Bunker Everywhere but very few stripers by Ed Valitutto

Posted on October 25, 2023 by VHFC

John Stuebing joined me on Tuesday Oct 23rd. for a fantastic journey north of BI looking for stripers. Perfect weather made the trek enjoyable as we traversed the length of IBSP passing the ‘wheel’ at Seaside Heights and continuing on to Ortley Beach and finally to Lavallette. What we found along the way were massive schools of bunker fairly close to the beach with a few schools of smaller bait that brought out the birds.
The great weather also brought out lots of boats both from BI and nearby Manasquan. The bunker schools were so thick that I hooked four fish with four casts! Unfortunately, all we caught on the bunker were numbers of spiny dogs with a few small bluefish and a herring caught on jigs. We probably saw 6 bass caught all day. Oh well, that’s fishing!

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.