if the migratory stock was one gigantic arrow,
then~~generally speaking~~who'd be holding point?

i know that when they are blitzing the smaller of the species
seems to be creating the carnage while the bigger feesh settle for scraps along the bottom or periphery. it also seems to hold true for a coupla spots i frequent. the catch seems to get progressively bigger through the migration, until they are GONE!!! anyone else have some anectdotal/scientific info they'd be willing to share about the Migratory Procession??

as always, THANKS for your thoughts and experience,,,,,,,
:grins: :grins: :grins: :grins:

the big girls are lazy and opportunistic. The young bull says to the old bull standing on the hillside,"lets run down there and mate with one of those cows" the old bull says lets walk down and mate with them all.

ONE of my all-time favorite, classic, jokes Hh!
i hear ya, just trying to paint a picture of
what lies beneath the waves and when it swims there.

in my biggest producer i've caught feesh from
43", 37", 34", 30" ALL on the same BITE. then,
the very next night(same tide) i get dropped by a monster, first,
then land two teeners,,,,,,,,,,,,,within the same bite.

my biggest curiosity, and it's prolly just me being anal,
is how does our beloved prey pod up? from what i've seen of
Mr Laptew's amazing footage, yearmates tend to hang with each other;
then there is always that straggler BROOM tail that sneaks into the frame
like a wolf circling the herd,,,,,,,,,,

my imagination tells me that the biggest of the big are swimming solo~~dominitrix style~~and absolutely OWNING the bottoms and the preferred lies along the Striper Highway where ever and when ever they choose to BE!!! it'd be cool to find out that they ALSO travel in packs/yearmate pods??? although, their numbers are prolly mighty slim by the time they reach the 50#~60# range and above. anyways as my granddad always said, "hard tellin', not knowin', son!" :bl: :bl: :bl:

biggest fish migrate last into dec. following the herring they are munching on with the gannets dive bombing overhead.alot of the guys and girls put away their gear to hunt or kids going to school,cold weather,hit or miss trips at that time of year.alot of schoolies return to the river systems to winter over.

Experience and Mike's videos proved to me that size classes mostly run together but that there's usually the bigger ones on the bottom or the perimeter of the school. Was fishing among a bunch of 28"-32" fish once and pulled a 43lb'er from the bottom of the school! There's always the exception to the "rule".

biggest fish migrate last into dec. following the herring they are munching on with the gannets dive bombing overhead.alot of the guys and girls put away their gear to hunt or kids going to school,cold weather,hit or miss trips at that time of year.alot of schoolies return to the river systems to winter over.

....and that it the correct answer...

there are small fish rampaging along plum island long after the large fish have departed...

Thanks HESH and RF and Brian L and Piemma,

i get it about the resident holdovers, and
i don't consider them part of the migratory stock
hence the term winter/resident holdovers.

but that is the way i imagined it and thanks for ALL
your input gents. one of these days i'm gonna have to
position a camera at my little nook along the Striper Coast.
ya, right after i win the lottery!!
:bl: :bl: :bl: :bl: