Bass keyed in on bunker.

[tlapinski]

I have run into something I find sort of strange this year, and I am wondering if others have seen the same thing. On many occasions this season, large bass have been feeding on adult bunker within a fishable distance for us shore bound guys. On each of these nights, plugs are just not getting things done. I have pretty much tried everything in the bag, and nothing has produced as well as eels in this situation. Several times I have plugged right next to a guy eeling. The eels have resulted in many bass to the high 30's, while plugs have only found bass to 25 pounds or so. At times, even the tiniest of shoestring eels have found better results than plugs. The situation may have been different if it was a daylight and poppers were a viable option, but at night they have not worked for me and that is what I want to discuss here. At times I have even resorted to attempting to snag some fresh bunker to liveline, but they have not been thick enough to make this a worthwhile plan of attack. So, with these bass so keyed in on bunker, why do you think they will take an eel over something that looks pretty darn close to a bunker working its way through the water?

(please do not make this an eel vs plug thread as that is not the intention! That is what the winter is for! )

[libassboy]

Tlap, its probably just the "live" factor. Bass will always eat a live bunker, and they will always eat a live eel, but drag a plug thru the same spot and nada. There are rare occasions where eels will be ignored, but to me, and NIB says it best, "cant beat a heartbeat"
Ive gotta say tho that when i am lucky enuf to find large feeding on adult bunker, i can usually get them to hit a plug. Pencils work really well for me during those times,and i dont think they hit the pencil cause it looks like a pogie, i think they hit it cause it irratates the hell out of them.
I know your an experienced plugger so i wont bore you with danny this and large storm shad that, im asssuming you tried that route.
Interesting thread.

[Slipknot]

because they chase and eat the pogies during the day

they like eels at night

simple

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by tlapinski

. On many occasions this season, large bass have been feeding on adult bunker within a fishable distance for us shore bound guys. On each of these nights, plugs are just not getting things done. I have pretty much tried everything in the bag, and nothing has produced as well as eels in this situation.

Supposedly that is what these are for.

[choggieman]

I beleive bass take eels whenever given the chance. I have had very few subtle takes on eels, more often then not the hits are vicious. Is it possible bass see so few eels in nature that they pounce on them like myself on a Guinness?
When I see eels they are in back bays, real short water that is quite warm. Water too warm for bass to tolerate.
You very very seldom see an eel in a bass's gut either. I say they just do not get too many chances at an eel, but when they do, they take em reguardless of whats around for bait.
Maybe its a maternal thing, and the bass is programmed to take out a predator of its fry. In freshwater largemouth bass will smash a lizard when they will not touch a live bait because lizards feed on eggs and fry of the bass. Just my humble opinion....

[Roger]

I know that there are times when bass are on shad and the will not even touch an eel, much less a plug of an kind. I've seen the same when they are on buckies. Being keyed in only on pogies does not surprise me.

[Vogt]

Bass on shad are always really tough, as far as the bunker thing goes, There is a lot of friggin bunker in the water a big swimmer or wahtever just looks like another bunker, yea it looks wounded but it aint the only wounded bunker. An eel is different. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

[BigBo]

I can't tell you why. There are times that they seemed to be keyed on Pogies, so I'm live lining a Pogie. The Bass would come up and just keep bumping it with it's head or slap it with it's tail. It's enough to drive you crazy.

[PNG]

Stink your plug

[t.orlando]

Originally Posted by PNG

Stink your plug

Ditto

[piemma]

I think they take an eel over a plug because it smells like food. I agree with the guys who said stink your plug...

[piemma]

BTW, 3:04 AM and Mr. #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& are gonna head down the Bay with some of them Bunkers...

[Clogston29]

My guess would be that a plug (or atleast most of them) is worked near the top of the water column where the pogies are and its basically competing directly with the pogies for the bass's attention. An eel, on the other hand, is worked nearer to the bottom where the bigger fish are hanging around looking for an easy meal - be it a dead bunker, eel, lobster, whatever. For a plug to be really effective in a school of bait, again only my opinion, there have to be a lot of bass around competing for the bait. Now I'm not into throwing chunks, but the situation that you describe would definately tempt me into throwing a nice fresh piece of meat out there.
I also think eels are pretty much an ideal meal for a bass because they are long, thin and have no protection (spines, gill plates, etc.) so its hard for me to imagine them passing them up. I've heard some fresh water bass pros talk about what rubber worms represent to a bass and there answer is usually just "something long, thin and easy to swallow".

[tlapinski]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

My guess would be that a plug (or atleast most of them) is worked near the top of the water column where the pogies are and its basically competing directly with the pogies for the bass's attention. An eel, on the other hand, is worked nearer to the bottom where the bigger fish are hanging around looking for an easy meal - be it a dead bunker, eel, lobster, whatever.

You know, that is something I did not even think about.

Numbskull, that is a plug I wish I had. Never had the opportunity to make any back in the spring when I wanted to.

[tattoobob]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

My guess would be that a plug (or atleast most of them) is worked near the top of the water column where the pogies are and its basically competing directly with the pogies for the bass's attention. An eel, on the other hand, is worked nearer to the bottom where the bigger fish are hanging around looking for an easy meal - be it a dead bunker, eel, lobster, whatever. For a plug to be really effective in a school of bait, again only my opinion, there have to be a lot of bass around competing for the bait. Now I'm not into throwing chunks, but the situation that you describe would definately tempt me into throwing a nice fresh piece of meat out there.
I also think eels are pretty much an ideal meal for a bass because they are long, thin and have no protection (spines, gill plates, etc.) so its hard for me to imagine them passing them up. I've heard some fresh water bass pros talk about what rubber worms represent to a bass and there answer is usually just "something long, thin and easy to swallow".

Josh,
I think you nailed it, bucktail jigs and tins maybe a good choice.

[Flaptail]

A. the Eel is alive, B. The eel exudes a natural body scent C. No plug in the world can swim as good as a live eel.

but most importantly Toby, you need a snagging hook to cast out, snag a pogie and then hold on!

(Numbskull and his bananas make me crazy)

[NIB]

i just had this conversation with someone the other day.
I would try a big storm shad.Soak it up good in stink.an drag it an let it sit on the bottom.if u can't pull that off one of them 7 " Tsunami's are good also.Do the same thing Drag it on the bottom an let it sit.They can't stand that.
They Take big fish..
If ur really hard up for a big one chunk em..

[Joe]

A lot of bass have fallen to plugs when they were on bunker - I've seen certain fishermen be able to catch large on plugs when everyone else found them overly finicky or only interested in a particular bait. I also had a buddy get a 47# and a 48# on successive eel casts when the fish were on big bunker.

Eels are not called striper-candy for nothing - it's like if you were not that hungry but somebody offered you your favorite food - you'd probably eat it anyway. Plus the way that eels are typically fished - dead slow and sub-surface - gives them a huge presentation advantage.

Without being there, and knowing the plug selection and how they were presented, its hard to say.

[RIJIMMY]

Tlpap, not to hijack but a question for you. When fishing at night, how do you know the bass are on bunker? Are you seeing them hit the surface or the bait jumping?
I never witnessed that at night.

[jim sylvester]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

Tlpap, not to hijack but a question for you. When fishing at night, how do you know the bass are on bunker? Are you seeing them hit the surface or the bait jumping?
I never witnessed that at night.

I agree

never seen bunker move at night

they (bunker) are not a nocturnal fish as they are Very active in the daylight hours

[john hollenberg]

On the Cape I saw a pattern evolve over the last 10 years.In the late 90's I felt you had to be using eels to get big fish. I bunch of occasions plugs would get small bass or nothing and if you threw an eel out you would get a good fish practically every cast.

About 2001 I saw this start to change. Plugs would do as well at times and sometimes better. 02-06 my best fish of the year have been on plugs.

From 03 on I found the fish would be picky a lot when it came to eels. I never had fish tap and drop eels before but all of a sudden many times it was tap tap tap drop.

[NIB]

So whaddya think happens they sink o the bottom at night.


I have seen small pods of bunker big bunker "gettin it" at night.
By several large bass...The bass can beven more violent as they try to injure a bait to make a easy meal out it.Bass on bunker all day take the night of on em, to hard to catch.Plus they usually got there fill.Perhaps thats why they will take the eel..

[fishpoopoo]

Toby, have you tried using some larger paddle-tail rubber lures like a 9 inch storm wildeye?

[zimmy]

Originally Posted by jim sylvester

I agree

never seen bunker move at night

they (bunker) are not a nocturnal fish as they are Very active in the daylight hours

We've had them schooled up for the last month or so in a few areas that I fish . Sometimes so thick that you can't cast over them or get a bucktail below them. They move up and down in the current in huge masses. Occasionaly individuals splash on the surface or large groups fin on the surface. They are definately moving at night, but may be harder to see.

I have had best luck at night on sluggos with these conditions. Chunks seem to work, but I generally don't fish them. Interesting thing is that sometimes the school thins out. Still large amounts a bunker realtive to other times, but thinner. Bass have taken plugs readily at these times.

note: one night a coupla of us were plugging and a kayak w/ 2 guys were liveling within casting distance of us. The kayakers didn't get a fish and I alone had 6 keepers on wood and red fins. Other pluggers also took fish. Who knows...

[eelman]

Simple...if you can stoop low enough...toss a live eel....Only fool would watch a guy next to him banging larger fish and not use whats working

[shadow]

I'v seen large bunker schools at night plenty of times when i was living in CT. the water there was calm no surf so they were easy to spot darker clouds of water moving alittle different then the rest of the water.if there were bass on them sometimes there would be some splashing not always.I had a night once when they would take both eels and plugs but would spit them before you could stick them.no matter how I tred to set up on them I would come up emty.

[tlapinski]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

Tlpap, not to hijack but a question for you. When fishing at night, how do you know the bass are on bunker? Are you seeing them hit the surface or the bait jumping?
I never witnessed that at night.

Several items lead to this conclusion. First off, during the summer, the spot we had the bunker was very calm and you can pretty much see all that is going on in front of you with even a slight moon present. At times, you could see the bunker finning the surface. Also, what looked like TNT going off in the water as the bass take the bunker was another clue. Most of the bass that were kept had fresh bunker in them as well. (actually, one was stuffed with lobsters too) Lastly, when we have arrived before the sun set completely, you could see them in the water.

Simple...if you can stoop low enough...toss a live eel....Only fool would watch a guy next to him banging larger fish and not use whats working

Bill, I never said I didn't switch to eels. My goal was to try to figure out if something else would work, though. I knew the fish were there so I wanted to learn from the experience. The last night out this week was extremely windy. It was tough to get an eel to the fish with a 20 mph+ wind cutting across your cast. We eventually had to bail on eeling. The lightning and rain rolled in a short time later, so we really didn't have a chance to see what else would work that night.

have you tried using some larger paddle-tail rubber lures like a 9 inch storm wildeye

Unfortunately, none of these spots favor the use of a large paddle tail type offering. I have been considering trying some of the neutral to slow sinking swim baits like they use in Cali for big bass. I just can't bring myself to spending $50+ on a plug that could get donated to a bloooofish. Still trying to find an inexpensive one that swims well. Has anyone tried removing some of the lead from a 9" Storm shad?

[piemma]

Bunker are less active at night. The Bass will take eels as well as bunker even if both are present. From experience.

Now plugs are a different story. I make my own plugs. Mostly BIG swimmers. Some up to a foot long. 2 years ago I was killing Bass on them in the Weakapaug Breachway in November. There were live bunker all over the place but I wanted to prove a point to myself. Last year I couldn't buy a fish on a plug when the bunker were present. Changes every year and I don't know why. That's why we keep at it. It's a learning experience everytime we hit the water.

[RIJIMMY]

toby, thanks for the reponse.

[DaveS]

Here's a tip for ya: Go to the places you snag bunkers in the daytime but look for lights like from bridges and docks, the bunker will be there. Look in the back of little bays, inlets, marinas and places like that. Snag your bunkers, fish em live or chunk em like NIB said and you will get big fish. Use the heads for the deluxe model bass . Back here in NJ we fish bunkers all night long in spots like that and tong fish. Live bunkers catch big fish at night, ask me how I know .