Re: Striper Fishing
BOATING & COASTAL RECREATION NEWS<br />return to story index<br /> <br />Menhaden <br /> <br />Bass, bluefish feeding frenzy due; Southern New England bays, inlets to be busy places soon<br /><br />By SEAN MULREADY<br />For The Patriot Ledger<br /><br />Sometime in the next few weeks, a bell will sound all along the coast of southern New England.<br /><br />This one wont warn of fog, dangerous shoals or hidden rocks. Sailors wont hear it. Beachgoers wont notice it at all. <br /><br />Its a dinner bell that goes off in bays and inlets throughout the region, and it gets the attention of bass and bluefish. It wakes them from what anglers consider the summer doldrums, and sometimes sparks feeding frenzies that can be visible from boat or shore. More often, its plainly visible from the sky to the terns and gulls constantly patrolling for a chance at some easy food like the stunned and mangled baitfish that often litter the surface during a blitz of bass or blues.<br /><br />Its a great time to be a fisherman. Light tackle and topwater lures can provide constant action under the clouds of birds that indicate the progress of schools of bass or blues.<br /><br />Its a bad time to be a baitfish. Those birds feed on any bits and pieces the game fish dont take for themselves, and can pick off uninjured bait forced to the surface attempting to escape the threat from below from those who answered the bell.<br /><br />Why now? Who are those snack-sized minnows that big fish love, and where have they been all summer?<br /><br />Gary Nelson, an aquatic biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries, knows better than most which fish are being eaten. From 1997 to 2000 he worked on a study of the food striped bass favored at various times and in various places along the coast.<br /><br />In August and September, Nelson said, about 30 to 40 percent of (stripers) diet was made up of menhaden.<br /><br />The juvenile menhaden (called bunker in more southern states; pogies in most of New England) are often called peanut bunker. The adults spawn offshore, according to Nelson, and the juveniles move into the estuaries in late summer when theyre several inches long. <br /><br />In a typical year the 30 to 40 percent figure might hold up, but things have been happening to the local pogy supply in the last decade.<br /><br />We dont get the huge schools of pogies in Massachusetts anymore, Nelson said.<br /><br />We dont know whats going on here. Down to the south, the spawning stock is static, but the juvenile stock has been declining. It could be caused by environmental problems, or it could be that the striped bass eat so many of them.<br /><br />Either way, only a small remnant of those huge schools turns up each summer along our coast. Still, it provides just enough of a local breeding population that peanut bunker still provide an important percentage of food for game fish. <br /><br />River herring usually comprise the second-largest portion of the stripers diet during late summer. The alewives that most of us call herring create the larger portion of the schools of river herring. The rest would be made up of blueback herring, a slightly smaller relative of the alewife that often uses the same estuaries and streams to access its breeding grounds. <br /><br />At this time, the young of the year - as biologists refer to juvenile river herring - are descending from ponds and rivers to the bays along our shores. At times, the schools of bunker and herring intermingle. <br /><br />From a fishermans point of view, it generally doesnt call for much of a shift in technique. Herring tend to be a bit slimmer in profile, and that might call for providing a smaller lure or jig to match their size and shape. Peanut bunker have a distinctly distended belly that make them easy to distinguish from the herring. <br /><br />Since this summer has been anything but typical, the top three baitfish have been edged out by a distant cousin - the sea (Atlantic) herring.<br /><br />Biologists checking on this seasons bait supply along the South Shore have found that schools of juvenile sea herring have moved inshore in far greater numbers than usual. Some think they may provide the bulk of the forage right now. <br /><br />They have a similar appearance to the alewives and bluebacks, with a somewhat slimmer body, but theyre not the only skinny bait in the bay.<br /><br />If you see some really slim, almost eel-like bait in Plymouth or Duxbury, youre more than likely seeing an entirely different animal: The sand launce, known locally as sand eels. Most common on the Cape, where anglers gather them with basket rakes all summer, juvenile sand eels in the four-inch range are present now wherever good, clean sandy bottom can be found. In a study this summer, biologists noted that Plum Island held a huge supply of these odd animals.<br /><br />About the only other juvenile fish of note would be the silversides (think skinny smelt) in any of the rivers, or some shad coming down out of the North River.<br /><br />Adult smelt have shown up more than a month early in waters off Hull and are another unusual part of the bait supply. <br /><br />No matter what the mix, this is a great time to be out there for schoolie bass, an occasional keeper, and blues of all shapes and sizes.<br /><br />If youre lucky, the feeding frenzy caused by the schooling juvenile fish will make nearly any small popper, lure or jig irresistible.<br /><br />If not, try to adjust the size and shape of your presentation to what the fish are eating for lunch that day.<br /><br />Either way, be thankful youre a fisherman on the water after the dinner bell has rung in August.<br /><br />There may not be a better time of year to find non-stop light tackle action in this area.<br /><br />Copyright 2004 The Patriot Ledger<br />Transmitted Thursday, August 12, 2004
Striper fishing around Cape Ann has been excellent!!!!We just finished our 2nd week of the commercial season and is exspected to last for another 2weeks!!!! The striper fleet keeps getting bigger every year with about 40-50 boats clustered together on Sunday!!! Alot of big fish over 40" are being taken !!!<br /><br />On opening day 10,000lbs. all caught on rod & reel were landed at the auction and prices went from $3.00 per lb down to $.75 by days end!!! By mid week prices were back up to 3bucks!!! 
