How do you know what the fish are eating?

[chex]

CB kayak 02 said: I would say the biggest factor is how well the lure imitates the type of bait the fish are eating: whether is the way it swims, depth, or color.

So,how do you know what the fish are eating?

And does that mean that odd colored lures (red for example) are no good? (as far as I know, there are no red baitfish in the bay)

[Grady-Black]

Catch one, cut it open and see what they are feeding on..

[Pinch]

There is only so much bait the upper bay rock will feed on. In late spring - may worms hatch, then thethe crabs molt. there are also bull minnows, silver sides, peanut bunker, menhaden, spot, juvenile white perch, shad, and eels. One of the best methods I've found is to look for what baits are around the launch and other signs of life.

[chimo]

Don't rule out red / pink / chartruse just because they are not natural colors. There are times when you have to "match the hatch" pretty closely and times where the biggest, gaudiest most unnatural colors / lures will get slammed. Who knows what a fish is thinking Just gotta keep trying and see what they want sometimes

Chimo

[DOGFISH]

Besides, red is one of the first colors to wash out of the spectrum as it goes to depth. If I remember correctly, the color red washes out at about the first 15'. Different colors appear differently at depth. The fish are seeing differing shades produced by the colors. Bill may be better to explain the biology, the fish eye, rods and not cones, the other way around or how the fish see colors. Because of the stained water in the bay, that is why chartruese and white are such good colors. White having no color produces a bright shade pattern. Most strikes in the bay are reaction strikes due to the low visibility. Most all game fish will eat other fish, that is why minnow and fish type baits are on the menu.

[Southerly]

1st, i don't think there are solid rules on this. i've read that juvenile striped bass are more inclined to eat worms, little crabs, stuff like that. as they get bigger, they eat more fish. not to say that soft crab is not an excellent bait for larger fish when in season.

i've seen speculation that really BIG ones, the kind that aren't caught on rod and reel exist (factual as shown by electrofishing), but have adapted to eating a food supply that's not imitated by fishermen (the semi-speculation part). in particular, weakfish. i've read 1st hand accounts of very large caught weakfish online being engulfed by even larger rock while being reeled in. i think this is interesting this year especially since there seems to be so many specs around.

i've seen rule of thumb that they tend to eat fish about 20% their size. i think i read this in relation to 'disgorgement' research. but know from experience that size rule gets broken all the time, in either direction.

they seem to eat a variety of foods and will take advantage of what's available. in this respect, trying to know what they're currently accustomed to eating as best possible from other reports, observations or experience, and presenting a bait of that general size seems reasonable to me.

on color - gotta love chartreuse. a very popularly-eaten color that is not quite duplicated in the natural world.

first i think colors tend to look different underwater than in air. probably due to spectrum of light that actually penetrates water by laws of physics. and i have no way of evaluating how a fish's brain perceives color. lots of fish have been dissected trying to figure this out but i think state of the art is try different colors on different days to see if one or other works best.


ps - i couldn't find the study i wanted to, but take a look at this if you can make itopen

http://web.vims.edu/GreyLit/MDNR/ftm002?svr=www

[Memory Maker]

Most of the fish I've caught had an appetite for lead, chrome and plastic in mostly chartuse and contrasting colors ........ some times read and white and pink and purple ..........

[chex]

Wow, so much to learn. I've only been here 4 days and I've already gotten so much great info. thanks!

In order to cut a fish open to see what it's eating, I'd have to CATCH one first!

I love going to BassProShops to look at all the lures. They're so beautiful. But I'm overwhelmed with the variety. I'm definitely gonna get a couple x-raps to try those out since you guys have good luck with them.

[mmanolis2001]

Along with the crank baits pick up some soft plastics (large bassin assassin’s, 4" and 6" curly tails, Storm shads, etc...) in solid white, White with a red tail, Solid chartreuse, Clear chartreuse with glitter, Shad colors (Dark back, light belly in greens, blues and grays)

Definitely get a couple of packs of 4" gulp swimming mullets in pearl and chartreuse. These catch everything.

Red, white and chartreuse lead heads in 1/2oz, 1oz and 1 1/2oz.

The above package can pretty much catch anything that swims in the bay.

[Memory Maker]

+1

[chex]

Oh sweet, thanks a lot. I'll definitely get that stuff. I wanna catch a big fish!

[J.A. Veil]

Last Monday I fished from another angler's boat. We found vast flocks of birds diving on bait. The previous day, I found a bag of bright pink Gulp 3" squid in a clearance bins at Anglers. For $1.99, I decided to give it a shot. When we were in the midst of those birds, I used the pink squid on a 3/8-oz jighead. Even though the squid did not have any floppy motion like a twister tail, nor is bright pink a natural color or are squid a typical mid-Chesapeake Bay prey species, the rockfish loved the little pink squid lures that day. I caught at least a dozen rock up to 20".

Don't rule out a bait because of color. I think that size and how the lure is presented to the fish have more importance, and of course, finding the fish before throwing out your line is paramount.

[surfdog]

+2, all the fancy colors are what the makers use to catch the fisherman. how does a fish find a lure in this murky water? vibration, scent and contrast. ever seen an electric chicken bait fish? its mainly the size and contrast and vibration that they key in on. in clear water its mostly natural and lifelike baits that do the job. i like white/pearl or chartreuse on a char. jighead in the daylight and dark stuff, black or purple at night.

[Yak Fish]

I'd like to hear what you guys have to say on the subject but every time I've filleted a striper, I've found nothing in the stomach. This is not true of other fish I've caught, however. I bought a book, "The Complete Guide to Striper Fishing" which is very good by the way. In it, it says that stripers will eat and then basically go relax for awhile until it digests. It explains why I never find anything in the stomach....and why it may be tougher, but not impossible to catch them when the tide is not ideal because they've already fed. Perhaps you guys have differing accounts.

[camelbird]

Bunker.... just the size of a 3/4oz rattletrap