Where is the bunker???

[kevinfry]

So odd this year, while there are plenty of bait fish, silversides and needle fish particularly, down here in St Mary's county I have seen very little of the schools of menheddon i am used to seeing. I was at the mouth of St. Jerome's Creekthis morning...the place should be crawling with peanut bunker in Sept...........did not see a single one. No wonder i have not caught a single rockfish on a topwater plug this summer.

[jet]

i was sailing out of Annapolis yesterday and saw tons of schools of baitfish on the eastern side...rather large schools too. it seemed to be anchovies, or some kind of small minnow looking things. no birds around, but they were definitely being chased out of the water by something, most likely baby blues. a couple years ago i would snag bunker on my main line on almost every trip while jiggin or soaking bait, havent this year, but i havent been able to fish much either.

[kayak456]

yesterday we saw 18 schools of bunker around 15 inch at thomas point we cot all we wanted wiuth my net.u can snagg them wiht a weighted treble from a kayak.they are definatly out there btw

[kevinfry]

So why aren't they down here like they have been?? weird. Of course, kayak 456......the fish love you and pinch and the rest of us have to live with the humiliation of having to work for food!

[kayak456]

hah. we see bunker starting in march up until december
at thomas point.throw a big treble or sting silver at them and snag as many as u want for liveling.weve been liveling bunker instead oif perch cuz we cant get small enoufgh spot.bunker work better

[DOGFISH]

I agree. There are lots of peanut bunker is the South River. However, I have noticed, last time crabbing at our marina, that there are not as many back in the creek at the marina. The pattern just seems to be different. There are usually plenty, even back in the creek. This year most seem to be further out in the river. Maybe its just me, but that seems to be how it is here. There are also lots of glass minnows.

[kevinfry]

yeah way more "glass minnows" than the past 2 years and lots of blues feeding on them but...does not seem to translate into topwater action like bunker brings.

[mmanolis2001]

Ask Omega Protein where they are.

They gotta fill those fish oil pills with all that omega 3 goodness and cats gotta eat. They have been putting a major hurting on the bunker for the last 15 years at the mouth of the bay. Every Other state on the east coast minus VA and i think NC have booted them out. From what i heard Virginia legislators have been getting their pockets filled with Omega money for quite some time.

"Omega Protein has been a generous and frequent financier of both Democratic and Republican legislators in Virginia. Decades ago, management of marine life in state waters was transferred from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to the Virginia General Assembly, which has management authority over all species except one: menhaden.

Repeated legislative efforts to transfer control of menhaden to the capable hands of fisheries experts have proven futile. Omega Protein has furnished Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell with over $55,745 in campaign contributions. The governor has signaled that he will veto any menhaden bill he encounters.


In 2011, six different bills were introduced in the Virginia legislature concerning the protection of menhaden, with six different sponsors, spanning the House and the Senate, and spearheaded by members of both sides of the aisle. All were defeated handily.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which has oversight of state waters, is poised to take regulatory action that would increase the percentage of menhaden that is off-limits to harvesters from nine to 15 percent. But even this feels like a stopgap measure. A recent panel of independent scientists recommended that as much as 75 percent of virgin biomass for species like menhaden be kept from the hands (and nets) of industrial fisheries. Virgin biomass is a term that describes the amount of fish in the water before humans ever started fishing there, so the amount of menhaden that these scientists are recommending be left alone is enormous." Source


Make me sick when the hear the fishing continues with historically low menhaden populations up and down the east coast.

Guess where there major breeding ground is?

The most important fish in the sea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8NbzZnjNTM

Another tasty link
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/pol...ting-the-ocean

Videos like this make me sick. How can they sleep and put out Sh@t like this. They state the resource is healthy.... lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO6d6N1Qerc

Omega will rape the stock until there is nothing left and move on to other business opportunities. The saddest thing about it is no one cares or even knows about what is happening to the bay. First the oysters now the menhaden. The bay has had its lungs ripped out and is choking to death. The large predators have nothing to eat. Wanna know where all the big blues are that used to come up the bay? Id guess chasing the few schools of large bunker left off shore migrating up north to states that have banned the netting.

[DOGFISH]

I agee, what they have done to the menhaden stock is terrible. In no way do the menhaden, as seen in the bay or rivers today, resemble what they were in years past. When I was a kid there were vast schools of menhaden, everywhere. I don't mean just peanut bunker. I mean larger adult fish. Even as late as the early nineties there were large schools of menhaden. You could go for miles and miles with a solid line of bait beneath the boat, shown on a graph. I do agree, it needs to stop. It is pure and simple greed. The shame is, the peanut bunker seen in the rivers this year will be scooped up before they can return as adult fish to spawn.