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Last night, I stopped by my favorite upper-Severn dock lights on the way home from work. I haven't seen the water more full with Bunker since at least '92. You all know the old John Smith story about fish so thick that you could bail them in the boat with a frying pan? That was last night. I could run my hand through the water and bump it against dozens. They were packed in too tight to get out of the way (some looked to be struggling for oxygen, too). This wasn't just under the lights, mind you. In the moonlight, I could see that the baitfish and splashes were very thick in every direction, as far as the eye could see.
Better still, about every minute I heard the telltale splashes of spraying baitfish. Under every dock light that I could see all across the River, lots of big splashes were happening. At one point, the whole place sounded like a hail storm. In 30 minutes of casting a crystal minnow, I landed and released seven Stripers between 17.5" and 22" (natural lay, not fork).
Each Striper was so full it look like it was about to burst. A few were even pooping recognizable remains of Bunker (yuck). I have learned that Stripers sometimes taste too fishy when gorging on Bunker like that, so I didn't keep any.
And as a sign that the apocalypse is near, I actually saw Stripers, Bunker and Perch playing nicely together under the lights. The big fish would just lazily shoulder through the hordes of packed Bunker without eating them; the Bunker would just allow themselves to be pushed aside. I think that the Stripers simply became too full to eat any more.
What a sight to see.
Better still, about every minute I heard the telltale splashes of spraying baitfish. Under every dock light that I could see all across the River, lots of big splashes were happening. At one point, the whole place sounded like a hail storm. In 30 minutes of casting a crystal minnow, I landed and released seven Stripers between 17.5" and 22" (natural lay, not fork).
Each Striper was so full it look like it was about to burst. A few were even pooping recognizable remains of Bunker (yuck). I have learned that Stripers sometimes taste too fishy when gorging on Bunker like that, so I didn't keep any.
And as a sign that the apocalypse is near, I actually saw Stripers, Bunker and Perch playing nicely together under the lights. The big fish would just lazily shoulder through the hordes of packed Bunker without eating them; the Bunker would just allow themselves to be pushed aside. I think that the Stripers simply became too full to eat any more.
What a sight to see.
