Late October Bait

[opossum]

Good morning all. I’m a newb at striper fishing. I got up early this morning in hopes of finding some bait at the back of bull run but I was skunked. Any tips on finding bait this time of year?

Thanks!

[opossum]

I managed to get into some bait up Gills Creek around noon. I’m not sure if it was the time of day or angle of the sun or what… any thoughts in catching bait at first lighthouse vs mid day?

[cmstower]

They should be in the backs of creeks just watch for them flipping I hear gills is always good but I have never been in there. After the sun comes up they will be on the flats trying to get into warmer waters.

[R22]

Depending on what type of bait you are looking for, it can be pretty tough right now.

The ales are at lights but definitely seeing fewer and fewer of the larger baits. In some spots, a 3/8 net comes up looking like a Christmas tree. The ales also seem to be much deeper than they have been. You may need to be patient or be prepared to throw on more than one light to fill your tank.

If you are looking for gizzards, the last few weeks has been pretty tough. They are there, but you have to have work hard, lean on you old notes from previous Octobers and have good electronics.

If you want threadfins, you can pretty much drop a net, or a bucket anywhere in a creek and get all you need. They are small but you can get some that are up to 6 inches. The dang things are taking over again.

[quackquackboom]

We noticed the growing numbers of thread fins this spring. In my opinion they will exceed the gizzards soon if they don’t already