power and a propensity to strike topwater baits, who wouldn’t get excited about these gamesters?

I pay close attention to light levels during the winter. When the sun is low, or if it’s cloudy, stripers will be on the surface looking for food. They are eager to strike and readily telegraph their whereabouts. On the other hand, when the sky is bright and there is little cloud cover the stripers will suspend, usually about halfway off the bottom. In 40 feet of water the fish would be holding in 20 feet, give or take a few.

Finger mullet are my favorite cool-weather baits. They are very active, and swim on the surface at the same level as the stripers. During low-light conditions I fish live mullet under a neon Equalizer float, right between the pilings. The Equalizer is a short wire with a float sandwiched between several beads and two swivels. When you twitch your rod the setup makes a clicking sound that seems to really get the fish’s attention. In addition, the action of the mullet keeps the float clicking constantly. I use 15-pound-test line and a 3-foot leader of 20-pound test with the Equalizer.

When fish are suspended deeper, I use a standard balsa-float rig like the ones used locally for spotted seatrout, except I adjust the stop knot to half the depth of the water. Even if the fish aren’t exactly halfway down, I have a good chance at them—the fish are aggressive and their strike zone is pretty large. If fish are showing on my depthfinder, I adjust the float accordingly.

Topwater lures are the best low-light artificials. My favorite is a gold Husky Jerk Rapala worked tight to the pilings with a stop-and-go retrieve. I also like the Husky Rapala in silver-and-blue and the heavy-duty Long A Bomber in silver flash with a blue back. Other plugs would certainly work; just make sure they’re equipped with strong hooks, as you’ll have to apply a lot of pressure to keep fish out of the pilings.

In bright light, silver-and-blue Rat-L-Traps retrieved quickly at mid-depths work well. Curly tail grubs in light col-ors tipped with shrimp are also effective. The key is to keep the bait at mid-depth in the fish’s strike zone.