We've had an intense bait migration in the surf within the last 10 days. In some places you have phenomenal amounts of bunker, large, small, and many other forage fish moving through. This in itself should have predators hitting the shores in hordes as they drive baitfish out of the water.

In some cases, it has happened, as blues 15+lbs and bass to 32lbs were caught in isolated blitzes. This has been great for those fortunate to be there when that was happening.

My point here is that the standard pattern isn't flowing this year as usual. That's part of surf fishin, years of feast followed by years of relative famine while in another area or state they hammer them.

One thing I'm noticing this year is the bigger the varieties of forage available in any surf zone, the more likelihood the larger predators will be drawn in.

The latest blitzes and sustained action periods have seen adult and juvenile bunker, weakfish, croakers, butterfish, spearing, and some scattered tinker mackerel in the mix.

I don't have all the answers here, I'm just trying to get you folks out there to think, and form your own impressions.

What gives evidence to my theory about resident bass abandoning us is that now we have 10x the bait as we do predators out there. The temps are perfect. Every cut, rockpile, or juicy piece of structure should hold a bass or 2, and that's simply not the case this fall season.