The sun had just peaked over the horizon and tide pushed the boat back as it came tight against the anchor line in 8 feet of water. Rich flipped his live bunker 10 feet from the boat and by the time it righted itself and started to swim away a bass was on it. A couple of near misses followed by a massive suction gulp and the bass had him. Line slowly peeled off the reel as the fish walked away with its meal. A few more feet,  Rich popped the reel in gear, reeled out the slack, and swung as hard as he could. The rod bowed, the line cracked off the reel, and he was tied into a 20lb class fish. It is tough to beat the excitement of seeing these big fish crashing live baits only a boat length away! By the time the bite ended we had released more than a dozen fish up to 35 lbs.

This action usually begins in mid-May and is very productive until the Bluefish take hold in the western Long Island Sound. Bays that are holding bunker will have good concentrations of big Stripers. The bunker acts like a magnet that draws these fish out of the Long Island Sound and into the bays. Nearly all of these fish have just spawned in the Hudson and this is their first real opportunity to feed before continuing their migration up the coast. They will hang around as long as the bait remains in the bays and water temps stay cool. As the water begins to warm, more and more of these fish leave the bays and start their trip north. Sporadic action can still be had from resident fish and bodies of fish that are late in leaving the Hudson River spawning grounds.

The best time to pursue these fish is during low light conditions. Dawn, dusk and overcast days are always most productive. However, it is not unusual to find a good bite in bright sunshine especially when a good body of fish is located in water with poor visibility. Like many fish, Stripers are most active near the surface when they have their best feeding advantage. Their prey gets little chance to elude them when the light is only penetrating a foot or two beneath the surface.

The best concentrations of fish will nearly always be found in 6-10ft of water. In this depth, the bass can hang just off the bottom and still locate prey right beneath the surface. Areas with ledges, rocks, docks and other ambush structure are preferred. The bunker schools will typically move with the tide in slightly deeper water and the bass will shadow them to shoreward waiting for the schools to stray within their reach. The most effective way to fish is by either drifting between the bunker schools and the shore or anchoring up shoreward and down-tide of advancing schools. At the top and bottom of the tide both the bait and the bass stop moving. The bass will usually lose interest in tracking the bunker and lay in a holding area. Some of the best action occurs when these holding areas are located. Many of these holding areas will be located near deep-water drop-offs. Having this deep water nearby gives the bass an extra sense of security and they are less likely to be spooked by the boat.

These fish are going to range in size from the mid-teens well up into the 30’s with an occasional fish pushing the 40lb mark. This is no place for the light tackle enthusiast. A conventional reel, loaded with at least 30lb test, on a medium-heavy 6 ½ to 7-foot rod is needed. The conventional reel will allow the angler to carefully control the bait and keep it in the hit zone when it is being chased. The medium-heavy rod will provide the hook setting power to get the hook out of the bait and into the fish. A 3-5 foot length of 50lb fluorocarbon will provide protection against the basses gill plates and the structure. The leader should be attached to the main line using the smallest swivel possible. A 7/0 - 9/0 Ultrapoint Beak Bait style hook will provide the highest hookup ratio. Very few of the fish will be gut-hooked as the hook is near the tail and the bass always swallow the bunker headfirst.

Hooking the bunker in the back behind the dorsal fin will allow the angler to steer and control the bait. The bunker should be at least 15ft from the boat to reduce the chance of a frightened bunker racing back to the boat to seek shelter. These baits should never be allowed to stray much more than 30ft feet from the boat as the further the bait is from the boat, the tougher it is to control and the more difficult it is to set the hook. Most anglers like to use one or two rods. The baits are set out and the rods are dropped into the holders with the reels out of gear and the clickers on. Most clickers will provide enough resistance to hold the bunker. The bunker will typically reach the end of their leash and lay slightly on their sides flipping their tails on the surface of the water as they start a slow circuit around the boat. The vibration of their struggles will attract the bass. These big fish are very curious of anything new in their environment that might represent a feeding opportunity. Aggressive fish will chase and strike the bunker as they flip on the surface. Less aggressive fish may simply lie beneath the bait until the angler makes it attractive enough to strike. The bass rarely get the bunker on the initial strike. After the first hit the bunker will start doing everything it can to escape. This is when the skill and the experience of the angler come into play. The rod must be in angler’s hands with the clicker off. The bunker must not be allowed to speed out of the spot where it was just hit. By keeping the line tight with thumb pressure against the spool the bunker can be held or even flipped into a different direction. However, keeping the line tight against a hard struggling bunker can sometimes make the fish lay completely on its side and it appears unnatural. It is best to allow the bunker to take just enough line to look natural. If the bass seems to have lost interest, the bunker can be dragged across the surface for a few feet and a strike will often occur when the bait tries to reorient itself. If the bait does elude the bass, all efforts should be made to steer the bait back into the hit zone. When a strike is made the angler must only apply enough thumb pressure to stop the reel from back-lashing while attempting to determine if the bait has been swallowed or is still trying to escape.

Sometimes the bigger fish will simply swirl their bodies sideways in the water creating a hole and inhale the bunker in as it slides into the hole. Other fish will keep maneuvering beneath the bunker until they can strike it head first. Smaller fish often peck or slap at the bunker to stun it before they swallow it. No matter what the nature of the strike is, the angler must know when the bunker has been swallowed. Many fish are missed when the angler thinks that their bait has been grabbed and then proceeds to rip their hook out of a free-swimming bunker. The easiest way to tell is to observe the line as it is leaving the reel. If the bunker is still on the loose, the line will have a slight, quick pulse. If it has been grabbed the line will move steadily, and often times quickly, out of the reel. Five to ten seconds of this and its time to set the hook. Engage the reel, get the slack out, strike the fish as hard as possible, and hang on!

A good supply of live bunker is critical. A single angler can easily use up half a dozen in an hour. The size is less important than most people think. Striped Bass can swallow amazingly large baits for their size. A properly setup livewell is the key to keeping these baits fresh. Cool spring water temps will allow most wells to function using raw water only. As the water warms or the well is overloaded, an additional pump must be added to re-circulate and inject oxygen into the water. However, too much re-circulation or oxygen and the bunker will quickly become stressed and discolored. These stressed baits are quite overactive when put on a hook and until they settle down most bass will be unable to catch them. As a bunker begins to tire it becomes a much easier target. Clipping off a portion of their tail fin with a sharp shear can also slow overactive bunker.

Many anglers fail to realize that their own boat has become part of the structure on the Stripers environment. Keep a close eye on the fishfinder even in shallow water. The vibration of the bait pumps and the positioning of live baits all around the boat can attract fish right to the boat itself. When a bunker is dropped into the water, these fish often come right out from beneath the boat and take a shot at it. When reeling baits back to the boat, it is a good idea to pause them as they get close, in case a bass has been following them or a fish that was holding beneath the boat has taken an interest. These strikes are often the most spectacular due to their close proximity to the boat.

These techniques will allow you to experience this exciting top-water action and target the biggest fish in the western Long Island Sound. They will work in many other shallow locations as well from New Jersey to Maine. Learning to induce strikes in a variety of conditions simply takes time and is quite challenging. The effort needed to get the bait and learn this method will be rewarded with an increased understanding of how these big fish behave and what it takes to catch them.