Big Blows = Big Opportunities

 I just love fishing in rough water, and there's been plenty of it in the last month with all the big blows that have been occurring. Those big winds, especially those right in your teeth, generate a lot of white water and a moving surf.  It stirs up the bait and gets the stripers active.

Today was a perfect example. I fished this afternoon in a big southerly blow.  I'm guessing the wind was gusting up to about 40 miles an hour. It was coming right at me in the spot I was fishing. And, while I could punch out my wooden egg float and NLBN paddle tail only about 15 yards, it was no problem.  The fish were right there in the white water in close. In fact, I landed a couple of fish just as I was pulling the float out of the water!

Today's fish were an improvement over the small schoolies I had been catching during the week. I landed a couple of thirty inch slots along with good numbers of hefty schoolies. I can almost guarantee that if the water were calm I would have caught nothing.  

I'll take those big blows anytime over calm.

Today's big blow produced some hefty schoolies
and a couple of slots in the white water,

Migration in Full Swing

 

This is one of many hefty schoolies
that I landed in the last couple of 
days. This one hit my NLBN
paddle tail, a hot lure this fall.

The stripers and bait are on the move along the oceanfront.  The last few days have featured big blitzes of schoolies in multiple locations. Most of these fish have been huge schools of schoolies in the 18 to 22 inch range, sizes of fish that have been in short supply all year.  But, they are here now as they had to come down from waters north of us. There have also been some slots in the mix as I got one today and saw some yesterday, and I even heard of some over slots landed after dark in the last couple of days.

While the last few days of fishing have been very good, yesterday was LIGHTS OUT.  I was into fish from morning until after dark in one location as massive schools of stripers were chasing down huge schools of peanut bunker, another baitfish that has not been around the oceanfront for most of the fall. All this action has grabbed the attention of an army of shore fishermen. In one particular spot I was fishing yesterday, I must have seen at least 250 stripers landed in a couple of hours by roughly 20 fishermen. With the stripers feeding on peanut bunker, they were charged up and not fussy. All types of plugs and jigs seemed to be working.  I got just about all my fish, close to 40 of them, on 3-inch NLBN paddle tail.

So, the peak of the fall run is here. I'm sure this hot fishing will continue in the days and maybe the weeks ahead.  The migration is underway!

Big Time Action in the Big Blows

 

It was hot fishing in the big blows of the last two
days. Sizes up to slots.

Wow, the wind has really been howling in the last two days. Yesterday I could barely stand with the wind in my face gusting over 50 miles per hour. Today it was a bit less but still howling. And, yes, I was fishing both days and catching up a storm.

I caught stripers both days but today was REALLY crazy.  I was into an all afternoon blitz of stripers on small bait (once again).  The fish were somewhat fussy so I went with my finesse stuff. I was catching with my wooden egg float and a 3 inch NLBN paddle tail coming off the float.  The fish today were mostly hefty schoolies with some slots in the mix. I landed a couple of dozen fish in the last two days, really good numbers. 

In my last post I predicted that October's great fishing would roll right into November and judging from today, it has. I think this hot fishing will just continue as the masses of small bait have not moved in a month and the stripers are heavily into their fall feeding.

An October to Remember

 

It was a good ole fashioned October of fishing for me.
There were very good numbers of stripers and the sizes
were excellent. Daytime action far outpaced nighttime.

For me, it was a good ole fashioned October of striper fishing. I landed close to 200 stripers for the month from shore along the oceanfront. In addition to the numbers, I had size also with many of those fish slots and overs.  In one particular spot, I hit blitz after blitz of fish day after day for much of the month.  Masses of bay anchovies stayed in this location and fueled the outstanding fishing. And, they stayed for most of the month regardless of the wind, tide, surf conditions and storminess.

Many of you will find this unusual, but it was mostly a daytime bite. This often happens when the stripers are feeding on bay anchovies. If I had to pick the best time to fish this October, it would have been from noontime to 2:00 in the afternoon. I know many of my friends slugged it out after dark in some of the same locations in which I was killing them in the daytime. They got little or nothing in the darkness. Many of those after dark fishermen have had a poor October. So much for after dark being the best time to catch stripers.

The other interesting fact about this October is that the fish were super fussy. If you didn't play a finesse game, you weren't catching.  The stripers were often feeding on one inch bay anchovies and imitating those was often challenging.  Three lures worked well for me. A white albie snax, a three inch white NLBN paddle tail (alone or off a float) and a float and fly did most of the damage. I often had to switch lures to find what was working, but one of those three would often be the ticket on any given day. 

I'm guessing we are going to move into November with the same type of fishing as October.  I'm also guessing we will continue to see this small bait. There has been little peanut bunker around. Throughout October I only found peanuts on one occasion. It just hasn't been around.  Too bad because that would make the stripers far easier to catch since they are far more aggressive when feeding on peanuts.

We've got about a month left of solid fishing (if we are lucky). Good luck in the coming weeks.  It should be good, especially in the daytime.

Surprises of the Day

 

Yup, they are still around. This
was one of the big surprises
of the day.

I was out for stripers this morning, and I did land good numbers of them.  However, the bite quickly faded.  At that point I noticed something else going on in front of me- albies breaking way out. Not a lot of them but occasional lone fish or a few at a time breaking.  I knew this would be tough since there were not that many, and I also knew they were super fussy at this time of year. On top of that, they were feeding on micro bay anchovies.

I also knew from past experience that there could also be black sea bass around.  Everything eats these small bay anchovies, and they were in abundance again today. In the past I've let my metal lure (in this case, a Clarkspoon) sink to the bottom and jig it back to the shore just like you would a bucktail, and occasionally it would produce a black sea bass.

So I decided to try for BOTH black sea bass and albies.  I'd let the lure sink to the bottom and jig it a few times then reel it ashore and hope something hits it.  Right away, I started getting hits, and I hooked up to a decent black sea bass. After that first one, they seemed to come one after another.  I'm guessing I had a school of them in front of me. I was surprised that many of them that I landed were good size. Then on one cast, I jigged the Clarkspoon a few times and got nothing so I proceeded to reel it ashore. Suddenly, BANG, the rod arched, and I was onto a freight train.  I knew this was no black sea bass as it ran off line at a frenzied pace. After a back and forth battle I had an albie in the wash and up onto the shore. 

This was another big surprise today as I jigged
up good numbers of large black sea bass using
a Clarkspoon.

Switching tactics and jigging jigging today extended my fishing day and provided a good amount of excitement and surprises. Keep this in mind next time the striper action slows. There are other fish out there!

How do you imitate this?

 

How do you imitate a small, one inch bay anchovy?
Think small offerings that have the right 
movement and profile.

I was into a big blitz of stripers today that lasted from morning till evening.  The stripers were feeding on huge schools of small bay anchovies.  We are talking bait about and inch long. Put millions of those together in massive schools and they can turn water the size of a football field brown with bait.  Add schools of finicky stripers feeding on them and you have one of the toughest situations to imitate with a lure. Luckily, I found something that worked pretty well for me today.

You can't snap on anything at the end of your line that will imitate a one inch bay anchovey, but you can attach artificials that move like them, and have a silhouette like them and those are the keys to success. Small artificials that have the profile and movement will be your best bets.  Today I was using a white Albie Snax.  This has been one of my go-to lures when fishing this situation.  Snax have the natural movement of a small baitfish and that's why stripers will hit them even when feeding on small bait.  I landed big numbers of stripers on the Snax today.

Good size stripers like this slot can be feeding on
small bait that is difficult to imitate.

I looked around me at the few successful guys who were catching today.  One of my friends was using a small Joe Baggs jighead/ paddle tail. He was catching.  Once again, good profile and good action.  And, to my right there was a fly fisherman who was really scoring using some type of fly. The fly had it all- small, right profile and good movement, and this guy knew how to work it.

In these situations where the bait is small and the fish are fussy, I will often rotate through several offerings in my bag if what I'm using is not catching.  I like the Albie Snax if I don't need a long cast.  Next, I might try the wooden egg float with a fly. I might go with a small bucktail jig or a small NLBN paddle tail. Usually, one of those artificials will get the job done.

I can tell you that as I looked around today, most fishermen I saw using large poppers, big jigs, swimmers and even metal were not catching any stripers for the most part.

An On and Off Deal

 

It was one lone striper yesterday in
the kayak in the Bay.  I found no
schools of bait.

Two words describe the current fishing along the oceanfront- NOT CONSISTENT. I know a lot of this involves the whacky weather we have been experiencing lately.  Still, I've gone down one day and had a great day, and the next day with the same conditions will produce nothing or maybe one fish. Many of the fish are under the schools of bait, and the presence or lack of bait determines whether fishing will be good or not.  A lot of the stormy weather, high winds and extremely rough surf tends to also move the bait around and kill the fishing.

The same thing is happening in the Bay.  Two days ago my son, Jon, went out in his kayak and had a banner day.  I went yesterday in the same location, same time and got one lone striper that I got trolling. I found no bait while Jon ran into schools of peanut bunker. So, the lesson here is that if you are in a boat or a kayak, move around and make a real effort at finding some bait.