Click on the images to see a short .wmv video clip

“Clam Belly Bassin”

Location Spotlight:

   The salt marsh behind the barrier islands of South Jersey is a critical nursery area for many species of fish and other marine life. By November, most of the marsh’s warm-water biomass has been replaced by schools of southward migrating striped bass that use these fertile estuaries as a stopover point for both resting and feeding.

  Hereford Inlet separates the towns of Stone Harbor and North Wildwood, and empties a series of small bays and creeks into the Atlantic. The narrow waterways just west of the inlet provide excellent autumn foraging opportunities for linesiders, and an opportunity for small boat anglers to intercept these fish in a calm, sheltered environment.

  These waterways are tailor made for the light tackle angler, and good fishing can be had along the sod banks using small jigs, soft plastics and plugs. In fact, artificials are the tools of choice at dawn, dusk and after dark. But during the day, when stripers go deep and become a bit more selective in their feeding, bottom fishing with clam has become the preferred approach for local sharpies.

  Although the clam baits will take fish on their own merits, a well-architected clam chum slick will help to draw fish toward the boat and keep them there for extended periods. Done right, a school of stripers can be held behind the boat until the bait supply is completely gone. There are several approaches to creating an effective clam chum slick, but none is more deadly than the clam belly approach.

Clam belly basics

   The “belly” of a clam is the mushy center part that contains most of the guts and scent. Conveniently for anglers, this is also the part of the clam that is of no value to the seafood industry. In years past, the belly of the clam was simply discarded, but now some seafood distributors are selling these bellies to tackle shops, where they are made available in large quantities to anglers at very reasonable prices.

  Not only do clam bellies make great striper bait, but they also make some of the most effective chum possible. A large bag of clam bellies mixed with seawater in a 48-quart cooler makes enough chum to fish effectively for several hours. Two large bags will last an entire tide.

Building the chum slick

   One of the neat things about this method of fishing is its simplicity. The boat is anchored in a likely area (see below) and the clam belly/seawater slurry is ladled overboard generously and regularly. As the current carries this mixture away from the boat, the juices ride high in the water column and the bellies themselves sink. This effectively scents the entire water column behind the boat and draws stripers in from substantial distances.

  Once the chum slick is created, it should never be broken. Even if the action is hot and fish are being fought, it is critical for someone on board to keep ladling chum.

Rigging up

   Tackle requirements are minimal. Any quality light-to-medium action outfit will do the job. It is important to note that, although most of these back bay fish will be on the smaller side, bigger fish are taken with regularity, and your tackle should be able to subdue a 20 to 30 pound bass.

  We like to fish four baits, using a four-rod spread. Two baits are fished on the bottom directly below the boat, and another is fished on the bottom a substantial distance behind the boat. A fourth bait is presented way back, and up off the bottom a bit. This spreads our baits out both horizontally and vertically, and gives us a better chance at encountering fish that may be holding at a certain spot in the slick.

  A fish finder rig does a fine job of presenting the clam belly bait effectively. In most areas, a 1 to 2-ounce sinker is all that is required to keep the bait on the bottom. We use 5/0 Matzuo America Sickle hooks or Gamakatsu Octopus-style hooks for this type of fishing, and we snell them onto 2 feet of 40-pound fluorocarbon. The fourth rod (the one that is fished off the bottom) does not employ any weight at all, other than a few split shot that keep the bait from riding too close to the surface.

  Unlike other methods of “chunking”, when a pickup is felt there is no reason to give that fish any time to swallow the bait. Even small bass will swallow a clam belly in less time than it takes an angler to react. Don’t allow for a “runoff”, as this will do nothing but give the fish a chance to detect that something is amiss. Once a bite is detected, come tight to the fish and set the hook sharply.

Structure

  One of the neat things about this method of striper fishing is that the clam belly chum will draw fish to the boat from great distances, minimizing the need to anchor over top of specific fish-holding structure. However, it always pays to position oneself in the most advantageous position possible. Deep cut sod banks, those that drop off directly into 20 feet of water or more, are most definitely travel lanes for striped bass, and these should never be overlooked. The mouths of feeder creeks, sod bank points, and bridge abutments are areas that stripers routinely use as foraging locations, and these should be considered, as well. The most productive areas that we’ve found are those that combine two or more of these features...a deep cut bank with an incoming feeder creek, for instance.

  In today’s show, Bill and Darren started the day fishing along a deep cut bank near the mouth of a feeder creek, a location that has produced for them many times over the years. On this day, the wind and tide made fishing in that spot difficult, so our hosts decided to slide a few hundred yards down the bank, and tuck in behind a sod bank point, which allowed them to present their baits and chum in the associated eddy and thereby fish more effectively. Although the fish on this particular day were on the smaller side, when it’s blowing near-gale and other options don’t materialize, the “little guys in stripes” are a welcomed sight for sure!