Another tip: Freeze and wrap (bait string) your anchovies, sardines or whatever at home. So you don't make a mess trying to wrap things by the bank. It's easy to wrap the bait frozen, just don't pull on it too much when wrapping. It makes less of a mess at the bank when you have all your bait pre wrapped at home. If you want the bait to last for 4 hours still frozen then bring 2 icepacks and a small cooler and sandwich your wrapped bait between the 2 icepacks. This keeps the bait frozen long enough until you toss it in the river. This is very effective especially when fishing in 85-90 degree weather as it prevents the bait from falling apart quickly while allowing the fish to locate your bait.
Just a tip: if your pyramid sinker has an eyelet on the pointy side, use that side to attach to your weight line so even if your sinker gets stuck, you'll be able to pull it off the rocks.
just a comment about offset circle hooks. seems many areas, not here...yet, offset circles are no longer OK to use. For example we can't use offsets fishing for sturgeon . They have to be not only barbless circle but also non-offset (aka inline/perfect circle). anymore I double check given how riles seem to change houly...ugh
Bunch of school size shakers are terrible to catch, go fish by Sherman island and have a good chance to catch a big fish and circle hooks are good for long lines but not so much for striper fishing
Yes, there are a bunch of shakers in the river system right now, still some keepers in the mix. You just got to go through a bunch of shakers to find them
