Anatomy of a Fall Run Striped Bass and False Albacore Blitz

This footage was taken during the Fall Run in late September 2017 in Woods Hole. We spent over an hour inside this bait ball watching striped bass and false albacore work juvenile menhaden (peanut bunker) up against the dock pilings. As we entered the water, we noticed small schoolie-sized stripers blitzing out at the end of the dock, and we decided to bury ourselves into the rocks and algae underneath that area and wait. Over the next hour, more and larger fish started to join in, including false albacore which occasionally would tear through the school like fighter jets.

From an angler's perspective, it was fascinating to watch the stripers work together to make a wall in order to keep the baitfish concentrated around the pilings. Then, one of the stripers would crash the school, followed by other striped bass and the occasional pod of false albacore to pick off the menhaden that split off from the school. This happened over and over again, and here I complied some of the highlights from this incredible blitz.