Bird Watching For Stripers

[Gerry Zagorski]

As the fall wears on it’s time to start jigging for Stripers. It’s usually a run and gun Fishery.. Baitfish pop up, birds are on them, you run over make a few casts, birds move on and so do you. Trick here is to follow the right birds.

It’s been my experience that most of the time the smallerbirds like Turns will lead you to Bluefish, usually the smaller cocktail blues….If you are after Stripers, larger birds like Gulls and especially Gannets will lead you to them. So a few tips on bird watching….

If they are around, Gannets are a sure fire sign that larger baits like Bunker and Herring are around. Unlike Gulls and Terns, these birdswill stay up high and when they see something they will tuck their wings in and go straight down into a high speed dive. Once in the water they will swim several feet down chasing the baits. Here is a cool video on how they fish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icojXDWxlQs

Gulls also tend to stay up a little higher but will usually dip,rather than dive to feed on bait.

Turns are much smaller birds and are usually fishing for smaller bait. From a distance you can usually tell turns from gulls because Turns flap their wings a lot more rapidly and don’t usually glide or soar like Gulls.

Find the right birds and you’ll find the right fish.

Now let’s talk about some common sense and etiquette when fishing birds.

First of all never run into an actively feeding flock of birds. All you are going to do is spoil the fishing for yourself and everyone else trying to fish them by sending the bait down. It’s always best to try and judge their movement and put your boat in their path or stay outside them and cast into them.

When you see birds feeding it’s usually the tip of the iceberg and there is a much larger concentration of bait fish underneath them. Edges are the best place to cast because that is where the larger and somewhat lazier fish will be. Often times it’s the smaller fish that will aggressively chase the bait and the larger ones will lay on the edges or on the bottom feeding on the aftermath.

Not always the case but the general rule is not to cast and immediately reel, you want to let your jigs sink before you start working them.Once again, bigger fish and the ones you are after are usually down underneath the more aggressive smaller fish.

If birds are around it will help you locate the fish buts ometimes they are not, especially when the fish are deep and not pushing bait up. In this case it’s best to rely on your fish finder. What you are going to see are multiple red blobs on your sounde rand in this case straight up and down vertical jigging is best.

Can't wait for the fall run... Catchem up guys.

[captainsteve25]

Great write up for us novice striper fishermen. This is what I was looking for on my post last week in the advice section. Can't wait till this wind dies down, took a ride this morning to highlands ( yes I stopped at that garage sale) and water was rough and wind blowing hard NE.

[june181901]

Can't argue with the call for some courtesy to be shown!

[bulletbob]

Gerry, well played...
Problem is, no matter how many times I have seen it written, and how many of us keep saying it, invariably some BLOCKHEADs will run full bore directly into the frenzy like someone was giving away gold, and shut those fish down in a heartbeat.. You'll find another group of working birds 1/2 mile away, stay on the periphery banging fish, and another group of BLOCKHEADS will do the exact same thing , and put those fish down as well.. Hell, I have even seen party boats do it .... bob

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Gerry, well played...
Problem is, no matter how many times I have seen it written, and how many of us keep saying it, invariably some BLOCKHEADs will run full bore directly into the frenzy like someone was giving away gold, and shut those fish down in a heartbeat.. You'll find another group of working birds 1/2 mile away, stay on the periphery banging fish, and another group of BLOCKHEADS will do the exact same thing , and put those fish down as well.. Hell, I have even seen party boats do it .... bob

Happens almost everytime out there.... I can look the other way when it's someone who doesn't know any better. What really drives me nuts is the people who do but are just out for themselves.

The worst I can remember is being down at the rocks.... Bunker all over the place and a bunch of boats pretty tightly anchored up getting their occational shots at fish when they came their way... This Party Boat from Brooklyn comes steaming through the fleet of anchored boats looking around...I'm not talking around the fleet, I'm talking weaving through it and several times until he muscled in and found a spot to anchor.

Man I was pissed Eveyone on the radio was yelling at this guy... He knew exactly what he was doing so when we were ready to run home we made sure to return the favor and do some circles around him.

Not usually my style but what this guy did was way over the top.

[fish4fun]

Personally....I think his posting was "strictly for the birds".

[SharkHart]

Excellent thread

[Joey The Fish]

Not bad for an old man like you Gerrrrrrr

[tjd24]

I agree, great thread. I think I know that PB from Brooklyn. We were casting jigs once on a flock of working birds when he pulled up between us and the fish. He ran over one line and if we had casted, we would have hit the wheelhouse. I screamed at him (only 20-30' away) that he cut us off and he said he didn't know we owned that part of the ocean. I gave him the one finger salute, but resisted the urge to do donuts around his boat.