Striper Baits: Best Peanut Bunker Imitations #116

You know the fall has either arrived or is imminent when peanut bunker show up. Like the bay anchovy, peanut bunker ball up in great numbers just under the surface. Peanut bunker typically range from 2 to 3inches. And like both the bay anchovy and the silversides, peanut bunker too have a very distinctive color patterns. When they are dead, they appear to be silver as they lose their coloration very quickly. Don’t be fooled! But alive and well in their habitat, Peanut bunker have an olive twinge, with pink colorations. Your go to color patterns will be olive, ideally with a pink twinge.

• Hogy Top Imitator: It is difficult for us to choose a single “top peanut bunker imitator” in the Hogy line of lures because we have so many excellent options to choose from.  We have created an air brushed soft bait (3.5” – 5.5” Hogy Pro Tail Paddle), a metal jig (The Hogy Peanut Bunker Jig) and our famous Hogy Epoxy Jig in olive and silver. We have also introduced a new Peanut Bunker coloration in the 7/8-ounce series. Each of these lures feature the natural coloration of a live peanut bunker.
• Trouble Shooting A "Too Much Bait" Scenario: The best retrieve speed for mimicking peanut bunker is a medium to fast retrieve. When fishing around especially dense schools of peanut bunker, when it is hard to get a bass or albie to key in on your lure amongst so many of the real thing, your go to retrieve is a tip in the water fast retrieve, which will often draw an aggressive response since a predator fish will have to react immediately to a fleeing baitfish. Another option when you are competing with a large number of peanut bunker is to select a contrasting color, such as Pink, Albie Crack, or Purple.