Schools of baitfish

[joemac]

What species are these schools of baitfish. They look 3-4" long, possibly with a black spot and they flash their sides close to the surface. I wasn't sure if they were Alwifes or some type of shad or something else. Anybody know?

[gillplate]

bunker, aka. menhaden.

[joemac]

I'm pretty sure that is what I call Alewife. Anyway, I plan to use them as you would herring or sardines including smoking them and home canning them. My theory is that they should work well in place of any oily, bony fish recipe.

[Fishinfool]

Good luck with that Joe. They are a high calorie, high protein staple food for rockfish, and a multitude of other fish and bird species who love them, but Menhaden are so oily and fishy that they are considered to be virtually inedible by us human kind. They are a critical filter fish, sort of like oysters, and they feed continuously only on plankton (algae) and krill.

I used some for bait last summer at the Bay Bridge; chummed and cut bait. I got it all over myself, unfortunately. It took me about a week to get the damn smell off of everything, LOL. When you cut into one, I think you'll know immediately what I mean. Shoot, if you're down a quart of oil in your car, just throw a mature menhaden in the crankcase; problem solved!

A fishing friend told me that the properties of their oil are so unique that it does not freeze at 200 degrees below zero. As a result, NASA contractors have used it in outer space as a lubricant. It's the only oil that does not freeze at extreme temperatures.

I'll be interested to hear the outcome of your experiment.

[Mark]

I was drifting along at the mouth of the Severn on Thursday. Bait fish were slapping the surface all around me. At first I was hopeful they were stripers feeding. But when I got a close-up look I saw they were small fish. I casted a popper among them in the hopes that stripers were underneath but none surfaced. I also tried sub surface lures to no avail. I was curious as to why the bait fish were surfacing. There were so many it was almost like big rain drops hitting the surface.

[joemac]

I've done a little research on the matter. I'm also going to try smoked oysters and mussels. I tried our native mussels this Summer. They were pretty good. Not as good as the conventional Blue Mussel but pretty darn good for free mussels. I enjoy turning wild harvest into good food and experimenting in the kitchen.

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/8305...-cook-menhaden

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-fea...gift-of-spring

http://foodwhisperer.wordpress.com/2...your-own-tuna/

I saw a few schools next to the home dock today but need a good dip net.