Today was like October in August. Everywhere I went there were both blues and
bass on top busting 2 inch to 5 inch herring. That includes from the Herring Run all the way to the radar station and beyond, as well as the entire section east of Sagamore Bridge. Fish were in the middle, 10 ft off the rocks, and in the weeds. In other words, if you were in the water, you were stepping on them.
Unlike October, the fish were finickier and it took a lot of lure swapping to
come up with the correct combination. Best were 1 ounce Atom poppers, Crippled
Herring jigs in various sizes, and big Hopkins metals. The bass were all under
24 inches and the blues ran anywhere from 5-8 lbs. However, I did take a 32-inch keeper well before dawn at the radar station on a dead eel, before all the madness started. I'm sure there were much bigger fish underneath but the schoolies would beat them to the lure everytime.
Murderer's Row (opposite the Sandwich Power Plant) lived up to its name as
bass and blues were just pounding tiny herring fry right up onto the rocks. At one point, the water was so saturated with busting fish that it looked like someone had turned on a giant-sized Waring blender in front of us. Polarized glasses revealed hundreds of bass swimming parallel to the weed line.
I had to leave at 10 AM with the action only slightly diminished. An awesome
morning and hopefully a sign of good things to come.
-bd