Chunkers are viewed as the bottom-feeders of the fishing world, the polar opposite of the refined and finesse-obsessed fly fisherman. Chunkers are seen as beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking, white-bucket-wielding Neanderthals whose only goal is to harvest meat. Some will tell you chunking is cheating. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The way I chunk is every bit as refined, sophisticated and intense as any pencil-popping, eel-slinging, deceiver-drifting surf guy you could imagine.
Step one is catching bunker. Despite having had no trouble finding bait the past several nights, my first two stops this evening came up short. I had a single adult menhaden in my cooler, but my average outing requires 20 to 30 bunker. I had already invested more than an hour looking for bait, and with the change in tide fast approaching, I had little time to waste before a decision would need to be made: forget the bunker and go plugging instead.
If I found a pod of bunker, I’d still need time to process them, finish gearing up, drive
