Stripers & Anglers Education Series: Understanding Bluefish Migration

[DarkSkies]

^ VS, sorry I didn't see this until now....I believe this was stated earlier in this thread...in case it wasn't...

Big bluefish migrate offshore, and stay there for the harsh winter, feeding on the abundant bait....squid, sea herring, butterfish, mackerel, etc......whatever is there at the time....
Other bluefish, most of the smaller ones, migrate along the coast as far South as Florida, and in general follow bait and moderate temperatures at each part of their migrational stage.






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......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.


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 day of fishing...
If you want a shot at one of these 16-18# 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....

[DarkSkies]

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)




Weekend report.....
Fri 5-16 AM....Fri 5-16 PM
18 hour Monty Marathon
Started at 3 Am, finished at 9PM .....



Kept moving around, managed 7 big bluefish before dawn, on bucktails and rubber.
Bluefish are a lot harder to catch on artificials at night...In my experience.they are much less aggressive.... and picky.....unless there is a lot of bait in the area....


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#.....at least half were 10# or better.....the runs and fight filled me with adrenaline.....

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#)

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. These bluefish on Fri night were up to 5 times larger.....so addictive I did not want to leave despite having to re-ty 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 broke 100 that trip...but hey, that's fishin'.








Sun 5-18
Pebbles and I were OTW at 6:00 AM
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**....
I managed 13 fish total to 10# for the day...some of the old timers managing substantially more....
Pebbles got less fish, but also the biggest fish on the beach that day.....a bluefish of around 13#..and another nice one around 10#...along with a few others....working metal near the bottom.... ...very proud of her and her persistence......

[lostatsea]

I read on here that the bluefish migrate offshore to spawn iin june after being in close in april and may. Well they are still in close off moriches and wondered if any of you gents here can explain why? There were a lot of bunker around so maybe that had something to do with it? thanks

[finchaser]

Big blues the teen size not the 1 to 5# variety moved off shore to spawn, some of the bluefish fleet in NJ after not being able to find them yesterday switched to fluke fishing around mid day. The sharkers had them all over the place finning on the service and they didn't bother them. You are on an Island not the coast. Long Island is on a 90 degree angle to the east coast draw a straight line from the middle of the Island out into the ocean and notice how far off the east coast you are. They could just be moving off the island or passing it on there way to the deep as the biggest spawn is the last week in June through the first 2 weeks in July

From a bluefish head boat:

6-28 Report

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Bluefish have still been hard to find. Capt Dale read fish last night along the edge of the Mud Hole but other than one nice size blue they were not interested.
There were plenty of bait fish and squid in the area.
During the day we have been looking for the blues and switching to bottom fishing.
Today we had a number of limits of winter flounder, ling and some sea bass.
Everyone went home with fish.
We will be doing the same tomorrow and this week.
If we can't find the blues we will go bottom fishing.