JD29
05-18-2009, 01:45 PM
I observed some rather interesting striper behavior this past weekend, and was wondering if others had witnessed anything similar...
Shorebound, I fished the flood tide from a Buzzards Bay jetty at the mouth of one of the small harbors. The seaward side of the jetty is boulder strewn with some sandy flats. I noticed several (3 or 4) decent-sized, dark chunky fish slowly cruising and nosing about in the sandy shallows (2 or 3 feet of water max). Im assuming they were tautog, as there were a number of similar fish ducking in and out of the jetty itself in deeper water, but can't verify it for sure.
Upon closer look...each of the presumed toggies had a shadow - but the shadow was actually a striper! Literally nose to tail, each tautog had a similarly sized striper (18-22") right behind. Maybe picking up the scraps that the tautog was rooting up? Whatever they were doing, they were fairly distractable with a chartreuse clouser! Landed a few - all around 18-22 inches...
Has anyone seen this type of behavior before? It wasn't as thought the stripers and tautog were simply coinhabiting the same flats...the stripers were literally right on the tautogs tail, shadowing their every turn - pretty fascinating to watch!
Shorebound, I fished the flood tide from a Buzzards Bay jetty at the mouth of one of the small harbors. The seaward side of the jetty is boulder strewn with some sandy flats. I noticed several (3 or 4) decent-sized, dark chunky fish slowly cruising and nosing about in the sandy shallows (2 or 3 feet of water max). Im assuming they were tautog, as there were a number of similar fish ducking in and out of the jetty itself in deeper water, but can't verify it for sure.
Upon closer look...each of the presumed toggies had a shadow - but the shadow was actually a striper! Literally nose to tail, each tautog had a similarly sized striper (18-22") right behind. Maybe picking up the scraps that the tautog was rooting up? Whatever they were doing, they were fairly distractable with a chartreuse clouser! Landed a few - all around 18-22 inches...
Has anyone seen this type of behavior before? It wasn't as thought the stripers and tautog were simply coinhabiting the same flats...the stripers were literally right on the tautogs tail, shadowing their every turn - pretty fascinating to watch!