The Craziness Continues in a BIG Way; Ocean Herring Trigger Blitzes of Blues and Bass

Big blues were on an all day
rampage today chasing
herring and peanut bunker.

There were loads of stripers from
schoolies to small keepers. This near
keeper hit a Cocahoe on a jighead.

I took one look out at the water and I knew this was going to be a wild day.  Gannets were dive bombing from above, gulls were in the fray and cormorants were going nuts. There were all feasting on ocean herring! And, they weren't the only wildlife going nuts as a blitz was stripers and big blues was also taking place. These schools of predators stretched for over a mile of beachfront as they tore through the herring and schools of peanut bunker which were also moving along the surf line. At one point I was standing in the surf watching masses of herring a rod's length away in a frenzy trying to escape the charging bluefish. This went on just about all day as I saw hundreds of big bluefish landed by dozens of hyped up surfcasters.  These blues went 8-15 lbs., and most were fat as footballs.  In addition, there were loads of stripers landed that ran from 20 inches to small keepers.
Because of the big numbers of herring around, I used a white Daiwa SP Minnow (good imitator of herring) to land most of my blues.  I also caught a few stripers on that plug, although the Cocahoe was a better bet to fool the smaller stripers. I saw a lot of other fishermen landing big blues on poppers and other topwater offerings.
While this was going on at the beach where I was fishing, I was in contact with other fishermen that reported blitzes of stripers and blues going on about a mile to the north of where I was fishing as well as miles to the south of where I was fishing.  So, you can conclude that this was a day in which the entire south shore was alive with fish.
November has been simply fabulous thus far, quite possibly the best overall we have seen in many years. With warm and tranquil weather forecasted for the next few days, I see no let up in the action.

Bait in the curl of the wave is being blasted by stripers and blues. There were
loads of ocean herring as well as peanut bunker today.