I cannot stress enough the importance of bunker (pogey) to not only the striped bass fishery, but the oceanic ecosystem as a whole. Virtually everything eats bunker from whales and bluefin tuna to our favorite inshore species like stripers and bluefish. I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom but they are a key food source in the Atlantic Ocean, and if the bunker population collapses other species will most likely follow suit.
This season I did not find any significant schools of adult bunker in Narragansett bay. Granted, I am limited to just kayaking and shore fishing, but I have been able to consistently find pogey every spring in recent memory prior to this season. This has led to some pretty crappy fishing in the bay.
I have no idea what is going on, I know there was a commercial harvest of bunker earlier this year maybe that is to blame. We also had an incredibly mild and rainy winter/spring. I really hope this is just a fluke and not an actual sign of decreasing bunker populations, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on. In my opinion, bunker are a far more valuable resource alive and in the ocean as opposed to being turned into cat food and fertilizer. Use dogfish and skate for that crap.
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