Striper Fishing

Question
I am experienced salt water fisherman in South Jersey.  I have done mostly all of my fishing in the summer.  I am now a permanent resident on the coast around Cape May.  I have gone out for Striped Bass a few times and have not caught any.  I went on head boats.  I plan on taking my own boat out this weekend to the Cape May rips.  Do you have any advise?  I hate to go out and get skunked.  I plan to use live eels and bunker.  I have had trouble hooking in to a fish using eels.

Answer
Jamie:
 Getting skunked while seeking striped bass is nothing to be ashamed of.  I have had a poor fall season thus far and have had number of striper trips that were fishless.  But I have also had a few good ones in the last two weeks.  I fish the south shore of LI in and around Jones Inlet.  What works for me should work as well for you.

 A big problem this fall has been the abundance of bluefish.  Some of my striperless trips were simply a matter of too many blues getting to my baits and lures before a striper could find them.  So the first piece of advice I can offer is to try an avoid the blues.  Either try different locations if the spot you are fishing is producing blues instead of bass, or swithching your baits or method to avoid the blues.  Blues love eels and bunker, as do bass.  But bass are more likely to hit on skimmer clam than blues.  I have had a few good days recently fishing fresh skimmer clams on the west bar of Jones Inlet.  Others who were catching bass were also using skimmer clam.  The guys using bunker were only getting blues.

 If the blues are not a problem, then live eels and live bunker should do the trick.  Fish them on or near the bottom.  Use a fishfinder rig, 3 way swivel rig, or anything else you are comfortable with.  Just make sure you are presenting the live bait where the bass will find it, and this is within a few inches of the bottom.  With these live baits you should not try to set the hook when the bait is first picked up by the bass.  Give them enough time to turn the bait in their mouth and try to swallow it before setting the hook.  Several seconds is needed, and during the excitment of a pickup, waiting that long seems like forever, but it really does help to wait.  If you are using skimmer clam for bait, a much sooner setting of the hook is needed, at the first sign of a substancial pull.  In fact, all the bass I have caught in the last few weeks using clam have been caught by keeping the reel in gear.  When using live eels or live bunker, it is best to keep the reel in free spool keeping thumb pressure on the spool and then raising the thumb at the time of the pickup and allowing the fish to take out line for those several seconds prior to setting the hook.
 Good luck and feel free to come back with a follow up question or comment on how you did.  I would like to know if I was able to supply information that allowed you to enjoy catching stripers from your own boat.  
-Rich