Lots of bait around - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

FishWebb · 08-21-2002, 09:44 AM

I was able to fish for a few hours last Friday in the a.m. Not a lot of action, but I was shocked at the amount of bait swimming around! Most were 1 - 2 inches in length. With the fall run rapidly approaching I've got to believe that this has got to be a good thing for those of us who are forced to fish from shore. I have never seen so much bait in my life!! Now we just need a little cool weather.

STEVE IN MASS · 08-21-2002, 10:07 AM

FishWebb - I was up and down South County yesterday, and there was bait everywhere.....not just pods of it, but steady streams of very small peanut bunker on the beach, in the breachways, everywhere....

While this is perhaps a good thing.....there were fish around in every place we stopped.....but the fish were also very finicky....with so much bait, why hit a plug, eel, or chunk?......

At one spot, we were in the middle of a thrashing bluefish blitz, but out of 5-6 guys, only about 7-8 fish actually hit our offerings, although there were blues thrashing and breaking all over, they just wouldn't hit our plugs for the most part...

So, yeah it's great to see all that bait, and hopefully it will bring in a lot of fish for the fall run, but if the bait hangs around in those numbers, I fear that the fish might stay so finicky.....

But at least they will eat good and fatten up.....

DRUMCORPFAN · 08-21-2002, 10:09 AM

I was in Rhode Island on the 10th, bait was so thick near the shore you could not see the bottom. Fish were tuff to catch with soo much bait in the water but they seemed to like the 5" rubber shad's I was throwing.

JohnR · 08-21-2002, 12:36 PM

Peanut Bunker = Queen Cocahoe

beachin3 · 08-21-2002, 04:23 PM

yea me and my buddy noticed a lot of little bait fish in the stomachs of a couple of fish a few days ago and a lot swimming around the marina

bloocrab · 08-22-2002, 04:19 PM

I haven't seen any bait at all

Bill L · 08-22-2002, 07:48 PM

mmmm, Queen Cocahoe's

Jenn · 08-22-2002, 10:39 PM

Quote:

I haven't seen any bait at all

I can see the headlines now........"man arrested at local pet store ,caught molesting the goldfish tanks......."

thewaterfordstriper · 08-25-2002, 09:06 PM

hickory shad around like i have never seen before. so thick you can walk on them.

good bait for those big ones. just waiting for them to find those stinky jumpaholics.

179 · 08-26-2002, 07:01 AM

They were loaded in PJ Pond last night too, schools of the little guys everywhere, but nothing was chasing them.......!

Scotch Bonnet · 08-26-2002, 09:47 AM

Big dark clouds of bait off Charlestown Beach with nothing chasing them, even at dusk. Fished around them yesterday afternoon in the boat and was at the beach at dusk and no fish at all. Very strange.

STRIPER77 · 08-26-2002, 06:38 PM

Fished South Shore Sun. A.M. bait everywhere--very small. No fish on them the whole time ( 4 hours ). But every once in a while a group of Bonita would come plowing through -- within 100 feet of shore. No luck for me--all my stuff was too large. Saw some fly charters hook up. Let's hope the bait didn't leave the ponds too early to make the smorgasboard some are expecting. Bait has to be a certain size before some fish will expend the energy. To the Bonita it didn't matter---just open the mouth and swim through. There's nothing much for bluefish to chomp on though. And the Striper's laziness (smarts) means there's no tid-bits.I hope enough of them stay and grow before the fall run, but they seem to be moving a little early?????