I was trolling around a few miles outside of Barnstable Harbor over the weekend and the water was like glass. Saw schools of fish "gently" rolling from the distance on several occasions. Whenever I got within viewing distance, I could only see the occasional tail before they spooked. They were very slow, did not hit my soft shad lures that I put in the pack several times and they looked like small blue fish from the shape of their tails but they did not appear to be feeding. Any ideas what I was seeing? Was it schools of large baitfish? They were not aggressive and had no interest in what I was offering so I doubt they were blues. Anybody care to guess? Thanks.

There have been some large schools of very small blues out there recently. A few weeks ago, there were blues of a pound or less all over the place and they weren't aggressive at all.

Dogfish! They are everywhere!

that makes sense. I dropped a chunk of bait to the bottom and hooked into a dog within a minute. When I hauled it towards the boat, it had 5 or 6 friends swimming with it. I didn't know they school on top but I'm sure you are right. Thanks.

3rd finning dogs

Dogs probably, but they usually don't spook.
They would rather get stuck on my lower unit/dog grinder...

:gorez::gorez:

LOL. I was out there on Sat.. They were bluefish, with a few bass mixed in. Not dogfish. I have not taken any dogfish in that area yet but I don't fish bait. I troll. Took some real nice bass from underneath them. I also got a few, bass and blues, on plugs just for giggles but was hard to get them to stop what they were doing. Cruising just under the surface, look to be slurping something real, real small. Never been able to figure out what they are doing though but it happens this time of the year. I actually look forward to it as it leads to some good fishing. Same thing today, but was rougher so it was harder to find them.

Yep saw a large school of small blues doing same thing west side of Prudence (saturday), caught 3 lil 12 to 14 inch out of the school figuring out what they were. used a 4 inch rapalla minnow trolled through the school...

Well here you go. I took these yesterday morning. You can see the bluefish and small bass.They don't break the surface really just kind of slurp the surface. I did finally see what they are eating. It is a little insignificant fishy about 1/2 inch long and practically see thru. I caught a few in a bucket as it was mill pond flat and i could see the little tiny wake they produced as they swam along the surface. I can't see why they would be interested in eating these things but they were. I have seen this behavior for several years this time of year.

That's exactly what I saw - thank you!