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Your Hobie Outback is a fully-loaded fishing machine, and this alone makes it ideal as a vessel for pursuing stripers during the fall run.

In much of the Northeast, late October through early December sees explosive striped bass action as schools of fish, sometimes in the thousands, pursue bait up and down the coast.

This time of year the stripers (and the bluefish that often follow them) are gorging on mullet and bunker (and other bait, as regionally available).

You just need to be in the right place at the right time, have a few essential lures, and know when and where to throw them. Here’s your primer.

Why a Hobie Outback?

Because it has more space and features than a smaller and lighter fishing kayak, like a Hobie Lynx.

We’re going to tell you just to bring some basic gear for kayak fishing, but all the same, all the room offered by the Hobie Mirage Outback makes it a winner here.

But there are other reasons, too. For instance, the powerful MirageDrive 180 with kick-up fins is perfect for fighting the tides and wind in the surf. Plus it keeps your hands free for casting.

It’s also a rock-solid fishing platform, and that’s something you’ll really need when fall fishing in the salt. Taking a spill in the drink can be not only simply inconvenient but dangerous at this time of year.

So a stable platform like the Hobie Outback is a must. It can handle wind, waves and current and it’s stable enough for you to stand and cast in, which is big.

And of course, the other features are nice, too, like comfortable Vantage CTW seating, built-in rod holders, and the rest of the bells and whistles.

What to Bring

We’re going to advocate for some basic tackle here, rather than telling you to bring the whole bag.

In fact, we’re going to go ahead and let you leave the tackle box or bag at home. You’ll just need one outfit and tray.

Opt for a medium heavy to heavy action rod and a spinner with a big enough spool to hold enough line to stand up to big striped bass. You’ll need it. Since you’ll be in a yak, rod power is more important than length because you won’t need to make crazy long casts.

As for tackle, get one tray and load up on the following:

• Diamond jigs with tube tails, which imitate sand eels.
• Kastmasters and Hopkins Shorty spoons that imitate stouter baitfish like mullet and bunker.
• Poppers like Atom poppers and Cotton Cordell Pencil Poppers which make a lot of noise and draw reaction strikes.
• Plugs like Rapala X-Rap stickbaits and Bomber Long A and Windcheaters that cast far and offer a great deal of versatility.

Stock up your tackle tray with a few of each and you’re ready to hit the surf.

Just make sure that you also bring along warm clothes and wear a PFD, which will help protect you against colder temperatures when you’re out on the water.

Where and When to Fish

The best time and place to fish is whenever and wherever a striper blitz is occurring, which could happen at any time of day.

However, generally, the best two times of day are right around sunrise and sunset, as striped bass move in shallow to work the bait against the shore and gorge on it.

Also, target inlets - big schools of striped bass will work into the outgoing tide and take advantage of schools of weary bait that are struggling against the current at the mouths of the inlets.

Whenever you have a strong tide, get into it and look for signs of feeding fish. Boiling water and diving birds are both signs of feeding bass. That’s where you want to be.

Techniques

Once you locate a school of fish, the next thing you need to do is try one of several techniques:

• With a metal, like a spoon or diamond jig, simply cast into the school and rip the lure back. If that doesn’t entice a strike, try a stop and go retrieve.
• With a popper, cast it into the school, pop it by jerking the rod tip aggressively, then let the lure sit for a few seconds. Most strikes will come on the pause.
• With a diving plug, cast towards the school, then work the lure back aggressively. If that does not draw a strike, try a more irregular cadence. If fish are skittish, twitch the lure slowly to imitate a dying baitfish, which may elicit a finesse strike.

A Secret Tip

One more thing to mention - if you want to increase your odds of connecting with a striped bass in the fall, tie a teaser onto your leader.

A teaser is basically an unweight bucktail, sort of like a fly, that’s often tied into the leader, trailed by a lure.

Often, it’s the teaser that gets the strike.

To prevent your braid from getting chewed up, tie on a few-foot section of mono at least as heavy as your main line (if not heavier) and tie the teaser right to that.

That way, if the leader gets damaged from repeated strikes, you can just scrap it and tie on a new one, rather than wasting the much more expensive braid of your main line.

Get Out There!

All that’s left is for you to pick a time and place, load up the Hobie Outback, and get on the water. Be safe and tight lines!