While many anglers are fishing for recently stocked trout, others are pursuing shad in the Delaware River. But if you crave bigger fish, stripers are currently making their way up the Delaware River.

So far though, stripers being caught are on the small size. According to Bill Brinkman of Brinkman's Bait Shop in Philly, a lot of 12-20 inch fish are being caught during this early spring run (stripers must be 28 inches to be legal). Customers fishing Petty's Island are only finding small bass using bloodworms. At the Burlington-Bristol Bridge a 32-incher was caught at night on bunker.

The largest striper reported was at Raccoon Creek area where one angler hooked a couple stripes 30-34 inches all on live eels.

At the Trenton bridge anglers are finding stripers with crankbaits and poppers during the day and live eels, live perch and poppers at night. Most of these were in the 24-29 inch size and weighing 6-10 pounds.

For those who have never fished for Delaware River stripers, the folks at Yamaha offer these tips.

They claim that one of the best ways to coax stripers is with natural baits like sandworms and fresh clams as bass use their sense of smell rather than seeking out baitfish visually during early spring. These baits are fished on or very near the bottom with light spinning or baitcasting outfits spooled with 10-15 pound test line.

The bottom rig is merely a fish finder with a light sinker mated to a 24-inch fluorocarbon leader armed with a 4/0 or larger circle hook. Circle hooks are preferred in that bass feeding on soft baits are likely to swallow the hook and on the many shorts Delaware River anglers are catching, you don't want to kill these fish. Circle hooks almost always set in the corner of the mouth making unhooking them easier with less harm to the fish's mouth. If using worms, the addition of a small float between the hook and sinker will help keep the bait off the bottom and attract more bites.

Clams, they say, give off more scent and are easier for bass to locate and gulp down lying on the bottom. When fishing with clams, Yamaha recommends bringing along a chum basket and fill it with crushed clams. Then suspend it under your boat to disperse even more scent to attract bass from further away.

When water temps go above 50 degrees, which they are now, and river herring and alewives start their move from the ocean into bays and rivers to spawn, Yamaha suggests switching over to trolling with diving plugs. There are lures with long diving lips rated to run 15-30 feet down that are are recommended for early season stripers. Trolling these plugs can be done on a variety of light tackle but be sure they are loaded with 30-50-pound test braided line, which allows the plugs to dive to their rated depth. Add a six-foot fluorocarbon leader and a snap for a quick change of lures, and fish them from outrigger type rod holders to keep them spread apart behind the boat. And you should have a range of lure colors that run at various depths. Keep an eye on the depth finder to locate schools of baitfish and stripers and take note of their depth.

As to where to fish, Yamaha recommends looking for areas adjacent to feeder streams and areas of flats along channel edges that get exposed to the sun as they warm faster. And fish along the shorelines with southern exposure. They say stripers are customarily found in water depths from a few feet out to edges of channel drop-offs in 20-30 feet of water. Bottom fishing with soft baits will often be best on flats, near drop-offs.

Now is the best time to hunt for stripers and while doing so, you may luck out and catch a shad, walleye or catfish.

Stripers are also starting to hit from Atlantic City upwards to Raritan on the saltwater scene. Anglers are reporting fish from 44 inches and 26 pounds and falling for Fin S fish, bloodworms, bunker, clams and SP minnows. Here though, you'll also be fighting off the pesky bluefish that are also on the bite.