Port D funny story

[CLofchik]

Pfffft amateurs, anybody can snag alewife, but can you score a double?!?!?

And yeah, you can fish them as bait any way you want as long as they're not live. It's their spawning season right now so they're all schooled up off piers and bays, free cat, pike, sheepshead, trout, salmon bait!

[Ola]

Up until a couple yrs ago, alewives were allowed as bait in the Great Lakes but they changed that. Schools of them go into the Hammy harbour to spawn and they do "hit" spoons and spinners.

i had one swallow my spoon while i was hanging it off the pier waiting for a freighter to pass. had to do surgery to get the hook out.

that is good times when those schools of alewives swarm the hammy pier.

cast into the middle of the pods=sheepshead every time.

and the occasional random salmon or brown hooks on too. a couple years ago we had contests each night during those kind of swarms and the record was 16 straight casts for a hook-up.

i only got 12 straight.

haven't seen too many there last year though but it's like bits-n-bits - a whole new ball game again this year.

[Ola]

will sheephead take a lure, or is bait better?

oh my. i was so busy writing my other reply i didn't see this new one.

short answer is "you bet".

sheepies take everything imaginable-cleos, x-raps, dt's, shads, clackin raps, countdowns, spinners.

we only use lures and spoons and keep experimenting with new ones but they are meat-eaters and can be very aggressive if they are in the mood.

never seen any caught off the pier on bait but that might be because they like the metal so much there is no point switching and it is hard to float bait in 30 ft. of water with boats and ships, currents and wind, and other casters around.

colour seems to be key though since they really like things like chartreuse, yellow, orange, silver, but what works one day may not work the next so you have to find the magic colour.

one day they are shallow, the next they are deeper.

many are caught about 20 feet off the pier but they are following the spoon in cause we have seen their attacks up close and personal.

only limitation is they have very small mouths so have to keep that in mind when picking what to throw out.

it was a great way to introduce the kids to 'big fish' fishing as they average around 5-7 pounds and put up a nice hard fight.