When this writer was a boy, I began my saltwater fishing career at the time of the great striper crash of the mid to late 80's. We only ever heard of rumors of people catching stripers and never actually saw one.
What we fished almost exclusively for was bluefish...and we were thrilled about it. Bluefish on ultralight spinning rods, bluefish on snagged menhadden and bluefish on single hook surface lures.
Although they are generally not prized table fare, Bluefish are voracious apex predators that pound for pound actually fight harder and longer than stripers do anyways. People always said that if bluefish grew to the size of a 40 lb striper, you would never be able to reel them in on conventional gear.
Now the tables have turned and bluefish can sometimes be hard to find like the elusive stripers of the 80's. Well, not quite as scarce, but some years, in some locations, they can be more difficult to find.
The past few years, they have tended to be smaller for most of the season. Back in their heyday, 15-18lb fish were not entirely unusual, today 10-12 pounds is considered a decent sized one. Because they fight so hard and are long"ish" for their actual weight, many fisherman would brag they caught a boat load of 20 lb Bluefish. 20 lb'ers sometimes get caught , but fish of that size are pretty rare. I have only caught one 20+ Bluefish in 40 years of fishing.
Bluefish are called gators or choppers in some areas because they come fully equipped with a full set of razor sharp teeth... if you get your fingers anywhere near their mouth while removing a hook or otherwise, you will likely be rewarded with a gift of deep, painful puncture wounds. If you think you might be running into bluefish, always have a set of good long needle nose pliers or a commercially available metal hook remover.
What to Use for Bluefish
Only on the rarest of occasions have I found bluefish to be super selective in terms of what lures or lure types they prefer.Rubber baits should be left in the tackle box, as you will run through bags of them on a decent school of cooperative bluefish. Most commercially produced bluefish specific lures tend to be made of a hard plastic or metal in bright or shiny colors. Metal lures like Deadly Dicks, Hard Plastic lures like Tsunami Poppers are perfect starting places.
Bluefish love bait... it doesn't matter fresh or frozen. As long as it bleeds, is oily or even slightly resembles local baitfish, bluefish will likely eat it. Most Goose customers choose an oily bait fish like fresh or frozen mackerel, but menhaden, squid and herring work awesome. Of the bunch, mackerel tends to hold together better once frozen and , as such, holds together better on the cast.
If your intent is to eat your bluefish- catch, bleed, cut and ice your fish as soon as you can after catching. Poorly cared for bluefish, that were allowed to bake whole in the summer sun for hours, is the most likely reason people think they are not as edible as some of our other local fish species.Cared for decently, a smoked or grilled bluefish is one of my favorite summer time treats.
Although somewhat disdained by hardcore striper fishermen, bluefish are undeniably a blast to catch with their acrobatic displays and never-quit, nasty attitude. They are a perfect fish with which to introduce a youngster to the thrills of sport fishing.
What Do You Need to Catch Bluefish?
Besides the obvious saltwater rod ,reel, lures and line, what you absolutely must have are wire leaders. If you don't use them because you think relatively finicky Stripers are around, you will rifle through a tackle box worth of expensive lures in under 20 mins. I have forgotten wire leaders at home and the accounting post bluefish blitz was horrific when I tallied up the hundreds of dollars worth of good striper lures I ran through in an hours worth of hectic bluefishing.
Where and When Can You Catch Bluefish
Bluefish prefer water temps roughly 10 degrees warmer than striped bass. As such, we usually don't see much reliable bluefishing until Mid to Late May. Sure, someone always catches a few early scouts in late April, but you are likely to see more consistent action in May.
The sound side beaches like West Dennis Beach, Red River Beach, in Harwich and Hardings Beach in Chatham are the best places to start fishing for them in May. As the waters warm up approaching summer, they are apt to be just about anywhere on Cape Cod.
We hope you catch your first 20lb+ bluefish this summer. If you catch a good one, please email pics to info@themightfish.com.
Start or join the discussion about blue fishing or any other topic on the new Goose Hummock Fishing Forum
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