Where are the bunker? Where are the spring bluefish and striper blitzes? I haven’t seen them, and I know a lot of other shore and kayak guys are also complaining about the same thing. I have had one of the slowest spring runs in at least 3 years, I just can’t seem to get on a consistent bite. I am catching fish, but not the size and quantity that I was in previous years.
There is a complete lack of bunker schools in the bay this year. I know for a fact that almost all local tackle shops could not keep fresh bunker stocked for a period of time in May, because they couldn’t be found! No bait, no fish and without a boat to cover miles of water in the bay, I had some tough outings.
Recently, I did a kayak fishing video shoot with On The Water magazine and we launched in Greenwhich bay with dozens if not hundreds of bluefish that were staged up. These fish were so thick that we were actually spooking them with our kayaks. I was excited, thinking we were going to get some insane blowups on camera. But instead we were greeted with some of the pickiest bluefish I have ever seen, they wouldn’t hit a damn thing it was unbelievable and incredibly frustrating. Thankfully on the tide change we got some bigger blues to play ball, but it took almost two hours to get them to bite which is crazy considering how many of them were in there. Last year you could have caught these fish with a fork.
One of the bigger bluefish I was able to land in the bay after hours of casting.
Although the bay sucked for me, I have caught a few better stripers out front, one pushing 40 inches. I think that’s where I am going to be fishing for a while.
