How to fish bunker pods in the ocean

[Full Ride]

So this is from Father’s Day off the south shore east of Shinnecock west of MONTAUK! The bunker were plentiful the bass had a lot of choices on the menu. How do you maximize your chances of landing a striped bass? What advice can you veteran fishermen provide?

 

[Full Ride]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Bassman909]

So, I find that you never quite know how the bass are going to feed on that bunker. Sometimes they'll chase it to the top, others, they will hug the bottom. So, I like to snag a couple and let them swim, unweighted, and the bunker right in front of the dorsal fin, which seems to allow the buker to swim up high. I then snag one with a weighted treble hook and just let in swim (don't retrieve when you snag), the weighted treble will pull them down to the bottom. I have caught a lot of bass doing this, and it is a ton of fun fighting a big fish on a spinning rod.

Go gettem!!

 

[Rick67]

Not familiar with Garmin. Having a hard time with what your presenting as a bunker pod with fish on it. If I seen that many bass with a school of bunker they would be like polar opposites on the screen, not paling out. Try turning that fish ID feature off.

 

[george]

I agree with Rick as this looks more like a bunker school not being harassed. In this case I would get some in the live well and drift swim them at different depths for about 10-15 minutes. If there are bass there you will know. If no takers, mark the spot as you don't know what will happen on the change of tide, and them move on looking for another pod. I fish the sound and there are bunker everywhere. If I see that they']re being harassed or dispersed I'll work that area hard, if not I'll move on to the next spot.

 

[Full Ride]

thank you all - now i have to find them again! were in 30ft of water east and west of shinnecock now i cant find them either side...will the adult bunker continue to migrate to montauk and beyond? will they seek cooler temps than the 70 degrees im recording?will they head to deeper water...im sure you are all saying Yes...Yes...yes & its part of my ongoing education to find out...which i embrace completely...good fishing to all!

 

[george]

thank you all - now i have to find them again! were in 30ft of water east and west of shinnecock now i cant find them either side...will the adult bunker continue to migrate to montauk and beyond? will they seek cooler temps than the 70 degrees im recording?will they head to deeper water...im sure you are all saying Yes...Yes...yes & its part of my ongoing education to find out...which i embrace completely...good fishing to all!

You should see all ages of bunker there for the rest of the season!