Busting Bluefish

[bluefishbuster]

For the past week now I've been killing small bluefish from 1 to 3 pounds. It's been soft plastics that have been working for me the best but one day I did lose 2 and caught 1 on a RNR7 BN. I also hit a local reef one evening but had no luck with anything except for 2 explosions on a SSP9 SSBMU.

[muskiehunter]

Aug 7, 2009 0:19:15 GMT -4 bluefishbuster said:

For the past week now I've been killing small bluefish from 1 to 3 pounds. It's been soft plastics that have been working for me the best but one day I did lose 2 and caught 1 on a RNR7 BN. I also hit a local reef one evening but had no luck with anything except for 2 explosions on a SSP9 SSBMU.

Sounds like fun to me

I've never fished in saltwater so what exactly is a bluefish

Do they get big or are they a smaller fish?

How about some pictures so the rest of us landlocked folks can see what they look like

[bluefishbuster]

Bluefish can grow up to be 30 pounds with a few reaching 35. They have sharp teeth and are called choppers. They chop things compared to a shark tearing things and always go after the tail of as fish first. When it comes to sizes for blues it starts with snappers being baby bluefish up to about 12". Then comes what you can say are either big snappers or taylor blues. Taylors range from 1 to 4 pounds. Then come cocktail and harbor blues which go up to about 8 pounds. Anything over 10 pounds is what you'd call a gator blue. Bluefish a fierce, voracious feeders compare to striped bass. They can keep on eating and eating and even decide to chop fish up whenever they're full. But they do leave a scent so they can then come back and eat the leftovers. Whenever you see seagulls diving down to the saltwater while you're also seeing big splashes and bait jumping out means there's a bluefish blitz going on. Take your topwater gear and throw it right on top of that blitz and in no time you'll get a huge explosion. Lures that work pretty well whether you're surf fishing or saltwater fishing are tins (Kastmaster and Krocodile), plugs (Bomber, F18, Rebel), any topwater, any soft plastics (teeth tear them apart), and some crankbaits (SSR9, SSR14, RNR8). They also like tearing apart striper fishermen's tubes while trolling for striped bass. Wire leaders are important whenever a blitz is going on or the big boys around so they don't break your line. Bluefish are hard fighters. They are very acrobatic, never give up, shake their head like crazy, and tear apart any lure you're using leaving tons of scratches and teeth marks. Bluefish's predators include sharks and large tuna. Shark fishermen up around the Mid Atlantic and Northeast like to use bluefish around 5 pounds for bait. Bluefish prefer warm water temps. Their traveling cycle is being down around the Carolinas and Georgia during the winter and then once the temps start getting warmer they follow the warmer water temperatures north which means they'd usually be up around Chesapeake and the Delmarva in March, New Jersey around April, and then areas such as Long Island Sound, Block Island, and Cape Cod during the summer. Once the water starts cooling down in late September in the Northeast, the bluefish start feeding pretty heavily so they can get ready to head back south. If you ever feel like having tons of fun with bluefish then your best bet to catch some nice gators is the Outer Banks in the winter. IGFA world record is a few ounces over 32 pounds caught back in 1972 at Cape Hatteras.

Go onto You Tube and search keywords "bluefish blitz".

[muskiehunter]

The next time I visit my sister-in-law in North Carolina I may have to go on a fishing trip

Thanks for the picture and info.

[bluefishbuster]

Have you gone onto You Tube yet and watched videos of bluefish?

[Fishooked]

Hey! So I did catch bluefish on my vacation, bluefishbuster!

I was hoping you would weigh in so I would be sure -

www.rapalanation.com/index.cgi?board=fishstories&action=display&thread=4946


Bluefishing is big out here off the Jersey shore...party boats leave the docks around 8-9pm, and you can bring on as big a cooler as you want.

Basically its just a reason to justify getting hammered on a boat

They find a spot and just drift, and turn on the hull lights, and the squid just appear out of nowhere. When you run into a big school of them its just insane.

Come to think of it I really should go again...

[zeroroaster]

WOW!!!...nice looking fish!!

..and they're not all skiddish like the pansy trout we have to deal with. None of this quiet wading or proper presentation stuff...no sir, you have to love a voracious fish!

(The clowning around on a boat doesn't sound half bad either)

[bluefishbuster]

Time for the blues again guys!