Nice fish fellas. jb nice fish what did that weigh high teens? vpass get out there if you want some blues. Got 25 to 16lb yesterday. moco . Jigs and metal.Quote:
Originally Posted by vpass
Nice fish fellas. jb nice fish what did that weigh high teens? vpass get out there if you want some blues. Got 25 to 16lb yesterday. moco . Jigs and metal.Quote:
Originally Posted by vpass
south wind is gone and again too many to count up to 133 all on bucktail and twister tail and all still swimming
Awesome fish guys. shark did all those fish come on plugs? nice! jbarbose did you weigh that bluefish its the biggest one I have ever seen from the surf and even makes your reel look small. great catch. I fished the back bay this morning from 6-8. Caught a mess of blues from 4-9 pounds all on ava jigs. Wonder if there are spearing around as the guys where I was fishing were all using avas too. Went back and fished from 6:30-8:30 and caught some more. These bluefish are fat does any one know what they are eating besides the bunker?
Finchaser you got 133 in one time? I have to come fishing with you. You must be the master of rubber that's outstanding. All rubber or were you throwing metal? I was using avas today and got them but not nearly as many as you congrats.
P:icked away at blues all day today. Some nice ones out there.
Saw about $2000 worth of tackle, leaders, hooks, rubber (why do folks use expensive shads or vision eels when the blues are here?) pencil poppers, metal spoons, other metal, and bucktail jigs donated to these larger ones that just came in from offshore. Visited a few tackle shops and the owners were very happy. making money hand over fist. Good for them they need it. Great for the local economies as well. jb that is a true gorilla I was wondering what it weighed as well. sharkhart outstanding work on the bass 98% of the catches now are bluefish
drove to nnj this morning to fish for the bluefish I had been reading about on facebook. I thought they were pretty hard to catch. Got 10 on metal. I had a few biteoffs as well. Had some questions about using metal leaders. will post in the other thread thanks guys
Outstanding reports gentlemen. I fished an inlet in ocean county for blues yesterday and got some on diamond jigs. There were a lot caught. I was happy to see them again.
nice reports. I do wish I could get into some blues! just been in the right places at the wrong times. Oh well that's why they call it fishing!
All plugs for me SP and Yozuri Mag Darter, some guys down the beach caught some on chunks. Little differnt then up north there apperas to be some herring exiting the spawn grounds with the bass so they want the plugs. In the dark a few surface crashes and even behind us once in the dark.Quote:
Originally Posted by cowherder
Nice work shark hart. :thumbsup:
I weighed a 16lb blue on Saturday for someone and I believe mine was slightly bigger so I'm going to say safely 16-18lbs.
Fished Saturday and Sunday and had more bluefish of the smaller 8-10lb variety. :heart:
Highlight of the weekend was seeing both Darkskies and Pebbles hooked up to big bluefish at the same time.
fished the navy pier last night.two big stripers one 38inches the other 36inches.4 big blues beween 14 an 18 lbs all on bunker.
^I can confirm what Chas, JB, and others here are reporting......there have been some incredibly large bluefish caught in the last week. It does seem the reports of the largest ones are declining a bit.....and it seems some small blues have moved in...we weren't seeing many under 7# a few days ago.....
But make no mistake.....Although it's hard for some to believe...the weights you see being reported are real.....
The actual 18# bluefish may be few and far between...
However, at the end of every day, I'm getting a pic or text that someone has landed one.....17....18...16....lbs....we haven't seen bluefish this size from land in some time.....
Now is the time to get out there and fish for bluefish.......if you consider yourself a true fisherman.....
1. The fight
2. The bulldogging
3. The drag screaming runs of the bigger ones.....
4. The unholy demonic stare those yellow eyes can give you, even when they are spent and exhausted from the battle...yet still ready to chomp one of your fingers off should you be so foolish to take them for granted....
5. Pound for pound, one of the most aggressive and best fighting fish we have on our shores.....a worthy adversary in the arena of battle, for sure......
6. Compare the fight of a 15# bluefish to a 15# bass.....to me, there is no comparison...the giant bluefish wins, hands down. :headbang:
As mentioned, it seems like the overall numbers and sizes were consistently bigger just a few short days ago....but if you understand tides,
feeding windows,
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...feeding+window
(post #39)
and are wiling to work for them, an experienced fisherman can catch 100 in a full day (24 hours) of fishing...
If you want a shot at one of these 15-18# giants....now is the time to try....there is no guarantee they will be here tomorrow........
Good times, to all who are out there, and having a blast catching....:HappyWave:
Multi-Day report.....
I don't know how to compress this into a few sentences....I had a great time fishin the last few days.
I knew this might not last, so I took advantage and was out there every chance I had...ran into some of ya's out there...:cool:... and fished with some of the legendary old-timers.....good times and laughs all around.....:thumbsup:
Wed 5-14 PM
Pebbles and I took a pm trip to a strategic beach looking for blues and bass.....I think the week of May 12, 2014 should be recorded in folks' logs as when these giant blues from offshore started showing in numbers at more than one place.....(historically about a month later than usual)
We fished for 2 hours, in the dark all action had dropped off to nothing...bucktails, rubber, and plugs...
I managed one short fluke, Pebbles dropped 1 fish....eerie pea soup fog everywhere was the best part of the night.....
Fri 5-16 AM to PM
18 hour Monty Marathon
Started at 3 Am, finished at 9PM .....
My 2nd cast of the night, bucktail and white grub, resulted in a drag screaming run, fish in mid to high teens, on the bottom, bass or very large weakfish......I was unprepared for that fish, and dropped it. It really doesn't matter when you tell folks about the fish that got away.....because you have nothing to show for it.....
It wasn't a trophy...but a mid to high teen fish is always fun for me to catch.....and I failed big on this one....
Kept moving around, managed 7 big bluefish before dawn, on bucktails and rubber.
Bluefish are a lot harder to catch
on artificials at night...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...Blues-at-Night
In my experience.they are much less aggressive.... and picky.....unless there is a lot of bait in the area....
After 2 hours sleep in the car and breakfast recharge at WaWa...
I was back out.
I took the day off to fish, as I felt the action would be getting better.
Managed another 27 bluefish to 14# during the day....none under 7#.....almost half were 10# or better.....the runs and fights filled me with adrenaline.....
Most of the fish were caught bucktailing...During the hottest part of the action, I had a naked bucktail (attacked so many times it had no hair). I tipped that jig with a piece of pork and still had good action and caught fish.
At one point I was fishing next to a noted old-timer......we had fish every cast or so...Realistically, that action usually only lasts a short while, and changes with the tide....but we had a blast fishing next to each other anyway.....provided some running commentary entertainment, and helped some new guys get into their first monster bluefish, teaching them how to throw metal effectively.... (one of the new guys got his biggest ever bluefish from land, 13#)
All day rainstorms were predicted, they never happened.
Bluefish action slowed with the tide change.
I decided to gear up, try a few places as it was windy and I was looking for a lee.
Didn't bring my night light with me as I would only be there 1 1/2 hours....had a "better" place I wanted to fish as the tide started moving....
**Goog mistake...if out at the end of the day, always have your night light with you, as you can't know in advance if a good bite will develop.
Only managed one nice blue around 12# on crocodile spoon....getting discouraged and ready to leave...
Very windy the whole time, steady 20mph, pending rain........
Around 6:30pm rain started coming down...not bad at first....
Eventually I was in the middle of the storm, winds up to 35mph...rain blowing sideways in my face...had to assume a 3 point football stance while casting to stabilize and get my presentation out there.......
Decided to throw a Madcaster short needlefish to punch out further into the wind....in the 40 minutes before dark I caught 8 nice sized blues on that madcaster needlefish. They were rolling on it in that rough water and would come back to hit it multiple times....it completely energized me....I had that needlefish previously swimming at least 3x during my fishing trip, and not a touch....now they were all over it.....
Managed 8 bluefish on that needle until it got inhaled by a big blue and I lost it.
Switched to bucktail and grub and managed 4 more.
Finally quit when the rain and winds approached 35mph with no signs of letting up....
What kept me out there was the memory of an early-season trip years ago with Monty when we chased all over the bay in 25mph winds for 3# bluefish. :HappyWave: These bluefish on Fri night were up to 5 times larger.....so addictive I did not want to leave despite having to re-tie my rigs in the dark with no full moon in the cloudy sky........
Total for the trip....
46 bluefish to 15#....
If the conditions were better I believe I could have broken 100 that trip...but hey, that's fishin'.:fishing:
Sat 5-17
Took Pebbles down to get into the bluefish bite.....by the time we got there it was a slow pick.....we only managed a few, and they were getting smaller......
Moved to a few other locations but the sunny day was not helping this bite....packed it in early....made a drive to get her some new waders...
Sun 5-18
Pebbles and I were OTW at 6:00 AM.....All geared up the right way.....ran into JB, Vpass, and his friend....nice meeting ya's. :HappyWave:
I think Pebbles caught one of the first fish....
Vpass and friend had the hot hand, catching most of the fish early on....:thumbsup:
JB held his own, picking away at them....and I think caught the first fish of the morning.....:thumbsup:
The bite really didn't develop as strongly as it had on previous days....despite optimal conditions....although a little too sunny out....and water slightly cold from the previous night's wind patterns......
The fish were sluggish.....lethargically hitting at first, you really had to work for them.
Most of the original crew left, and the bite turned on a bit more at a different tide stage....
Although most of the later fish were a lot smaller.....
**Pebbles, I'm proud to say, kicked my A**....:clapping:
I managed 13 fish total to 10# for the day...some of the old timers managing substantially more....
Pebbles got less fish, but managed the biggest fish on the entire beach (artificials only) that day.....a bluefish of around 13#..and another nice one around 10#...along with a few others....working metal near the bottom....:clapping: :thumbsup:...very proud of her and her persistence......
We all had a blast in good company and some ball busting.....to those I ran into, it was nice to meet ya's. :HappyWave:
haha dark got beat out by a girl! lol yeah we bin catchin dem blues too too many to count. bunker chunks will give you all you want. bin getting them up to 16lbs some r skinny some r fat pigs on the bunker. well be moving way in the back to try some less salty water for da bass will keep u dudes posted. chas thanxx for the navy pier reports you are da man!
good catchin guys (and gal)!
Wow now I know what a monty marathon is. You guys are crazy out there for 12-18 hours at a time?:kooky:
Really enjoyed the report tho, felt like I was there. Thanks
Thanks for the kind words, people. I try to explain this all the time to Pebbles....you have to fish when the fish are there....not when you want to go fishing.....:HappyWave:
Big blues leaving the area?
Pebbles and I made time to go out again last night.....fished 2 1/2 hours from sunset to dark. Tide was good, water not that bad.......
Our first bad omen when we got there were some fishermen walking off the beach complaining about a slow pick.....
OK that's fine....as long as there are still some larger ones around...I'm still targeting them.....and am happy....:cool:
We worked all levels of the water column, couldn't even get them to hit rubber or bucktails....
Finally a little after sunset I dropped one fish on a madcaster needle....that was the only action for the night despite tossing that needle for 1/2 hour.....
The wind made it tough to present again...so we moved on to some other places.
Total of 3 different stops......not a touch for us other than that one miss.
In my experience, when you are throwing rubber or a bucktail and can't get action, this indicates the fish are scattered, or less of them around. The blues are still there - one guy chunking bunker on the beach had one legal bass plus about 5 blues to 10#....but IMO that doesn't indicate they are thick, or not.....
They come in with the tide......and we were right where we should have been last night, at the different stages of the tide........but the fish were not.....(at least in any numbers).
So...(these thoughts pertain to the bigger blues)
1. Either the big ones are thinning out, and starting to move elsewhere (friends now getting them good in the Jamaica Bay area)
2. Following tight to the bunker (no bunker around where we were last night)
3. Starting to move out deeper into the bay (this sometimes happens when it rains a lot.) In my experience they are sensitive to salinity changes. I know Capts in the bay who are still finding big ones while fishing for bass.
4. However, after the rains on Fri, they were still there Saturday....Theoretically.... with less salinity, they should not have been.
5. The day or low light bite is usually better for these bigger blues.....and we're targeting them at dusk/ night....which is more challenging for artificials.....so I have to keep that in mind....:learn:
I hope I am wrong in my above assessment....and this is just temporary.....
You never know what will happen in this early-season game of musical chairs with big bluefish......
There are plenty of small ones moving along the Coast, and being caught from Ocean City to Belmar.....but those aren't the ones I'm targeting.....
Needless to say, I will be very sad, when these bigger blues clear out....and am hoping our lack of action last night, was just a temporary aberration.....:fishing:
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSkies
I agree with all of these. The bunker suck the fish into or out of an area like a large vacuum. Also the water has been a tad colder and the rains could have pushed them out a bit. They came back today. At least the smaller ones did. All you wanted from 3-8pounds. Moco. Bucktail and pork
I got out again today Outgoing tide 5 to 7pm. Seen no fish taken nor any Bait. It was nice being by the water.
Fished moco from 3:30-5 yesterday. Lots of blues on the bottom. Smaller but feisty they took bucktails and skinny metal.