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I had off Monday and planned to meet my buddy somewhere in North Jersey at dawn to look for birds and bunker and chase big bass. He overslept but I got to the beach right at sunrise. I parked and couldn't see over the dunes so I walked over them and immediately saw the biggest bass blitz I've ever seen right in the wash. I sprinted back to my truck and got my rod but by the time I ran back to the beach the fish were gone, leaving only a pile of adult bunker washed up on the beach. Gannets and gulls were circling maybe 3 cast lengths offshore so I ran back again to the truck, got my kayak and gear ready and hauled ass down to the water.
About 5 minutes after I launched I marked my first bunker school of modest size. I kept pedaling out and then I hit it. A bunker school so thick that my fishfinder was marking it as bottom! I was in 50 FOW and my lowrance suddenly told me I was in 10 feet. I dropped my snag hook down and it was on. My first bass came in about 5 minutes and was a solid 20 lber. At this point I picked up my phone and started calling my buddy to get out of bed and start the two hour drive. I snagged another bunker and dropped it down and got a savage hit that shook my whole boat. I let it eat for a second, set the hook and held on while the fish made a crazy powerful run to the bottom. Then for some reason it came up just enough for me to catch a glimpse of it and I couldn't believe how big it looked. It dove right back to the bottom and repeated this 3 or 4 more times until she finally tired out and gave up after a 10 minute fight. Sadly the snag hook was in its stomach and I knew she wasn't going to make it. I felt really bad about this and for the rest of the day I would switch the bunker to my second rod on a single hook to prevent killing any more fish. I did keep a 15 lber later in the day and gave the big girl to a Vietnamese friend with a huge family of fish eaters.
I took that fish back to shore and relaunched and it was game on for the rest of the day. Twenty pound fish were nuisances and I had two more mid 30s fish, countless 25 lbers, straightened hooks and several brief hookups with fish I never moved. Midday we had several whales come through feeding on the bunker which was absolutely insane. I was 100 yards away from them twice when they breached. Being in the middle of a giant bunker school when you know there are whales somewhere underneath you is the craziest mix of fear, excitement and adrenaline I've ever experienced. Near the end of the day the fish came to the surface and we got them on wooden swimmers, pencil poppers and anything you could cast or troll. It was simply ridiculous and I'm gonna be spoiled on stripers forever. I hope everyone gets to experience a day like this in their life.
About 5 minutes after I launched I marked my first bunker school of modest size. I kept pedaling out and then I hit it. A bunker school so thick that my fishfinder was marking it as bottom! I was in 50 FOW and my lowrance suddenly told me I was in 10 feet. I dropped my snag hook down and it was on. My first bass came in about 5 minutes and was a solid 20 lber. At this point I picked up my phone and started calling my buddy to get out of bed and start the two hour drive. I snagged another bunker and dropped it down and got a savage hit that shook my whole boat. I let it eat for a second, set the hook and held on while the fish made a crazy powerful run to the bottom. Then for some reason it came up just enough for me to catch a glimpse of it and I couldn't believe how big it looked. It dove right back to the bottom and repeated this 3 or 4 more times until she finally tired out and gave up after a 10 minute fight. Sadly the snag hook was in its stomach and I knew she wasn't going to make it. I felt really bad about this and for the rest of the day I would switch the bunker to my second rod on a single hook to prevent killing any more fish. I did keep a 15 lber later in the day and gave the big girl to a Vietnamese friend with a huge family of fish eaters.
I took that fish back to shore and relaunched and it was game on for the rest of the day. Twenty pound fish were nuisances and I had two more mid 30s fish, countless 25 lbers, straightened hooks and several brief hookups with fish I never moved. Midday we had several whales come through feeding on the bunker which was absolutely insane. I was 100 yards away from them twice when they breached. Being in the middle of a giant bunker school when you know there are whales somewhere underneath you is the craziest mix of fear, excitement and adrenaline I've ever experienced. Near the end of the day the fish came to the surface and we got them on wooden swimmers, pencil poppers and anything you could cast or troll. It was simply ridiculous and I'm gonna be spoiled on stripers forever. I hope everyone gets to experience a day like this in their life.
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