EVER DAY there is a blitz or multiple blitzes going on somewhere along the RI oceanfront. This is all being fueled by massive numbers of peanut bunker that have been around for all of August. Some of these peanuts are micros under an inch long. Others are larger, one to two inch specimens. Whether small or large both stripers and bluefish are in hot pursuit wherever this bait gathers.
Peanuts have collected in a tidal pool.
This striper was just caught on a Rebel
Jumpin' Minnow, the best topwater
plug to use when peanuts are around.
Back in the beginning of the month I did an article for The Fisherman magazine titled "Peanut Bunker Explosion." The article discussed how August, in recent years, has become a real hot month of fishing because of the early arrival of peanut bunker to our waters. This all used to happen in September, but like everything else that is changing, it now happens in August. The article goes on to outline approaches used to catch stripers and blues when they are feeding on peanuts.
Here are some ideas that have worked in the last three weeks:
1. Jigs- Jigs are hot when peanuts are around because they mimic the baitfish's movement and size. I like a flathead half ounce bucktail jig with a plastic curly tail. Use it alone in close or off a wooden egg float when a long cast is needed. Three inch Cocahoes will work the same way though not quite as effect as the bucktail.
2. Rebel Jumpin' Minnows- The best topwater plug when fish are on peanuts. Reel slowly with short pulls of the rod tip much the way you would work a pencil popper. Bone or white is your best color.
3. Kastmasters or other metal- Looks like a peanut moving through the water with its flash and will give you a long cast if needed.
