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Porgy which may also be called Bunker or menhaden are one of the preferred baits for catching striped bass. They are known for stripers in fact, and many anglers depend on them for bass hits. Bunker can comprise up to 80% of the diet of a striped bass, it is high in calories, and is oily and fatty making it preferable to stripers. Today, commercial fishermen are taking millions of bunker at a time through a process known as purse seining. One reason that bunker is so popular for commercial fisheries is that food, medicine and even pet food are depending on supplies of Omega 3 oils. Take a look at some of the labels in your home and you’ll no doubt be surprised by some of the foods that you find them in. Purse seining is the process that involves spotter planes identifying schools of bunker, radioing coordinates to waiting fishing boats allowing them to quickly net millions of bunker in a single pass of a net. This is troubling not only because it lessens the ability of anglers to snag bunker, but there is an environmental price that is paid for this large scale harvesting. Bunkers are by design filter feeders, which simply means that they clear up debris in the form of suspended matter and food particles – they remove them from the water which helps keep it clear. Bunker also tend to travel in large schools, it’s not unusual to see millions of them in a small area. Most anglers already know that if you see a single bunker, there is no doubt that a school of them is not too far away. Summer heat means that bunker head to estuaries and back creeks for feeding – it’s not unusual for them to literally suck all available oxygen out of these smaller bodies of water. In fact, bunker are often to blame when there are mass fish kills in these small bodies of water.

Because bunkers are filter feeders, you will not be able to use traditional fishing methods to catch them. Traditional baits such as lures, flies and other alternatives simply will not work with bunker. In fact, the two most accepted methods of landing bunker are through netting and through the use of treble hooks. Netting is far neater, as treble hooking involves getting into the area where the bunker have schooled, using a treble hook to cast into the center of the school and basically hold on until you have landed a bunker. Some anglers enjoy doing this and leave the bunker on the hook, hold their rods in the water until the bunker (who now is impaled with the hook) sinks below the school and becomes bait for a striper. Remember, stripers are sharp and they will quickly identify wounded bunker and will come after it. Not only is this method of fishing effective, some find it very relaxing.

Netting bunker is nearly an art form as it requires a great deal of preparation and thought. Netting bunker requires the use of a gill net which has floaters to keep it on the surface as well as weights to ensure that it stretches out properly. You need to make sure that you have purchased the right size net, it should not have openings of more than one inch. This size allows you to net bunker because their heads fit through the openings but, their gills become entangled in the mesh. You should look for gill nets that are between 50 and 100 feet long and have a depth of 4-6 feet. To properly weight the gill net you will need about 1.25 pounds of lead weight per each foot of net that you have to work with. If you under-weight your net, what will happen is that it will not sink properly and the fish will most likely flee your net long before you have a chance to draw it into the boat. Live wells can be used to help keep the bunker alive. You may be surprised to find that a single netting can result in four dozen or more bunker giving you more than enough for one days fishing.

Early in the morning is probably the best time of day for angling when you are after striper. They are searching for food prior to the sun beating down on the water and the area filling up with fishing boats. Once you have your bunker ready for angling, head to a reef which is generally a good spot for catching stripers. You will more than likely not need any weight as they will probably be fairly close to the top for feeding purposes. What you may quickly discover is how voracious an appetite the striper has for bunker. If you keep a close eye on the water, you may be shocked to see a bunker running for his life heading towards the water surface only to be thrown into the air by the tail of a striper, and when the bunker thinks that he has escaped death, he’s likely to find that he lands into the waiting jaws of a bass. As the day progresses, and boat traffic increases and the sun gets higher, you’ll more than likely want to follow the bass to deeper waters. At this time, you’ll want to switch to more traditional baits such as porgy, shad and eels on a three way rig or a sinker. Do not be too surprised if you find that you’re having better luck than neighboring boats however, since the bunker you’ve had on board have left their scent and there are few things that will distract (and attract) a striper than a bunker.

When you are preparing to undergo a saltwater fishing experience, it is important that you have the proper fishing gear. Some of the most popular gear include Shimino Spinning Reels, Penn Reel, and Daiwa Reels.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 1:43 am and is filed under JetSki. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.