I'm feeling pretty good about this selection of Alewife imitators, but any other suggestions that might give me an edge would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

A spook, pop r, swimbait on a ballhead jig, a big flutter spoon, alabama rig?  Looks like a great selection!

Also, a big soft plastic swimbait, like a savage gear line through or magdraft.

Sluggo /fin-s-fish/ fluke style bait.

48 minutes ago, keagbassr said:

Sluggo /fin-s-fish/ fluke style bait.

I have a white super fluke Donkey rig ready to go that's in the neighborhood of your suggestion. Thanks!

5 hours ago, HaydenS said:

A spook, pop r, swimbait on a ballhead jig, a big flutter spoon, alabama rig?  Looks like a great selection!

I really wanted to bring my A-rig, but I'm limited to 5 3600 boxes for this trip where I usually squeeze in 2 tackle bags. Two 220lb guys on an 8.5' Sundolphin is a bit cramped, and my SIL asked me specifically to try to keep things light for this trip. He lost a battle with a busted torsion spring while trying to fix his garage door on Saturday, so he needs a bit more space this time. Stitches and a soft cast, along with a splint on his finger. Thankfully it's his cranking hand, so he'll make it work, but I'll be pushed more forward than usual.  Anyway, I'm going with a Beast Coast Miyagi in Special Alewife for a larger profile swimmer, and I'll squeeze in a spook. Thanks!

11 hours ago, PhishLI said:

He lost a battle with a busted torsion spring while trying to fix his garage door on Saturday

I've seen several guys injure themselves, some severely on those things, including one really handy fishing bud who works with tools for a living, they are like a giant mouse trap. I'm making some custom wood garage doors  this fall and am really considering going the carriage route.

How big are they? Are they an ocean run fish or landlocked? 
I fish a lot of herring run ponds. Small ponds. Like 20 acres to 100 acres. The ocean run fish are pretty big. 7-10 inches. Blue back and alewifes.   Where I fish they are very particular in how they want the lure presented. I did very well on a real prey 7 inch swimbait.  He makes a 6.5 inch alewife. Highly recommend it.  It’s silicone so they will last fish after fish after fish.   Some places they love topwaters. Some places they love  soft swimbaits.  But the one thing I found is go SLLLLOOWWW. creep it. It’s boring but that’s how you get the giants.  I’ll sit on a Spot for days if I know there’s a giant sitting there. Casting the same 4 or 5 lures for hours. 
 

 They are pelagic species. Meaning open water. so you have  a few options.  You can actively chase the bait schools. Or target structure where they will swim over or around. Like main lake points, choke points, creek channels, mid lake humps, mid lake rock piles, brush piles, etc . The big bass will sit there and wait for a school to pass by. 
 

lot of great lures are mentioned above. Flukes, glide baits, soft swimbaits, bama rigs, topwaters, spinnerbaits, Jerkbaits, underspins,  crank baits, swim jigs. you have quite a few options. Try a few out.  Different presentations. Slow and fast. 

15 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

How big are they? Are they an ocean run fish or landlocked? 

They're ocean run. There's an outlet creek that feeds out to salt water. They use it to migrate, and it's a prime spot. I'm not sure of their size other than the one's I've seen that had their tails sticking out of the throat of a bass. During their spawn the shoreline there boils with their activity. There are plenty of other baitfish species at this spot, so other presentations work well, but this time around I've prepped with as many Alewife-ish type baits that I could put together. Additionally, the state has built fish ladders to bring them back into areas which were dammed up many years ago, so I'll have other opportunities to try out these baits.

15 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

I’ll sit on a Spot for days if I know there’s a giant sitting there. Casting the same 4 or 5 lures for hours. 

That's pretty much how I like to fish, but my son in law likes to bounce around. Hopefully that'll change. A few weeks ago he pulled out a 6 and 7 1/2 pounder here in the same zone. On that day he mentioned that a guy who fishes there, and who's also caught a few 8 + pounders there, set up in one spot for 5 hours and didn't move. I immediately asked if he set a waypoint! Hopefully seeing this guy using this strategy left an impression on him. I can't tell you how many times that we were on fish, but he'd bounce to another spot anyway. His boat, his rules, but lately he's been opening up to ideas that are new to him. We'll only have 5-6 hours to work this place tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

13 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

They're ocean run. There's an outlet creek that feeds out to salt water. They use to migrate, and it's a prime spot. I'm not sure of their size other than the one's I've seen that had their tails sticking out of the throat of a bass. During their spawn the shoreline there boils from their activity. There are plenty of other baitfish species at this spot, so other presentations work well, but this time around I've prepped with as many Alewife-ish type baits that I could put together. Additionally, the state has built fish ladders to bring them back into areas which were dammed up many years ago, so I'll have other opportunities to try out these baits.

That's pretty much how I like to fish, but my son in law likes to bounce around. Hopefully that'll change. A few weeks ago he pulled out a 6 and 7 1/2 pounder here in the same zone. On that day he mentioned that a guy who fishes there, and who's also caught a few 8 + pounders there, set up in one spot for 5 hours and didn't move. I immediately asked if he set a waypoint! Hopefully seeing this guy using this strategy left an impression on him. I can't tell you how many times that we were on fish, but he'd bounce to another spot anyway. His boat, his rules, but lately he's been opening up to ideas that are new to him. We'll only have 5-6 hours to work this place tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

Awesome dude. I live in Massachusetts we have the same as well.  I fish when the herring migrate up into the ponds.  Now that the run is pretty much over. I would look for juvy herring. Freshly hatched.  you can get on some big bites. I would use  smaller baits.  I believe they move closer to shore.  You can get on some good blitzes.  My herring run fishing is strictly in the spring when 1000s move in. The prespawn fish love it and go nuts. I’ve seen massive fish actively chase herring schools and smash them.

 

Here’s a couple from this year. I went 3 for 5 of bass over 5lbs. I lost an absolute giant right at shore.  All one the one Real prey swimbait. They wouldn’t hit anything else 

15 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

I've seen several guys injure themselves

We first got wind of this repair attempt while our daughter was in the car while returning from shopping. The local garage door specialists were all backed up for weeks, so he watched YT, then got a buddy to help him out. I told her to tell them both to stop immediately and wear eye protection if they weren't already, and that getting blinded was a real possibility. They weren't. She was almost home during the call, and about 3 minutes after she was putting away the groceries his friend comes up and tells her that she needs to come downstairs because he'd gotten hurt. Naturally, she thought he was blinded, but he wasn't. He was lucky.

44 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Here’s a couple from this year.

Those are some good looking NE coastal bass. I think we have an edge over the interior NE.

12 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Those are some good looking NE coastal bass. I think we have an edge over the interior NE.

Absolutely but there was a 9.3 caught in NH few days ago.