the limited amount of surface action i've been finding has got me wondering. how uncommon is this? does anyone recall a fall like this after the moratorium? with the resurgence of the pogies, where are all the peanuts? i have yet to see 1. i have a friend a few states south and he's into blitzes hot and heavy. i'm still finding decent fish from shore and boat but i miss the rush of seeing birds/bait/fish whipped into a frenzy. fished the canal last night. 1 20# fish,a few blues and schoolies. something big smashed the surface a few times by the sag where i was getting blues. sounded like a car hitting the water. boy was it cold last night

seen bird this morning working top water for about 20 mins then all gone going to hit a few spots later but there will be top action this week so get ready boys

it has been a strange year i have not seen 1 blitz all year , and i am not sure what to make of it . but my gut tells me it can't be good

I've seen a couple of small very brief blitzes but yeah it seems both late and quiet this year

Sakonnet River down my way has seen little to no action so far.This time last year it was insane.

Im hangin up my gear the runs over

I've noticed the same thing, seems every morning I'm out it looks as though things are about to explode, little ripples and pops on the water, tons of birds around waiting for something to happen, and then the sun comes up and nothing. I don't know the reason but it is definitely troubling.

It is very troubling but just because there are no blitzes does not mean there are no fish. Despite the lack of surface frenzies, I see quality fish being taken on topwater plugs just about every morning up here on Cape Ann. It is the "sharpies" as I call them who are nailing these fish from sun-up until 7-thirty-ish. I have gotten fish up to the mid-thirties (inches) but they are getting them in the mid thirties (pounds). That being said, the lack of forage (peanuts) combined with the increasingly popular theory that far less fish pushed this far north, this is absolutely setting up to be a disappointing fall for those who rely on their eyes and not their legs/arms to find quality fish. I know I will be out there morning/noon/night for the next few weeks looking for my trophy. Cripes- I am surrounded by water up here and I cannot bring myself, however tempting it is, to travel to the canal and points south to find fish in the fall!

fish at night. i had fish every cast for a while last night, so there's no shortage of fish, and they're feeding on other things since the peanuts aren't thick. for whatever reason the peanuts aren't as thick as recent years, so you just adapt. my experience has been that its usually smallish fish on peanuts anyway, and i typically don't even bother with them.

everything was set up well for a blitz at sunrise where I was, until two seals showed up.

BTW, i saw three blitzes going on this morning in protected coves while driving home, way to tired to stop though (they looked like small fish anyway).

Saw one in the canal this morning, but it was outside my casting range w/ a pencil popper (needed probably another 50'). Someone to the left managed to hook a schoolie with a SS popper and a few others were trying to get way out there w/ roberts rangers and tins w/o luck. Saw a few splashes that looked bigger than schoolies but they were probably mid 20 inch schoolies like the one the guy pulled in. It lasted maybe 30min.
Seems like they're finally starting to happen, but from the duration and minimal splashes, there aren't that many fish in the schools...

saw one today that lasted almost 2 hours. unfortunatly I was on a peir and they were about a 1/4 mile out. sucks not having a boat. did get a 30" about an hour afterward. it's been a tough year for me though up on the north shore.

There was blitz today :humpty:

(mostly bluefish though)

haven't fished since the 21st due to
work and family committments :wall: :wall: :wall:

but i've HEARD of blitzes round the Hahbah~~~~

am going to my udl tonite with sum fresh riggies.
tide sets up just right, and it should be dark enuff
with all these clouds looming overhead,,,,,,,,,,,,,

LOVE this time of year!!

SOX are in the playoffs,
NFL is in full schwing, and
YOU can feel the crisp of autumn
with each and every dawn :uhuh: :uhuh: :uhuh:

along with the lack of blitzes I noticed the commorants are not as thick around here too. not that i miss em

Seems to be a shortage of blitz type bait.

There was blitz today :humpty:

(mostly bluefish though)

:smokin::humpty::wave: yes there was :uhuh:

No blitz where I was yesterday but the fishing was decent.

The best blitzes are the ones you can't see....

Off my buddy's boat this year, ran into multiple blitzes fishing LI Sound, weird as have never seen top water action with birds working like this year compared to the last 2 years fishing off his boat. Also, during the storm last weekend fish blitzing on ocean herring, crazy SoCo blitz, not many people there which made it all the better. This Friday, another huge blitz in SoCo. Blitzes are there IMO.

After having said I've seen no action in the river I ran into a small pod of blitzing blues.Got two of those and am pretty sure I hooked into a bass in the aftermath but never actually saw it.

The way things have this year for me,something is definitely better than nothing.

ive defeinetly been seeing a few around the soco area. mostly 3-5 pound blues from what ive seen with some schoolies mixing in, nothing big yet though. got a special treat, was spearfishing the mouth of narrow river and had a school of either albies or bonito all around me. one of the cooler things ive ever seen. they are like rocketships in the water. too fast for me to even attempt to line up a shot. they were blitzing on peanuts like crazy for about 45 minutes. first time ive ever even seen these speed deamons

Saw my first today in SOCO .Lasted an hour or so too far from shore.No boats were on it.I guess boat guys don't fish in the rain.

none to be seen from my boat BB. Plenty of bait tho.
And yes we do fish in the rain. it's nice having a t-top over your head on days like this.
Water is still warm 65 and clear -10 -15'

Blitzes in Narr. bay today. Many blues and some striper too

You guys must be fishing in a corn field. I've had decent fish, 20 to 30# everywhere I have fished the last 2 weeks. A few skunks but overall, an average to good Fall run. Quality (size) has definelty been up. Are you fishing eels at night????

No wonder I keep hanging up on those cornstalks!

been sloooow for me, out Friday night on the bay with p23, beautiful night tossing eels, Bruce got a got one small bass and I got a blue. couldnt find good fish!

was spearfishing the mouth of narrow river and had a school of either albies or bonito all around me. one of the cooler things ive ever seen. they are like rocketships in the water. too fast for me to even attempt to line up a shot. they were blitzing on peanuts like crazy for about 45 minutes. first time ive ever even seen these speed deamons


That must have been very, very cool. S.C.U.B.A.?

Niko is right! I have never seen a fall (or season) like this in 20 years. I've been out on the haba almost every week for the last eight weeks and have yet to see a blitz. At this time of year there should be acres of bass and blues busting the surface. Clearly there are quality fish around but not in the surface numbers we have come to expect. I think it has to do with a shift in the quantity (and type) of bait fish around and the prevailing weather pattern. This is the first time in 20 years I have seen mackerel hanging around in numbers till the end of July/early August. The pogies and herring are so thick you could walk across them. Anyone remember an August where it rained every freakin' day with T storms moving constantly from south to north (even as late as a week ago)? I thing the fish are so well fed that there has been no need for them to ball up bait and rip through it. I think that explains why there's been really big bass and blues caught down deep on live pogies, eels and chunks. As an example I was drift fishing Hull Gut two weeks ago in the middle of the day with an incoming tide. There were about 20 other boats doing the same. Not two hundred yards from the channel there were massive schools of bait fish jumping out of the water by the Pemberton pier. Now these fish were not being chased by larger fish...they were feeding! We would simply drop a sibiki down...load up a bucket...and motor over to the channel and bounce them off the bottom. Whammo, four ten pound Blues and a 36" striper in less than a half hour. Now one would think that these fish would have ripped through the bait ball over by the pier...but no...they simply stayed down deep in the channel waiting to be force-fed. I think we have a bunch of fat, lazy, unmotivated fish out there...sort of like our political leaders.

Its a local thing and changes from year to year.
I thought after last year in Montauk where blitzing was a norm, but wasn't last year, the fishery is going to toilet. It was one of the worst fall I've ever seen
Then this labor day the blitz fish showed up and 37 days later its still going on without letting up besides a single day when Hanna rolled around. How would you like to have a blitz every day for your entire fall? You might think its fun but I'll guaranty you that after 5 days you will say ,who cares.... i actually left it and came home and swam some sinking SS poppers on sand by home and nailed few nice fish. Now that was satisfying.....

Somebody will have to check my pulse the day I say "who cares" about a blitz.

Haven't seen much daytime surface stuff outside of the Canal up here, but the nights have been good.

how many 3 to 6 pound bass can you catch if they are swimming around your feet and bumping in your boots? If you are doing "figure eights " with your rod in the water with a bucktail/ Eventually ,you'll say i rather use my skill to catch one fish instead of mindless bailing
Now ,if you are a guide, this brings a big grin to your face:btu:

how many 3 to 6 pound bass can you catch if they are swimming around your feet and bumping in your boots? If you are doing "figure eights " with your rod in the water with a bucktail/ Eventually ,you'll say i rather use my skill to catch one fish instead of mindless bailing
Now ,if you are a guide, this brings a big grin to your face:btu:


The skill comes in trying to pull a 20# fish from the mix of small ones. Is it not true that there are typically bigger fish on the edges or slightly away from the surface action? I for one am always trying to outdo the yahoos, who are yanking out the schoolies using storm shads, by tossing tossing a bigger lure around the fray or dragging/bouncing a smaller one a good ways away from the mayhem.

Now, if I could only locate a blitz up here on the N. Shore.... :spin:

I enjoy the certainty of a blitz.

It is even more enjoyable to catch a fish in a quiet location you found on your own. Especially when trying a new technique. For example, this year I caught my first striper on a pencil popper. Before I caught the striper, I never thought a fish would hit anything on the surface. Now I prefer the pencil popper over anything else.

there's not much in life i enjoy more than taking out my nephews/neice out for a little "mindless bailing". i'm just saying there isn't alot of surface feeds going on in my neck of the woods compared to years past.