S&A Education Series: Understanding back bay bait migration and fishing patterns

[buckethead]

I definitely agree. There is a lot of unproductive water out there. Mullet have mostly cleared out. If you are fishing the ocean the usual places where the crabs are can hold some fish as well. Picked up 2 short bass this morning on bucktail and large pork rind.

[DarkSkies]

It is naive to think if most didnt catch fish can't be caught, Guys in the know target spots resident fish hang this time of year and the guys fishing migrating spots are taking the skunk and calling BS on guys catching, To give you another example, In the spring strong NE winds were killing the ocean surf and flattening and cleaning the bay, some guys have a deeper bag of tricks then others.

Good responses so far, people......
Here's something I posted the other day in response to someone who asked if it was worth it to fish the back bays...






For many years I did not fish the ocean till after Columbus day, and did quite well in the back bay and estuary areas.
This year it's different and as mentioned the water has been murky at times, and gin clear at others.
That's why you have to have different spots for different wind and weather patterns.

When some guys are staying home because the wind is screaming 25mph in their faces, I usually have alternative places I can be where the wind is at my back.

"Fishing the back" can be real productive this time of year, but you have to key in on specific tides and high bait concentrations. No bait and you will generally find little or no fish, find the bait and you can catch double digits this time of year.


EX - in the last 10 nights...friends of mine...landed...
22lb bass in the back of an inlet area, on rubber....
26 lb bass while fishing near a creek, tossing small swimmers...yes that 26# bass was caught in 3' of water.
35# bass 2 nights ago on a bunker chunk (but that was only because bunker had returned to an area they had been absent from)

I don't want to hype anybody up hearing about these bigger fish...because the truth is, in our area, they are about one of every 500 fish right now...but if you're targeting them, and fishing hard, and know the patterns........it might just be you catching one of these larger bass....

It really depends on the bait...

So I hope I pressented fairly the difficulty of dialing into a back bay bite, this time of year...

In my experience this year, it has been a lot harder to find and consistently target these fish.
Hope that helps.




Feel free to add as you see new things happening throughout the Season.....

[hookset]

^^^^^Add the sedges to that. You would be surprised at the size of some of the bass feeding where those little creeks dump out.

[J Barbosa]

I think too many surf casters overlook the shallow stuff.

[finchaser]

Haven't really been out front yet

[SharkHart]

Found the Diner Founder the Diners. Bass put on a display all around on clouds of rainfish, and a few nuts mixed in. The only problem they were mostly laughing my offererings, only got 2. They were flying through the bait schools at super speeds and sending it airborn. Got so frustrated i just took pictures. Headlight will scare bass? How about add a flash going of every 5 seconds, they didnt care one bit. You can see a bass face coming up on last pic too.

Attachment 18932Attachment 18933Attachment 18934Attachment 18935

[J Barbosa]

Great pics SharkHart.

I always struggle to catch bass whenever there is that much small bait around. I had the same experience about a week ago.

[SharkHart]

See the Bass Eye in the lower right corner of the bait going airborn Attachment 18936

[hookedonbass]

I dont use anything fancy, it is a mid range Kodak Point and Click camera, so I can have it in my pocket. It takes about 5 secs to snap the picture after I click it so i was was just shooting randomly to try to luck/time when the bass came up.

See the Bass Eye in the lower right corner of the bait going airborn Attachment 18936

Thanks for the response. Awesome pics dude thanks for sharing!

[ledhead36]

Just a heads up the bay temps went down to 51 last nite and have been in the mid 50s all week with the strong northwest winds. its only a matter of time before all the bait from the back will be in the ocean and with fish blasting on it. We got some small bass last night but I may be switching to the ocean soon.

[DarkSkies]

Spring Bait Migration.....


The seasonal pattern of spearing.... (1 month late to NNJ this year....but in the last few days causing an extra abundance of small fish being caught in the surf).......

Those of you who got those excited texts from me a few days ago....will start to see that the predictions I made...are correct....as more bass will be caught in close....and even though the back bay water temps are getting uncomfortable for a decent consistent shore bite....will (hopefully) see the bluefish stick around for a bit longer.....and start to see more of the elusive weakfish.....now that these small spearing are in the mix........









Some of you will remember....only 8-10 short years ago...when in late April we would have a tremendous seasonal pattern of baitfish along our Jersey shoreline......
The spearing and other small forage would leave in the winter...and move south to warmer waters.......

Usually in April they would return en masse...sometimes the winter spearing...larger in size, would be in some warmer back bay areas throughout the winter....but you could not always count on them.....

Finchaser would be a great source of info on this.........we used to go to some of our early season back bay haunts and look for the winter spearing...when we found them we knew we stood a chance of catching a few bass....South Jersey seems to have a different pattern than North Jersey....in case anyone fishes both areas...you might notice these differences as well......

The most exciting thing for me...was seeing these vast schools of forage fish move along our Coast....

That's when I first met the OFFC (Old Farts Fishing Club)
We used to spend the whole day driving up and down, from one town to another...as these forage massacres were so common at this time of year that if you missed one...you just drove to another town south or north and you could find them...

There would be spearing, rainfish,....herring, hickory shad..bunker......all in the mix.....
And the real exciting times would be when they were pursued by large numbers of hungry predators.....blues chopping them up....and bass at the end of the line......... sucking up the pieces...

The predators would push them onto the beach,.......it would be hundreds of dead baitfish of different sizes washed up....as they tried to escape the certain death that awaited them just beyond the surf break.....it was so exciting to see and witness.......
Unfortunately...some of us took it for granted...thinking we would see it every year......
I haven't seen Spring bait migration of that magnitude in several years now......


Still....I thought some of you folks might appreciate hearing about it...I know some of ya's remember.....
and that's why something as innocuous as spearing showing up after a long cold Winter......is still exciting to me.......

[porgy75]

Awesome advice dude I never really put that much thought into it. thanks

[buckethead]

The most exciting thing for me...was seeing these vast schools of forage fish move along our Coast....
There would be spearing, rainfish,....herring, hickory shad..bunker......all in the mix.....
And the real exciting times would be when they were pursued by large numbers of hungry predators.....blues chopping them up....and bass at the end of the line......... sucking up the pieces...

The predators would push them onto the beach,.......it would be hundreds of dead baitfish of different sizes washed up....as they tried to escape the certain death that awaited them just beyond the surf break.....it was so exciting to see and witness.......
Unfortunately...some of us took it for granted...thinking we would see it every year......
I haven't seen Spring bait migration of that magnitude in several years now......


Still....I thought some of you folks might appreciate hearing about it...I know some of ya's remember.....
and that's why something as innocuous as spearing showing up after a long cold Winter......is still exciting to me.......

Me too those were great times. We also had sandeels set up twice a year. You could catch fish during the day and didn't have to target the dawn or dusk bite. Thanks for bringing back the memories dark.

[DarkSkies]

You're welcome, people. When I remember bait and fish catching experiences of the past decades I have to restrain myself as I realize what we have today pales in comparison. And a big thank you to finchaser, buckethead, sharkhart, led, and many others for all the knowledge they unselfishly share here.

A bump for some who might want to learn a little more about back bay bait migration. Some have said this is the best Fall in years for the bait they've seen in the back bays......Would love to hear additional thoughts.

[buckethead]

Glad to help, dark. Spot on. There are mullet in the surf every day. In the last week the action has gotten significantly more interesting. The bait migration is guided by shortness in the days and the moons. They know when it's time to go.

[baitstealer]

You can still find those girls, just go to any Horde or (reincarnation of) Grateful Dead concert.
Attachment 12245








btw Dark, I saw that report of that fish you got the other night, as Borat says very nice!
On the release.

This photo is just disgusting!

[baitstealer]

^^^^^Add the sedges to that. You would be surprised at the size of some of the bass feeding where those little creeks dump out.

Do you guys notice a time during the year when the bigger bass just disappear from those little creek areas? thanks

[captnemo]

As fishing has become more popular in general and more people are fishing earlier and later into each season it is putting a hurting on all the sod!

These are critical to all of the bait Dark mentioned and serve many more purposes including water quality. How many times have you heard fisherman (myself included) complain that the water in the RB is stained badly this year. Almost a full year later are we still blaming this on nutrient runoff from Sandy?

Remember that those sod banks use to hold thousands of muscles that are filter feeders. As the muscles feed they clean the water and also provide a food source for other animals including stripers.

The sod banks themselves are also natures water filters. As the tide lowers the water gets filtered through the roots and any contaminents/sediment is then trapped in those roots.

Don't believe me??? Search some of the research papers on what use to be one of the two most polluted rivers in the country: The Passaic and the Hackensack Rivers.

The Passaic river is still very polluted while the Hackensack has made a huge comeback thanks to its huge marshes covered in sod.

They have credited most of the Hackensack Rivers comeback to the sod banks that line the large marshes.

I have to blame most of the sod banks disappearance on the shore bound anglers (myself included) because thats where the sod banks are disappearing. If you look at the areas where the sod banks still thrive they are difficult/impossible to access on foot.

I think you make an valid point here about the sod banks disappearing. I have noticed that in the raritan and newark bay as well. I also think the increase of phosphates has a lot to do with it. That and the rise in folks who have chemicals applied to their lawns. I read somewhere that is what is causing a lot of problems on the Chesapeake. I assume some of that must be true for up here as well.

[lostatsea]

See the Bass Eye in the lower right corner of the bait going airborn

love this pic!

[lostatsea]

Found the Diner Founder the Diners. Bass put on a display all around on clouds of rainfish, and a few nuts mixed in. The only problem they were mostly laughing my offererings, only got 2. They were flying through the bait schools at super speeds and sending it airborn. Got so frustrated i just took pictures. Headlight will scare bass? How about add a flash going of every 5 seconds, they didnt care one bit. You can see a bass face coming up on last pic too.

This one too very cool.