Pleade consider using tail flags to reduce the post-release mortality of striped bass.
Preliminary results from Massachusetts DMF research show that fishing with bait results in the greatest mortality for released striped bass due to gut hooking.
For lures, double trebles do a great deal of physical damage to striped bass.
Two single hooks are next for overall mortality. The predicted mortality for a treble/treble is 8.1%. For a single/single it is 4.4%.
However, removing one hook gets you to a mortality rate of about 3%, which is a dramatic decrease in striped bass release mortality.
