From a post below.

Strictly Surf

Date: August 30, 2006 at 16:02:34
From: ken, [pool-64-222-39-242.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: From a post below.

“You mentioned the fish moving in a pattern. I guess I always assumed the fish hold amongst a patch of rocks until the supply of bait dwindles. Then move down current to try another patch. I've always wondered how long they will stay on a spot waiting on schools of bait. If the bait is spotty do they hunker down and wait or move through a milk-run of spots?”

I sure do not know all the answers or all the questions.
I can talk about what I have seen that is all.

One thing I have become aware of over the last four years is that fish arrive in certain salt ponds and estuaries in masse just prior to an event like a worm hatch.
I have seen it happen and so has my friend Mark.

It happened last week and I saw it happen.
On Wed. night I went to a place that looks over a salt stream between two salt ponds.

Wave after wave of fish were moving through by the hundreds.

This river is small and not connected to the open ocean. IT is a place that a fish has to go to - not just end up in. It has to swim out of the ocean go through a hole in a giant seawall swim a half mile to a breachway go up through a harbor then take a left and run a half mile take a left into a small cut go through a marsh then up through a canal then enter a pond and swim through it two more canals and then into a large salt pond. Along this route there is a dock with a light that borders the channel.
The night I am talking about school after school of fish went through, bound for someplace.

The next night there was a worm hatch. There were so many fish breaking and feeding that the people in the houses that border the place were woken up by the noise and come out to watch the event.

A friend of mine who was there called me and told me about what those people did.
They got long handled landing nets and sticks and tried to catch the fish as they were feeding on the worms. Those fish knew that there was going to be a massive worm hatch and arrived the night before it began. Impossible?

Well it happens often and weather it is impossible or not to our reason; it happens anyway and if you are aware of it you can be there even though it is impossible.

I am not saying that fish think like we do but, “they know,” which is not the same as thinking.
If you allow them that - then it opens up a whole world of behavior to our reason because it adds linear purpose to their activities and that can be thought about.

If fish are not totally random in their seeking out food supplies then the idea that they are only automatons seeking out random events to fill their bellies is off the table as the sole determiner of their feeding routines.

Why do fish appear in certain places at certain times of the year at the same phases of the moon and the same dates or close to them?
Is it only random chance encounters with bait populations?

I once watched a small school of large menhaden about 100 fish meander around a small sandy hump next to a sea wall jetty for a whole morning. (I do things like that)
Right behind them was a bas of around thirty pounds that followed them everywhere they went. He was never more than ten or twelve feet behind them.

HE was like a wolf following a heard of caribou.

The top to the hump there were waves breaking every once in awhile. When the menhaden swam over the t spot when a wave broke the fish would rush them and grab a menhaden that turned into the current from the breaking wave.
It was surgical and relaxed. It happened three times while I was watching.
I am sure that fish followed that school all the way to wherever picking them off one at a time.
He did not attack and scatter them he shepherded them.
He was a menhaden shepherd tending his flock.

I am going to stop now but this is only a beginning.

Rivers and surf have their own peculiarities that are real and similar and different.
Rocks and rocky shorelines are different than sand beaches because they hold bait and fish like cities hold people. Sand beaches are more like highways that have traffic jambs from time to time but in predictable spots none the less.
Fish move shallower to feed at night and take up positions that are related to depth and current for sure. When the depth gets to shallow they move and when the current changes they move. Sometimes when the bait is very thick they do not move far but that is an exception.
They may shut down and wait till the current starts again or they may wait until the next tide cycle. They know the bait is there and do not forget that it is... In Rivers they move up stream until the water level gets too shallow then they drop down and when it quits they wander and reform where it begins to move first. At the bottom of the tide you can locate fish if you know where the current lingers the longest. That is where the last feeding fish will be ordinarily.

There are exceptions.
There are always exceptions.

When you are in the surf and the tide drops and fish stop hitting then go to where the current is still flowing and has the depth that the fish were in earlier.
Go there and give it a shot. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Look for rip currents that are connected to the structure you were fishing and explore them and see if the fish are using them at that lower stage of the tide. They often are if you can figure out their pattern of movement.

There are places that I fish often that do have a fish milk run. I am thinking of one in particular that is about a mile long. It is all rock and cobble and rock shelf’s and it is very irregular.

The fish are always moving from one place to another. At the end of the ebb tide they always end up in a little cove that has a point on the left side facing north. When the tide lets go they move out around the point and disappear.

I begin to head north and go to a sand beach about a mile away. I start fishing for them there. If they do not arrive quickly I move south to a rocky ledge area and see if they are there.
IT is a hop scotch search and I will always find them some place and when I do find them and they disappear they will appear at the next structure on their path heading south. They may move out quickly or stay. The tide in this spot only flows one way. On the flood it is an eddy and on the ebb it is the main current.

Again; at the top of the tide I begin at the sand beach. And move south again.

These fish move on a milk run and they are not random in their movements.

They do not chase a ball of bait and move with it. They sit in an area and feed until the water depth changes and they move. I believe they know where the bait is and will be all the time and they do not act desperate. They are very leisurely in their feeding. I am sure there is more than one school of fish there and their patterns overlap somewhat because I have found them at both ends of the milk run pattern at the same time.

Another beach that I have found that fish use a milk run on is bracketed by rock at both ends. I find the fish by walking along e beach facing the current. The fish move into current and they move from one end to the other on each tide. They may stop anywhere along it and feed and not reach the end but when the tide turns they will move into the current and mosey in the opposite direction.

I personally do not think that the fish are ever out of touch with their food supply.
I act as if they know exactly where it is even if I don’t see it.

That has served me well over the years.
IF I find large amounts of bait I know that the fish know about it too but that does not mean that they are chasing it or feeding on it.
They may be on other bait that they are keeping track of.

For instance there are a lot of cobble bars along the shore of R.I. and in August there are massive isopod swarms there and the fish go ballistic. Fish breaking all night long and bait everywhere spraying but the fish are not on the bait they are on the isopods and once you figure out how to catch them you will be amazed by the way the fish look.

They have extended bellies and look like fat over stuffed largemouth bass.
I have cleaned some of these fish and found that their bellies are stuffed and distended like footballs with millions of isopods.
The bass know about this and come there every year to feed on them. There are baitfish present in large numbers but they are not interested in them.

By the way those fish that cam into that salt pond left after the hatch was over.

Maybe they went out through those canals and salt ponds through the harbor and took a left or a right and showed up on those cobble bars.
Who knows but it is fun trying to find out.
At least it is for me.

Posted with TalkShop version 2.71-8

[Previous Message] [Next Message]

Follow Ups:

Re: From a post below. Joe Shea 30-Aug-2006 23:42:57 (1)

Re: From a post below. ken 31-Aug-2006 12:29:28 (0)

[ Strictly Surf ] [ FAQ ]