Been out East for the last week, and caught two nice Red's that were just under 27 (just under the slot limit) and about 200 Bluefish between 5 of us on the boat. Not the typical "roughfish", but still an awful lot of fun!! I attached a pic of me and the gal with the reds, and can't really explain the fun of fishing in a school of blues with five at a time hook ups. It's like casting into a school of pirahanas with a bite on evey cast when you're in the school. Fishing nirvana, even if not the biggest fish in the sea. Looking forward to chasing the kitties into the month of August now on the river back in the Northland!!

Nice. Dude, I think fishing over a frenzy of bluefish would be some insanely fun fishing! I imagine it's like fishing for white bass on steroids......what a cool fish.


What type of gear were you using? Any preferred baits?

~andy

I'm eagerly awaiting the fall 'blitzes' here along the jersey coast. The whole scene can be utterly insane- a massive school of bluefish chasing an even more massive school of baitfish, bunker usually, right up into the surf at your feet with a thousand gulls and terns cleaning up the scraps (i'll drive miles of beach looking for birds first to find the fish). They'll hit just about anything you throw at them. Bunkers can be snagged on weighted trebles and allowed to swim freely until hit. If theyre close enough i'll get a cast net over them and use them as chunk bait. For lures anything big and shiny will do- diamond jigs, big spoons, etc. They fight like hell with seemingly unlimited endurance and then try to bite your fingers when unhooking them.

There is one somewhat frustrating fact about these blitzes though: under that school of blues are big cow stripers, lazily eating leftovers from the assault above. Getting a lure or bait down to them without getting a blue is sometimes impossible.