Just Go Nuts...With Peanuts!

Calling all peanuts! Please come forward and take center stage. We are looking for some action. No, this is not a call for the minute in stature but rather for juvenile menhaden (mossbunker) better known to us as peanut bunker. In the last several seasons these tasty little morsels have stolen the show by appearing in the thousands along our New Jersey beaches. The result of all this mayhem has been our classic New Jersey fall blitzes that have mixed bass, blues, and occasional weakfish right at your feet.

For the longrodder this time of year is looked forward to with an ardent optimism for several reasons. First of course is the quality and quantity of fish that you can hook into on any giving day. Any cast can produce a trophy or repeated hook-ups of smaller fish one after another. But what we also see at this time of year is a more consistent fishery than we did in September.

In September we relied mostly on the migration of mullet along the beach to bring in our bass. When the mullet were there so were the fish. But throughout September this migration pattern can be easily disrupted by strong swells and rough surf from passing hurricanes that are far out at sea. When these powerful displays of Mother Nature move along our coast, baits are not going to stay along the shoreline where they can get crushed in the pounding surf.

In October these passing storms and associated swells are less frequent as we have moved away from the peak of the hurricane season. We see more of a calm surf with associated winds out of the northwest that will flatten things out.

We also see the amount of solar radiation striking the earth decreasing when compared to September so convectional heating is reduced. This prevents those dreaded south and southeast winds from coming up later in the day that were also so prevalent during September. On many days in September these winds can be so strong that casting from the beach is next to impossible. The only saving grace was on a jetty with your back to the wind while shooting your line on the backcast.

During October much cooler nighttime temperatures significantly drop the water temperature when compared to more stable surf temperatures that are found in September. This factor impacts fish in that it stimulates them to feed. It will also have an impact on moving the baits out from the back.

Peanut bunker will be present in the New Jersey surf from late September through November and sometimes into the early part of December. The bulk of the mass exodus from our backbays, rivers, and creeks will occur however around the new and full moons in October. These lunar cycles are the innate calendar or alarm clock that drives these baits out regardless of water temperatures. Usually by the middle of September peanut bunker can be found stacked up in our back areas just waiting to make their move.

Peanut bunker are the first year young of the adult menhaden that entered our backwaters around the time of mid April to spawn. Their spawning cycle continues through the spring months and by the time the fall rolls around the 'babies' or 'peanuts' have developed into three to six inch specimens. They are silvery in appearance with white bellies and have a single black spot under the pectoral fin. Their profile has length and height but lacks width. Their flanks are about and inch or so high, and their width when viewed from below is minimal.

Peanut bunker will hung the coastline as they migrate south making them easy prey for bass as they move in from the outside. It has become a common site in the fall to see bass pin the 'nuts' against the shoreline or jetty rocks as they indiscriminately crash through them. The water will boil and erupt as the bass feed to their hearts content.

Bluefish may also be some of the invited guests that will show up to feast upon these baits. When the blues are mixed in it may be difficult to get to the bass simply because of the aggressive nature of this fish. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against hooking into a nice size blue as they are great fighters on the longrod but they desire to hook into a burly bass is always more of a challenge.

In situations like these there are several tactics to employ that will put the bass on the end of the feathers. One is to fish you fly below the surface commotion allowing it to sink near the bottom. This will require a 300-400 grain sinking line with a three to five foot leader. Surface blitzes are usually set up with the smaller much more aggressive fish near the surface with larger fish waiting below for injured baits to drift to their level.

The second tactic is to fish behind the commotion and the bait schools rather than following them along the beach and casting into them. This would mean to stay in your spot on the beach for at least fifteen minutes after the commotion has passed you by and continue to cast. This can be difficult to do as you look down the beach and see fish continuing to bust and hook-ups talking place.

Many big bass are taken by this method as these large linesiders avoid the competition and remain behind to feed on the wounded or chunks that are left behind. Here is where I would recommend fishing a fly that is much larger than the bait. During these blitz conditions these bass are on alert and really tuned into their surroundings. They will really hammer any life-like intruder that tends to crowd their space or steal their meal. Even with the tremendous amount of bait and fish that can be around you will have days when hooking into fish can be difficult. Bass can become highly selective at times as they utilize their sense of sight, smell, and their lateral line ability (to detect vibrations) to refuse everything but the real thing.

In situations like these the fly fisher has the advantage over the anglers throwing other artificials or hardware to match the bait to a tee. Incorporating what I like to call a little 'CPR for the fly fisher' will dictate your success. This would be color, profile, and retrieve when it comes to selecting and presenting your fly.

When the peanuts are on the beach the most productive flies to use will be slab flies or wide-bodied deceivers fished on either intermediate or sinking lines. It is important that your fly has that wide profile so when viewed from a lateral perspective it fits in with the real thing. For floating lines Bob’s Bangers and other surface poppers will work well. White or silver underbellies are important here so as to match the white underbelly of the bait.

One fly that has been real effective for our guide service has been Captain Gene Quigley’s Baby Angel. This fly took the fly fishing scene by storm last season and was featured in the March/April edition of Fly Fishing in Saltwaters Magazine.

This peanut bunker imitation is tied with all angel hair and matches the baits profile exactly. As the fly is stripped through the water the reflecting properties of the angel hair scatters light in all directions. This is really an eye-catcher for the bass. The other enticing property about this material is that it undulates when retrieved. This motion nicely imitates the fluttering tail of a scattering bait.

For fly colors white is of key importance at this time. All your flies should have a large mix of it tied in. This can be blended with silver, pearl, or other light hues that will reflect and scatter light.

On any given day the particular retrieve that is most effective is one that you will need to experiment with. Many times changing your retrieve is just enough to draw a strike when the bass are being selective and finicky. There are times when a steady two handed retrieve will produce strikes and other times when a strip-pause single hand retrieve will work best. Still other times allowing your fly to drift or sink motionless in or beneath the school is the ticket. The bass know what they want you just have to figure it out. So there you have it. Get down to the suds and take a look. Spotting all the action is going to be easy at this time of year. Remember, keep a watchful eye on those moon phases and get ready to just go.........nuts! Good fishin....fly fishing that is!

Jim Freda is a saltwater fly fishing guide and co-owner of the Shore Catch Guide Service located in Manasquan, NJ. His new book. "Fishing the New Jersey Coast", Burford Publishing Company is now available. Autographed Copies of Jim's book can be obtained by sending a check or money order for $16.95 plus $2.50 S/H payable to: Jim Freda, 85 Cowart Ave. Manasquan, NJ 08736. For booking the guide service he can be contacted at 732-528-1861 or www.shorecatch.com

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Cover photo courtesy of Randy Jones