Dr. Julie Ball reports anglers are working hard for their catches, finding decent-sized stripers – 30 to 44 inches – just off the coast, with beehives of birds often giving up the location. Big schools of larger rockfish are loitering in deeper water from 6 to 15 miles offshore. Targeting striped bass past the 3-mile demarcation line is illegal. If striped bass are boated and released past this limit, they will not qualify for a release citation from the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.