Defining bait in the water

[surfstix1963]

Generally big bait big birds (Gannets,seagulls,ospreys)Ospreys are great when you cannot see a school of bait watch where they are diving.Mullet make a v-wake when swimming,bunker tend to stay on top and school up and swim in large circles until the tide pushes them in or out at low tide they may be close to the shore reel the plug all the way into the beach or river..Sandeels and spearing are usually pretty visible close to the shore if your using larger plugs and nothins happening try switching to a thin profile hopkins,diamond jig and see if you hook up Charteuse green teaser is a good color.

[stripercrazy]

Generally big bait big birds (Gannets,seagulls,ospreys)Ospreys are great when you cannot see a school of bait watch where they are diving.Mullet make a v-wake when swimming,bunker tend to stay on top and school up and swim in large circles until the tide pushes them in or out at low tide they may be close to the shore reel the plug all the way into the beach or river..Sandeels and spearing are usually pretty visible close to the shore if your using larger plugs and nothins happening try switching to a thin profile hopkins,diamond jig and see if you hook up Charteuse green teaser is a good color.

Good post, I'll add that the mullet move with the full moon, so start looking for the v-wakes around then as they leave the bays at the end of the summer.

[wish4fish]

Generally big bait big birds (Gannets,seagulls,ospreys)Ospreys are great when you cannot see a school of bait watch where they are diving.Mullet make a v-wake when swimming,bunker tend to stay on top and school up and swim in large circles until the tide pushes them in or out at low tide they may be close to the shore reel the plug all the way into the beach or river..Sandeels and spearing are usually pretty visible close to the shore if your using larger plugs and nothins happening try switching to a thin profile hopkins,diamond jig and see if you hook up Charteuse green teaser is a good color.

rite on dude mullet the vwake is it! in the spring now mostly u will see bunker u wont kno unless there is lots of them but you can smell them

[ledhead36]

Or close your eyes. If they are in the channel you won't see or hear them usually because down deeper. When in close you can hear them at night if it's not too windy.

[DarkSkies]

Good post, I'll add that the mullet move with the full moon, so start looking for the v-wakes around then as they leave the bays at the end of the summer.

T
I felt it might be interesting to talk about forage fish and the relation to inshore fish movements, and what people had observed in inshore predator populations through the years (striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, etc) Maybe people have different observations and opinions, and I thought it might give us something to talk about.

I've gotten feedback from enough contacts by now.... that I can try to put some of these thoughts together here.....
1. The Sept full moon is less than 2 weeks away. I know there is a big push of mullet usually during the Oct Harvest moon, but I feel this year will be different. Look for a big push of mullet along many of our East Coast surf and inlet areas during the Sept full moon.

2. This is already happening in the Island Beach area. Cuts and outsucks that have been slow during August, are now holding bluefish and other predators. While the predators are mostly small at this moment, that can change in an instant once the larger groups of predators start finding these fish (primarily mullet for now) which will be streaming down the coastline.

3. Those who know what they are doing and understand the night tides, are already catching larger fish in various inlet areas at night.

1. Generally big bait big birds (Gannets,seagulls,ospreys) Ospreys are great when you cannot see a school of bait watch where they are diving.

2. Mullet make a v-wake when swimming,

3. bunker tend to stay on top and school up and swim in large circles until the tide pushes them in or out at low tide they may be close to the shore reel the plug all the way into the beach or river..

4. Sandeels and spearing are usually pretty visible close to the shore.

5. If your using larger plugs and nothins happening try switching to a thin profile hopkins, diamond jig and see if you hook up.

6. Charteuse green teaser is a good color.

Listen to what surfstix is telling ya's here, people...he knows stuff.....



Just remember, for those fishing artificials at night..... What is the predominant forage in your area?
Those obsessed with throwing "big wood" are not doing the best thinking they can do, (unless fishing Montauk or Block at night...AND bunker are in your area regularly.)
The predominant forage I am seeing where I have been fishing is small and skinny right now.
If you are seeing the same things when you are fishing/scouting, think how best you will present to the fish that are feeding on them.
Teasers should be part of what you're carrying with you at night, unless you are fishing very rocky areas, or areas of high weed content, where they could be a problem.



** Last night, the fishing was terrible for me.
This was primarily because the conditions made it tough for presentation and dirtied up the bay waters. Constant W wind at a steady 20mph. This only minimized when I was leaving. Made fishing tough and scattered the bait, and the predators as well.

However, the different types of bait I ran into, were encouraging.....(in a few isolated areas)
Spearing, glass minnows, snapper blues, an abundance of needlefish feeding on the spearing, and for the first time, some small reddish type shrimp, different than the average normal grass shrimp one would see in the back bays.
Also, some sort of worm hatch, probably cinder worms, brought on by the new moon.
To me, this is all part of my fishing trips, and can sometimes turn a depressing night into a fascinating one.