6.17.19 BIG BASS on BUNKER

Today there was finally some good bass blitzing on bunker schools in the traditioanl fashion I am hoping for, for this time of year.  It is a little later, but great to see, none the less.  The number of bunker schools in the area is still very low.  The number of marks I have seen on my screen is quite high, therefore I am concluding that if there were more bunker schools they would most likely be getting hammered by the bass as well.  I did see some bluefish present.  There were small blues chasing tiny bait on the surface as well as 5-7 lb blues chomping away at bunker schools.

6.12.19 BASS but NO BLITZ

I fished Weds afternoon into the evening with my brother in law, Tyler.  We slowly made our way out to the spot due to the 1' chop and increasing winds from the south.  We instantly started marking large groups of fish.  Some were near the bottom.  Some were mid column and some were closer to the top.  We did not see any bunker schools at all except for what little bait may have showed up on our fish finder.  There should be bluefish on the bunker schools riling them up and making them get into a tight pack so that the bass can blitz them.  That is not happening for 2 reasons; the lack of bunker in our area, and the lack of bluefish in our area.  The bass are very much present however.

The only action we saw was a fish that followed our trolling lure to the boat.

06.08.19 BUNKER SCHOOLS BLITZED!

FINALLY!

The few bunker schools we have in the area are being blitzed by stripers, and blues.  I went out Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon.  I was discouraged to find only a few bunker schools behind the islands, however the schools that we found had fish on them.

We started out before 6 and caught a bunch of schoolies casing plugs around the islands.  Once we had our fill we moved south to deeper water.  We covered a lot of water.  I periodically stopped the boat to search, visually and with my fish finder for signs of bait and fish.  My fish finder was lit up with big marks from the bottom to the mid way point of the water column with large marks.  These marks are suspended/migrating stripers that have not yet "turned on" to eat.  We tried trolling and casting plugs on the surface in those areas with no success.

We moved on to another popular spot to find many boats trolling around a bunker school being attacked by hungry stripers.  It was surprising not see anyone else veering from their literal path, to capitalize on this great opportunity.  We swooped in and Steve connected with a nice 20lb striper.  We had a few other run offs, but the window for catching the them closed as quickly as it opened.

Later in the afternoon, I went back out to the spot that I marked all of the suspended stripers.  Finding a bunker school was near impossible.  But once I found it, I also found fish on them.  I missed one fish and connected with a nice 20+ lber that I quickly subdued and released.

39"

Phoebe Enjoying the Sunset Boat Ride

*It is important to use appropriate med. heavy/heavy tackle when targeting larger stripers so they can be fought quickly (5 mins or less), revived, and released.

I use  med heavy shimano trevala, shimano baitrunner 6000d spooled with 30lb braid, and a 60lb leader.

5.25.19 Scarce Bunker Schools

I headed out of the slip at 5:15 and went about an hour west in search of bunker schools getting attacked by big bass.  I found sporadic spread out bunker schools that were generally unbothered. The bunker schools were very spread out and the ones I found had very spread out individual bunker in it, which made snagging them nearly an impossible task.I only snagged one after hours of trying, only to have it fall off the hook. 

When I was on a few bunker schools, I did noticed that there were some pretty good looking large marks under and around the bunker schools.  I knew if I dropped down a live one there was a pretty good chance it would get inhaled.  It was very frustrating to not be able to snag the bunker.  I guess that is why trolling can be very productive this time of year.  Trolling is just not my favorite way to catch big bass.

I am hearing of big bass being caught in the islands and on the bunker schools on chunks, trolling, and live ones. 

5.19.19 Schoolies on Rips

Spent the morning out with friend, Captain Mike Platt from light bite charters , fishing for schoolies.  We checked mid sound and found some bunker schools milling around, unmolested. Then we hit up boulder fields and rip lines along the shoreline and were rewarded with a few schoolies, 1 on top water, which is great for this time of year with water temps in the high 50s.  Hope things start to heat up, both literally (water temp) and figuratively with the larger fish hopefully moving in from our south.  There are reports of bigger fish being caught near the islands on chunks and trolling, however I believe the largest biomass of large striped bass is about 10-20 miles west.