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Black Sea Bass behavior

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SFD295

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Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the black sea bass behavior has changed over the last few years. The traditional way to catch them has always been bottom fishing with bait around structure. However this summer especially it seems that they've become more of a mid-water aggressive predator fish species. My last few outings on the south side of the Cape I've been catching them on large plugs and soft plastics meant for stripers and blues. Yesterday they destroyed my savage sand eels. It seems that the larger ones are the most aggressive taking lures. Got myself a 19" fish on the aforementioned sandeel, and I was fishing over sandy bottom in about 50' of water. No structure to speak of. All I can think of is that the previously overfished population is making a huge comeback given the recent commercial and rec limits placed on them. This maybe forces the fish to change their behavior in response to dwindling forage on the bottom? This year especially has been a great summer for BSB for me, I'd limit out on every trip if I kept them all. And on medium tackle the big ones put up quite a fight. 

 

Anyone else observed this change? 

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Having fished for sea bass some time both from shore and from a boat , We have seen changes over the years , however not so much as to how we catch them , but where we catch them now. We have  used,diamond jig, bucktail jigs, rubber imitation, live black eels , crabs, sand eels, squid [in some cases whole not pieces]   spoons and an array of special experiments with both color and size of hooks. WE find once they get locked on to a specific size and color that appears like what they want we help them out with our own versions  At time a slow sinking offering is better then something that simply drops to the bottom. and other times you need to bounce it on the bottom fast. We very seldom use more then two ounces in weight , no matter how many feet of water we fish in, which during part of the year has been close to 100 feet on one side and only a few feet at other times. [That is when using the lighter [less then 2 ounces works the best, off course with the right coloring they are looking for. Understand that when we fish on them we are looking for only the larger males [or blue head] In another time any fish that was less then 5 pounds was released , now it is not the same when working to find the larger fish in a pod we may be fishing on.Fishing for sea bass can be very rewarding and at the same time one of the best tasting fillets in the ocean

Life member M.B.B.A #509

Life member Izaak Walton Fishing Association

Life member Cape Cod Canal

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3 hours ago, PaddyCrabby said:

We caught one trolling for bonito at 6 knots on Saturday.  

At times they can BE VERY AGGRESSIVE IN NATURE and they do like to come of the bottom in some areas and hang around the mid water area , depending upon the depth of the water

Life member M.B.B.A #509

Life member Izaak Walton Fishing Association

Life member Cape Cod Canal

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My personal experiences have been that early summer they mostly bottom feed, waiting for something to come by, but around this time they are super aggressive.  I often catch them while targeting albies.  I have seen groups of big males chasing my tin back to the boat.

 

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