Unique Bait Fish at Race Pt

[fishonnelsons]

This morning a large school of these baitfish, which I think are ballyhoo, showed up at Race Pt and Herring Cove. A gigantic school of blues, with bass underneath, chased them up onto the beach.

I saw them up here once before, about five years ago, but not since then.

Could I get verification as to identification? - thanks.

[big jay]

Those are "half-beaks" a species of Northern Ballyhoo.
Around here they are usually found in the warmer water out east of the Cape - Wildcat, Murray Basin etc. Tuna love them.

Pretty cool when they are being chased - they look like rain coming down.

[fishonnelsons]

Thanks - that's interesting. With all the strong Easterly winds we had the last few days it probably pushed them this way.

Do the normal ballyhoo have a beak from the bottom versus the top?

[Back Beach]

They usually show up mid to late august on the back/race etc. halfbeaks no doubt. More common than you think, but usually you don't see them right in the surf unless the wind is onshore with predators under them.

[Flaptail]

Hi Rich, we get them in the canal alot in the fall. Some years way more prevalent than others. Be out your way soon going out for two weeks vacation as of Friday so if you see the Senior Angler tell him I will be stopping by with hopes of sitting down and shooting the sh!t about the old days. Can't wait.

[Karl F]

Thanks for posting that!
They have been showing up at Nauset as well, and another guy and I got into it, he kept saying it was an Atlantic Needlefish.. and I knew it were'nt...

[Blinky]

Looks like a saury - Scomberesox saurus. Try googling the scientific name. The 5-6 small finlets in front of the tail, deep and thin body and the presence of an upper beak are the IDing marks.

Halfbeaks, sauries, and needlefish are three different families from the same order, with many individual species.

Sauries are sometimes called needlefish, which is confusing, since most anglers call Atlantic needlefish "needlefish" around here.

[fishonnelsons]

The old fart, I meant Senior Angler, was reading over my shoulder Flap. He'll be around unless the Large start being around, then he'll be no more than a shadow in the night.

[PoPin Plug]

time to take out the needlefish! haha

[Canalman]

Yea.. had those in the ditch a few years back in such abundance that the bass wouldn't take plugs... I put on a Silver Glitter needle with a black back and nailed 'em... no one else could hook up love it when it works out.

[Backbeach Jake]

My Fish book calls them "Saury". The first one I ever saw was barfed up by a big blur. The next one was chased out of the surf 2AM at the Race. I saw it at my feet and thought that someone had lost their knife. I picked it up and jumped when it wiggled. Common according to the book.

[MAC]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

I picked it up and jumped when it wiggled

[Water Treater]

I've seen these baitfish in Cape Cod Bay, mid-way between my homeport of Green Harbor (Marshfield) and Race Point at Provincetown. I don't think they're Balao, but rather a first cousin (Atlantic Saury). The fish I've seen jump completely out of the water (go airborne) and seem to want to jump into my small boat. (My Casco Bay Hampton skiff has less than 24 inches of freeboard aft of amidships)

These baitfish are very nervous creatures (ideal candidates for low dose Valium) and are usually pursued by tuna, not slower moving striped bass or bluefish. Are you sure the baitfish you saw near Race Point were being chased by blues/bass?

Every year I purchase a recreational tuna permit because I troll at P-Town for stripers/blues using (modified) cedar plugs, one of the best lures to mimic these slender baitfish. So far, I've been lucky. No accidental tuna hookups.

Bill

[fishonnelsons]

I wasn't at the beach when it happened. but I asked the guy who brought 2 of them into Nelson's and he was sure it was blues going after them. I wondered if they were school tuna, as last year we had a few schools actually cruise the beaches here and to the untrained eye one could confuse a blitz of large blues versus small tuna.

Either way, interesting that they came in this close and we told folks to just pick one up, hook it and throw it back in the mess.

[Karl F]

I showed this pic to a sharpie in Orleans and he said, "Oh.. Half-Beaks! Cool! Pick 'em up, hook 'em, and throw them, bass love them"..(like what you said to the guy that brought them in, "bait" )

OK.. what's a Half-Beak?

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by Karl F

I showed this pic to a sharpie in Orleans and he said, "Oh.. Half-Beaks! Cool! Pick 'em up, hook 'em, and throw them, bass love them"..(like what you said to the guy that brought them in, "bait" )

OK.. what's a Half-Beak?

Loreena Bobbitts husband was a half-beak for a while but they fixed him, I think they may have even added a section.

[Karl F]

Saury for any confusion, not trying to make this into a Ballyhoo, or trying to come off as Half Beak-ed.. but I think after doing some googling this AM, that dem Dar fish are all related to the Atlantic Needlefish somehow, and each other, just like native Wellfleetians
If they is Bobbitt's, they won't cast well, as half will fly off somewhere ya don't want it to.....

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by Karl F

Saury for any confusion, not trying to make this into a Ballyhoo, or trying to come off as Half Beak-ed.. but I think after doing some googling this AM, that dem Dar fish are all related to the Atlantic Needlefish somehow, and each other, just like native Wellfleetians
If they is Bobbitt's, they won't cast well, as half will fly off somewhere ya don't want it to.....

Ya, that did it Karl.