Okay, you all having fun yet? I am at the point where I am telling Poagies to kiss my arse. Poagies are insane. They pop up when they want..and with little consistency. But when I do make a plan and come across them all hell may break loose with decent shots at big Bass. But nothing secure there either. For the past three nights I have been faithfully working the entire outgoing tide in a bass populated area. The Poagies rolled in at the 3am time slot and took off right after first light to the deep and pulled all the bass with em. No remnants, no stragglers, no nothing. A complete dead sea and the party was over...almost in a blink of an eye.

For this entire new moon week there was hardly any action in the rocks at night. Which goes against what I have become use to for decent size bass in groups tight to shore. All action at times was at dawn and dusk and lasted around an hour, sometimes less. So you had to be in the right place at the right time. In a large area and in a kayak the odds get greater. This can be tough for the kayak angler to cover over 5-10 miles over every outing in the black of the night. Then your chances of finding the poagie school is still still. Because the poagies won't be in the same area they were before! Especially out front in the Ocean, not a creek.

I enjoy the weights of these bass for 2008. But, I don't like the small bite windows and inconsistency's. At least around here in Boston. It's been a while since I have seen anything like this, especially since finding the kayak as a fishing tool in 2002. I wish in some ways the Poagies would have stayed away, and it continued to be all day all night rock action. That's where the kayak really shines, is in the structure, tight to shore.

Thoughts about the come back of Poagies, Bunker?

This post has been edited by The Riddler: Jul 7 2008, 03:41 AM

I've notice the inconsistent bite this year also. I don't get out that often, but by this time of year, I usually have a few stripers under my belt. So far this year, the count it zero from the yak.

Last year there were bunker of all sizes in Norwich Harbor all summer long. I'm curious what the pattern will be this year.

I don't know if it is the Bunker, but I agree that the bite is hit or miss this year. I can honestly say there is no consistent place to find big bass except the outer reefs here...which is a long paddle 2-3 hour to reach. We do have a lot of cookie cutters here, and a lot of squid, along with silversides. I'm hoping that when the snappers come in so will the bass. On top of the the dragger's are tearing up the beaches off of RI making the Fluke bite difficult as well, but I am still enjoying my summer on the water.

Albies are coming, you'll forget about the bass.

Lol.....1 month till ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully sooner.........Zoooooooommmmmmmmmmm!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big fish back in the haunts this morning...yap, poagies making a presence at 3am. Again, over at 4am. This Poagies have no morals, no values. lol

This post has been edited by The Riddler: Jul 8 2008, 04:45 PM

No excuses, you know their schedule

I think you have something there. If there is bunker around in large enough quantity the bass will key on them to fatten up. Lot nore "fat" for the chase when eating a poagie instead of smaller bait. When they are keyed on one type of food they ignore other offerings. We see that when they are on sandeels, you can throw anything in front of them and not get a hit unless it drifts right into their mouth.

With poagies around that will be where the big linesiders hang out to party

zooom, who said zooooooooooooooom

Nils

Just off the water...no poagies around.

Hey Jeff, whats going on? I think the difference in this year is the amount of bait in our waters. I don't remember a year when there is soo much bait and different bait for the fish to choose from. Its almost like September fishing were the fish are not up on the rocks, they are cruising, staying with the schools of pogies, herring, macks and sand eels. Not you typical summer pattern at all.

global warming!!

Hey all. I am not complaining about the fishing here this year, so far it has been decent for me. The problem is the pattern of poagies. There is no set time frame. Today after work, poagies were filter feeding near the Neponset. Nothing like sitting in traffic and watching them feed in the circular wake pattern.

The point long ago, does hold some water. I think Lefty had mentioned it one time. He was a commercial Poagie hauler. When the Poagies are in strong it can make bass fishing tough. I talked to a few surfcasters who have normally done well along the rocks in Narrangasnett. For the second June in a row, times where tough.

Now add in the tinker mackeral factor in the Boston Harbor area. From time to time this year, the tinkers have brought in masses of fish varied size. Schoolies to 30lb fish. They feed and move on. Migrating fish and don't expect them to say. Large Bass will start to settle on the North Shore of New England starting around July, August the latest. Gary knows. August in the rocks on the North Shore doesn't seem to change. How many large will stay in the rocks is still to be determined this year.

Caloric intake. Big bass don't need to feed as often when poagies are present. Smaller bass hitting smaller bait without competing with cows. All stripers have been fat this year. I know a spot that's holding poagies during a particular tide. Big bass lying on the bottom, surrounding them. Dinner bell goes off, bass crash, poagies get nervous ... all ends in less than 30 minutes. First year I've seen poagies there. Some other baits aren't as successful as years past. While big bass numbers are down from last year, there are still a good number around. Just in different areas. I'm seeing areas which haven't been producing in 3~4 seasons, now fishing well. Most nites, sluggos outfishing eels. Gotta work more than last year, but good fish around.
I've caught poagies by trolling a jig headed Felmlee eel. Have heard a poagie was taken on a trolled live eel on the same nite.
Might be worth trying some old timers spots.
Also unusual, no blues. What am I doing wrong!! LOL

"Have heard a poagie was taken on a trolled live eel on the same nite"

lol....Yeah, I'll buy that. Must have been 10lbs too. Maybe it thought it was a jumbo plankton.

This post has been edited by The Riddler: Jul 11 2008, 04:28 AM

Be nice Jeff, it was an Amazonian Poagie :

I replaced poagies with Stripers and the post made sense to me

You guys don't have killer poagies where you fish? LOL
Guess that's why the blues aren't around. Theyz a scared!!

The last 2 weeks I have seen a lot of bunker. It seems the bass are only interested in the bunker. I tried everything. Very weird. eels/tubes/plugs and even bunker...

Jeff, you and I have talked about this as well so you know my standpoint. Narragansett bay is great fishing IN A BOAT! You need to move around alot to find fish and they don't hold on structure much with all that menhaden. Stripers get crazy for em' the bay must be 72-74 degrees, yet big fish are still way up there. Crazy! I've been fishing open ocean structure since MAY. Screw those pogy chsing fish, too hard to get a pattern on. June was very good with great numbers of big fish but scary numbers of schoolies. Where are they all? July has been very very slow. It's been a strange year. The thing is that anybody with a boat and a snagging hook is catching big bass this year.