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jump-start thestriperfishingin northern herrings alewives andblueback Everyspring,spawning r0M KEER Atlanticstates.Buttocatchthepredatolyou'vegottofindtheprey.By
No saltwaterfly rodderheadsdown to
other fish.Herringsaremembersof the family the shoreto catchbaitfish.And I've neverhearda Clupeidae,which is known for havingdistinct fishermenboastabout going afteraworld-record mouths.A dentistwould saythat herringshave underbites,for their deeplowerjawsextendbeyond alewifeor bluebackherring. But if you want to their upperjaws.Andwith analfins that arefar chasestriperson their springrun through New longerthan their dorsalfins,thesefish look like England,you'll benefitby learningall you can somethingfrom a distantera.Despiteits ancient aboutherrings.After all,the more you know herringsarequite fragile.Poorwater aboutthe little fish that geteaten,the more likely appearance, quality in estuariesand bayskills many fish,and you areto catchthe big fish that feedon them. The first stepin understandingany predator- that'sbeforepredatorswhackthem. Only about I prey relationshipis being ableto identiff the prey, percentof young surviveto maturity. Thereare30-oddspeciesof herringsin North and one of the first thingsyou will.noticeabout America,and alongthe Easternseaboard, the most herringsis how differenttheylook from many
BLUEBACK
ALEWIFE
Found fromNorth RANGE: seasonally Carolina to Florida totheprovince of RANGE: From Canada's GulfofSaint Lawrence. Edward lsland. Prince Aprilthrough inMayandrunsthrough July, Juneaswatertemperature Begins SFAWNING: SPAWNING: water spawning begins when approaches occurs intoAugust. thehigh40s.Peak sometimes Spawning whenwaters reach range a constant of59to63
Bothareahout thesamesize,color, andshape, Bothhavegrayish-green and between alewives andbluebacks. It canbetoughtotelllhedifference levelastheireye.l-lowever, bluebacks have a bluerhueontheirdorsal surface andare violet andsilver bellies anda black dotonthesarne backs generally Inanycase, thesame flypatterns willworkforboth alsocontend thatth6bluebacks eyes aroslightly smaller^ more slender. Some anglers youwillfindlhem. foranglers iswhenandwhere species. Theprimary diflerence 70 I AI/ERICAN ANGLER
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important baitfish for stripersarebluebackherrings,alewives, menhaden,Atlantic herrings, and American shad.For stripers in the New England spring, tlvo speciesare first on the menu: alewivesand bluebackherrings.
THE SPAWNING RUN Adult alewife and blueback herrings are of similar size,betlv'een 12 to 18 incheslong, but there aretlvo major differencesbetween the two: rangeand the spawningseason.Alewivesare found seasonallyfrom North Carolina to Canada'sGulf of Saint Lawrence,while bluebacksrun from Florida to the province of Prince Edward Island. Herrings are anadromousfish, meaning they move from saltwaterinto freshwaterto spawn.The herring spawnis contingent on a river's water temperatures.Quite obviously,the farther south the river, the soonerthe spawnstarts.
Generally,herrings breed in the Northeast from April through early August. Specifically, alewivesspawn from April through ]une, asthe water movesinto the high 40s.Peak spawningoccurswhen water temperaturesreacha constant rangeof59 to 63 degreesFahrenheit. Bluebacksspawn from May through July and sometimes into August.When the water warms into the lower 60s,you ll start to seesomespawningactiviry but bluebaclabreedheaviestin water that's 69 to 75 degreesFahrenheit. Bearin mind that thesetemperaturesare in river systemsnot in the open ocean.As a trout fisherman studiesthe water and hatchesto identif' prime fishing, many striper fishermenwill monitor a rivert temperature.Check the mouths of the rivers on the firll-moon tides asthe thermometer beginsto climb. Odds are,you'll find stagingschoolsof bait waiting for the water temperaturesto rise before moving upstream.For a bassangler, concentratedand stagingbait offersprime fishing. Any freshwaterriver systemthat connectswith the oceanis capableof supporting a herring run, though not all rivers do. Sincealewivesand bluebackscan't leap like salmon and don t toleratetoxic water,the streamneedsto be cleanof obstructions (dams,debris,et cetera)and pollutants.Herrings prefer constant water temperatures,which they find in the reachesabovethe tide line. Alewives favor slower water while bluebackslike fastercurrent. Eachspeciesheadsfor the oceanwhen spawning is complete.
as the Basswillhammenhennings bairfishbegintheinspawningrun upnvenandwillhammerthem again whenthey netunnto the ocean. Anglers in southern New England look for the spring run of alewivesand bluebacksin March or April. The bait fish will show in Maine in May or June.In eachlocale,the breedingpeak usually happens a few weeksafter the initial wave.
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What that meansto a fisherman is that herrings are availablefor the majority of the angling season.Keepin mind that basswill hammerthe herringsasthe baitfishbegintheir spawningrun upriver and will hammer them againwhen they return to the ocean. During the non-spawningwarm months, alewivesand bluebackslive in baysand estuariesthroughout New England. While their precisemovementsare unknown, they'll leaveMaine asearly as Septemberbut linger in southern New England as late asDecember.It is thought that the herrings move into deeperwater to spendthe winter, then return to the shallows in the spring.
F I N M ! N f f iB & I T Herrings move throughout the oceanin pods that rangefrom thousandsto hundredsofthousands.One reasonanglersgrow excitedwith the arrival of herringsis this schoolingbehavior:for when you find one herring you find a bunch, and that meansif the stripedbassarenot on them, theywill be soon.Their speed is consistent(unlessthey'rechased),and they continuously adjust to current and tidal variations. On calm days,it's easyto spot a schoolof herrings from a good distance.When they're high in the water column you ll seethe otherwiseglassysurfaceinterrupted by small wakes.In the shallowsduring spawningtimes,you'Il seefins and tails.If you re fishingat night, look for the light. Fly fishermenwho chase stripersafter dark look for phosphorescentplankton' which revealthe movement of a bait schooland the trailing stripers. A femaleherring can deposit20,000eggsor more, and in less than one weekthe young hatch.They grow until the fall when the fuvenileherrings drop back into covesand bays.Because the immature herrings are nearly transparentthey are known "glass minnows," and they becomean important food for as pre-migrationstripedbass.As a matter of fact,comeautumn' with the combination of adult and juvenile alewivesand bluebacks,there is an abundanceof herrings for stripersto feedon. As the smallherring fry concentratein bays,the stripedbass closein. For fly rodders,thesetiny baitfish aredifficult to match becauseof their countershadingcoloration,which offers the bait a type of open-watercamouflage.When castingto stripers feedingon glassminnows, I alwaystie on a RLSFalseDawn. Mature striped bassare particularly relaxedwhen alewives and bluebacksarearound.If it's a calm day and you can get close to them, try watching their feedingbehavior.There isn't the fish behaviorof a lot of small aggressive freneticslash-and-crash on small bait. Instead,you'll seepods of big basssystematically working through the school of bait. Somebasswill get under the school,othersalongsideit, and they'll work at corralling the bait for easypickings.If thereis structurearound like a sand or mud bar, so much the better.The stripersmove the bait into an increasinglytight group and then pick out individuals. And if it's a school of adult herrings,you 11seesomebig striperstaking bait in one of severalways.Sincefiightened baitfish erecttheir dorsal fins , which can stick in a bass'sthroat, stripers will try to take them head first. Other times,striperswill attack the bait from the side,grab it, and crush it in their jaws. And Small basschasingsmall bait, however,are aggressive. many times, a small basswill slasha fly and hook itself.To WWWAIVERICANANGLER,COM
ffium Finda $ferrnm givetheHousatonic andConnecticut Anglers CEIUIIIffiGTICUT: of baitmoveinto andforgoodreason*lots Rivers a lotofattenlion, Youmayeven River. theserivers.Also,trythesmallerHammonasset mixed in, andbrookies browns findsome sea-run November through May;Septemberthrough Time af Vear:March goodherring runs thatsupport ofriversinMaine IlllAl$dHrThenumber Sheepscot, andthe the Mousam, the mention but to aret00numerous isthe andtheKennebeck Rivers areprimecandidates, Damariscotta pound a4O-plus bass oldboycaught drawLastyeara10-year biggest Faiffield, below intheKennebeck a fewmiles September June;Augustthrough flime of Year:Maythrough rivers there aretoomany toMaine, Similar MIASSASHU$ETTS: Cod sideoftheCape runonthecontinental buttheherring to mention, Also,check Canalgetsthemajorilyoftheinkin fishingpublications, Rivers. andNorth lpswich, Charles, Essex, outtheMerrimack, 0ctober. June;Septemberthrough Tirns nf Year:Aprilthrough coastline, hasashott While NewHampshire $l[E\RHAMPSHIRE; createmanyidealspots River system anditstributaries thePiscataqua areas Great andLittleBayaretwokeystaging Inparticular, forhenings, herring, forspawning Septemben June;Augustthrough Time a{ Year:Maythrough RHmmE lSL"&filD: Manyanglersflockto the OceanState,which featuresmorethan45 heningruns,Themoslwell knownarein the had StuadBrookrecently Gilbert Wood, andNarrowRivers, Blackstone, theherringrun.SodidtheTenMile to improve majorreconstruction andenters River, a tenificfisherythatflowsthroughEastProvidence Bay. Riveral theheadof Nanagansett theSeekonk -T.K November Time af Year:Marchhraughltlay;Septemberffirough make surethat you get your fly's iron in the bass'smouth, work slowly.Give the bassa secondor two after it takesyour fly, strip-strike with your line hand, and thenlift backthebutt of your rod to drive the hook into its mouth. I alwaysgive an extra tug or two for insurance. Fly rods for stripersin New England should be fast action nine-foot rodswith fighting butts and noncorrosivecomponents. If you re fishing the flats or estuaries,a 9-foot 8- or 9-weight rod with a weight-forward floating line and a 9-foot leader tapereddown to a lO-pound tippet is fine.Wading and working biggerwatersfrom shoreor fishing at the mouth of an ocean inlet requires alarger rod, saya I 0- or I I -weight. Patternsyou'll want to havehandy include Gartside'sBlueback Herring, Deceiverswith a blue wing, and GroceryFlies,all GlassMinnow in sizes1/0to 5/0.Forjuvenileherrings,Abrames's is best (from bottom to top: white, yellow,olive,and black marabou) on hook sizes2 to 6. Thesepatternsshouldbe only one to tlvo incheslong. Often, I'll tie sparsebucktailsin that sameconfiguration. As trout anglerswill follow a hatch,many saltwateranglers follow the herring. Give it a shot this year.Chancesare you may land a lot of striped bassor the catchof a lifetime. $ wriw wholivesonCapeCod.Heisworkingonhisfirst Tomisafreelance byBarclayCreekPress' to bepublished booha colleaionofsportingessays 2008 73 t\4ABCH/APRrr