Pollock-Palooza and Bonito

[spinncognito]

The bass fishing has been less than stellar this fall up here on the north shore. What is up with all these ffffing Pollock? No matter where I fish, oceanfront, river, harbor- these little bastages are abundant and super aggressive, hitting everything including larger plugs. They are mostly small up to 10 inches but a few have been bigger and all of them are plump. Anyone else experience this Pollock invasion?

On another note, I was fishing for mackerel in the harbor this morning and caught a 12 inch bonito. My first. There were mixed sized macs present but a bunch of bonito came busting out of the water and one hit my jig. Cool.

[thefishingfreak]

Banner year for little pollack. Just about every hump offshore is infested
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[BatesBCheatin]

Originally Posted by spinncognito

On another note, I was fishing for mackerel in the harbor this morning and caught a 12 inch bonito. My first. There were mixed sized macs present but a bunch of bonito came busting out of the water and one hit my jig. Cool.

Bonito reported in Cape Cod Bay and now further north? Hell, bring on the global warming.

[fishonnelsons]

In the Ptown area we have gotten a few 22 to 24 inch, fat bonito, slow trolling Diawa SP minnows on spinning rods. When we use smaller umbrella rigs we get the 10 to 12 inch bonito 2 to 3 at a time.

[soxfan]

Check out a frigate mackerel on Google images. Frigates have been getting confused for baby bonito all season up and down the east coast. Myself included. Speaking to a commercial guy they call em boo hoo's because of how aggressive they are and the fact they behave like a tunoid until you find out that it's a mackerel.
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[spinncognito]

Bonito. Dorsal fin longer than the frigate macs. Toothy as well.

[thefishingfreak]

We have gotten some chub mackerel outside of Boston also
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[spinncognito]

Originally Posted by thefishingfreak

We have gotten some chub mackerel outside of Boston also
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Two or three years ago about half of the Macs we were getting we're China. We called them "big eye mackerel". So many variations of Macs it's no wonder we are all confused...

[soxfan]

Frigates have a top and bottom row of pointed teeth. Fins match up as well. Think ya got a boo hoo😂. Nice catch anyway! How'd it taste?
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[spinncognito]

When we first caught these fish a couple summers ago one of my friends brought it to a marine biologist who confirmed them as Bonito. Perhaps this particular fish is a boo boo or perhaps you are mistaken? The wiki pics of frigate mackerel do not look like what I caught.

[soxfan]

I agree 100%. They definitely look more like bonito then macs. I had never heard of them until this past summer when everyone was catching "baby bonito" in RI in July. I ran into a guy who cleans out the local fish trap and he smirked and said boo hoo. ("What the hell is boo hoo"). Luckily, Howard at galilee bait cleared it up for me, laughing the whole time. By no means am I an expert on them but that mystery fish is exactly what was being caught in ri in July. Cool catch no matter what it is.
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[thefishingfreak]

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[blue oyster]

Originally Posted by thefishingfreak

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i caught a couple of these off of minots light last year , is it a frigate mack , alby , bonito or other ?

[RickBomba]

Originally Posted by blue oyster

i caught a couple of these off of minots light last year , is it a frigate mack , alby , bonito or other ?

Those are bonito. #^&#^&#^&#^&y and I slaughtered them at wood end on Columbus Day Saturday.

We were just hoping to get into bigger ones. The biggest one that I got was about 14".

[17seconds]

Originally Posted by blue oyster

i caught a couple of these off of minots light last year , is it a frigate mack , alby , bonito or other ?

I got something similar while cod fishing off Gurnet last week. My 12 year old swore up and down it was a Bonito, I thought it was just a Mack. Guess he knows more than me.

[petern27]

I had exactly the same experience a few weeks ago in Magnolia--I thought for sure, there had to be some bass in the mix with all that "bait"--but nope...I did think they were pollock, but another guy told me no-rock cod?? It was crazy action--and I was switching lures so not to catch them.

[JohnR]

The Great Pollock Blitz of 2014

I hope that is not what we end for surfcasting for

Pollock United, Pollocks Forever - you get the point

[DZ]

When I first started surfcasting (1970s time frame) we would catch pollock mixed in the schools of stripers at the end of the season - generally mid November to December. Fish were decent size up to 10 pounds and hit plugs but they really liked a small white bucktail. This fishery slowly went downhill to catching harbor sized pollock up to 2 lbs or so, then disappeared altogether. Been quite a few years since we've caught shore pollock here in Rhody, maybe they're on the rebound but now there is a size limit - maybe 19 inches? That size would be tough to find from shore. The harbors were very good pan fried.

[spinncognito]

Originally Posted by DZ

When I first started surfcasting (1970s time frame) we would catch pollock mixed in the schools of stripers at the end of the season - generally mid November to December. Fish were decent size up to 10 pounds and hit plugs but they really liked a small white bucktail. This fishery slowly went downhill to catching harbor sized pollock up to 2 lbs or so, then disappeared altogether. Been quite a few years since we've caught shore pollock here in Rhody, maybe they're on the rebound but now there is a size limit - maybe 19 inches? That size would be tough to find from shore. The harbors were very good pan fried.

I hope there is not a size limit here in Mass because I have been watching guys fill buckets, even totes with the 5-10 inch ones for a few weeks now!

[thefishingfreak]

Mass limit is only for commercial -19"
Recreational is no size limit
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[DZ]

Here in Rhody its 19" for recreational. That's a big pollock from the shore.

[thefishingfreak]

All the 19" pollack move offshore .
I guess that's why they call the little ones harbor pollack
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[Rockport24]

Awesome catch on the bonito!

I experienced the pollock invasion up by me too. Had an all out blitz of them on peanuts at the end of Sept. driving peanuts right up onto the rocks, one hit a 7 inch red fin!

I was trolling the tube from the yak and couldn't keep a worm in the water for longer than 2 minutes before a pollock would grab it. Never had success live lining them, but got into some very steady action on 30-33 inch fish live lining the suckers! Good times!

[JamesJet]

Is this a fishery where its safe wading/shore access? Thinking it sounds like a blast for my 6 year old, but not sure it we are talking N shore rocks. (No way for him) of beach/dock access.
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[spinncognito]

Originally Posted by JamesJet

Is this a fishery where its safe wading/shore access? Thinking it sounds like a blast for my 6 year old, but not sure it we are talking N shore rocks. (No way for him) of beach/dock access.
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Perfect for a six year old! Fresh water set up, small hook and a strip of herring/mackerel and he/she will be all set for hours of catching. Any pier/float should have them.

[thefishingfreak]

The fishing pier in beverly
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[JamesJet]

Thanks guys, might just try it. We got into some schoolies this year, and had a blast with snapper blues so this seems perfect for him.

Thanks
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