Night Blues from the surf, some questions

[porgy75]

I want to start fishing at night because it seems the day fishing is pretty lame. I have been down to Island Beach a few times. Throw some metal and teaser, catch some 1-2 lb bluefish. I took my little nephew there and he had fun. To be honest after awhile it gets a bit boring.
I know I can probably throw some bunker and catch them but what about lures and metal, bucktails, rubber, etc. Can you catch a lot of blues at night or do they turn off? Also can you catch any bigger ones than the ones that are out there now?
I think bluefish will be fun if they are there because I really don't want to fish for sharks. I don't have poles and reels that are that strong. I would really like to catch bluefish at night. Even a 5 pounder would be a lot better than some of these little coctail blues. thanks guys

[finchaser]

Bucktail and a Mr. twister tail or gulp 4" mullet and my favorite a jig head with rubber paddle tail

[williehookem]

This might not exactly answer your question porgy but I have found the period right before sunrise to be good. I don't know if you consider that dark or not. I got 8 blues this morning. 5 of them were right in the first light period. All on tins and teaser.

[surfstix1963]

3am to 5am Hopkins/Kastmaster with a dressed tail hook(preferably chartreuse over white or red/white bring red over black also)
6am -7am white popper
5pm-7pm poppers(blue or green Superstrikes) after dark go bass fishing.
The blues are usually cruising the outer bar as you get inside and closer to the beach low and slow for the bass

[cowherder]

I have gotten them at the hook at night on bomber plugs. They are in the rips they just jump at the plug and smash it. As you are fishing the cove and it is hot it is like they tap tap tap it, and that is when I try to set the hook real hard.

[DarkSkies]

Porgy, thanks for starting this thread... I though I would C&P some of my fishing reports in here......

Anyone else feel free to chime in with comments or your experiences.....



**********
Picky Bluefish at night.... 9-17-12
There are those out there who claim blues are the easiest thing to catch....
When they are crashing bait during the day...maybe so....
But at night they can be very picky particularly if the forage is small bait and you are targeting them with artificials.....

Based on the reports of larger blues, Pebbles and I took a ride down to MoCo last night to scout for some of the bigger bluefish.

We fished both sides of the tide at the top, an hour on each side.
Strong new moon tide in effect.
The flood wasn't that productive where we were. Although we did mark bait, no real numbers of fish seemed to be in the surfline.

We kept at it, switching different profies, working the water column.
Finally some bluefish started appearing after the tide turn.

They were feeding on small bait....
The breakdown was probably 5% mullet, 95% spearing and rainfish...

There were many things that did not work for us at that location..big swimmers, swimmers over 4", rubber, bucktail, teasers, etc...
Even the Daiwa SP only got one swipe from a fish.

Finally settled into a routine, where we cast black bombers, over and over, under the Dark Skies.

Doing that we each managed to raise a few and landed one each. Same size, around 6#.


She had a blast. Very proud of that girl and lucky to have her for a fishing partner at times.

I was glad to see some signs of life in a previously spotty saltline. I think it could still remain that way, for about a week or so, until the temps drop just a bit more and fish start to gather at some of the usual fall areas.

[DarkSkies]

In search of Fall Night Gators...... 9-22-12


According to my logs they come inshore early Fall every year for us surf and back bay guys to play with....they were a little late this year...

So far only that grouchy basstid Finchaser has been able to get them with any consistency....

And it's true, I have been jumping all over looking for them, like a crack addict.

Not much bluefish success other than the daytime blitz Pebbles and I got into a few weeks ago on a cloudy Labor Day, and a frantic bluefish filled morning about a week before that.


2 nights ago I got blanked, despite looking in several locations.....

But last night I found some......

Not exactly as big as they have been in years past,,,but still, some drag pullers up to 10#.

Took 1/2 hour to hook the first one....and a slow pick after that....

They were feeding on the bottom on small bait, either shrimp, crabs or rainfish,,,,
There were schoolie bass and weakfish feeding on the rainfish and spearing close to shore, but these bigger blues would not come in...

They seemed to be concentrated in a "seam" where the water was just a little deeper.










Picky Bluefish...
Very challenging to catch at night (on artificials)...Because of what they were feeding on at that location...
They would not hit big plugs.
They would not hit 5" plugs, even the "never-fail" SPs or SMs.

They did hit mid level swimmers no bigger than 4", small rubber (yep the Finchaser magic rubber worked this time), and small light bucktails.
I dropped an embarassing # of fish before I realized this.

Going back to my googan roots....sometimes it takes a while for me to dial in, as I frantically search for the profile or presentation that will be the one that saves me from the skunk...



Managed 6 angry, tail walking blues to 10#...
The action died after about 2 hours.

[DarkSkies]

I went looking specifically for the bigger blues last night. Had to wait a while for the rain to stop. I got out there and saw it affected the back bay water a bit. There were still small bass and weakfish occasionally feeding in close but not like the night before. The quantities seemed diminished.

Still, gave it a shot and managed 5 blues on small plugs.

These averaged 6# each, a lot smaller than the night before. They seemed to be out in a little deeper water as well. Still picky about hitting the plugs, but during an aggressive feeding period of 1/2 hour, the action was better than the night before. Missed quite a few. Could have probably done better with a small bucktail as these fish were all feeding on small bait.

Nonetheless, still had fun. It was a challenge to get them to hit artificials at night.

Eventually that bite died. Moved to another location, no bluefish action at all, and limited amounts of bait.

[DarkSkies]

Nice, Monty...at least ya got some fish,.....



...it takes hard work to find them at times...

Good job to all who are getting out there...can't catch them from the couch.....

Now that I clarified that...and have tried to convey to the folks out there...not to feel so bad if you ain't catching....
I can tell you it's a great time of year to be fishing..
End of trip- Singing the Blues.... 9-24-12


I cut the ocean side trip short and left way before sunrise. I managed to make it to the back bay in good time..and had about 45 minutes of feeding action with some larger bluefish. 7 blues to 8# on swimmers. They were feeding at different levels this time and a little less picky as some mullet, which had been absent the previous 2 trips, showed up. Because of that, the bluefish took a variety of topwater swimmers, but all small, 4" and less. And they were still a little picky about hitting the plugs, still a challenge to catch.

The bass were fun, but for me the bluefish were the highlight...I look forward to them every year, and was pretty disappointed last year. Barring bad weather or heavy storms, these bigger blues could be around until all the mullet finally move out. Good times.

[DarkSkies]

Well, Chas, you're still the bluefish king for the week, but I'm gaining on ya!


9-25-12
Managed 14 bluefish to 10# last night in the back bay flats.
The action was exhilarating. If you're an action junkie like me you can probably understand that.
Some can't understand the desire to specifically target bluefish...

That's OK too...most folks know I have some screws loose to begin with... I did have a blast trying to hook these fish as they were very picky.

The thing that changed last night was the flats were filled with mullet, so many that the bluefish were extremely picky...many many hits, very tough to hook on artificials at night...If you were fishing fresh mullet you could have probably caught enough till your arms couldn't take it any more.

They bumped the plug and let go as soon as they realized it wasn't natural.... turned away. There is such a thing as too much bait present, and last night was one such night. The good thing was the fishing window was expanded as they fed on the mullet through most of the ebb.
So instead of hitting the ocean for bass afterward, I stayed put and had a blast.

A site member wanded into the water where I was. I was a little grumpy thinking I might have to be pleasant and a charming conversationalist for a change. I don't look forward to conversations when I'm out there, the solitude is the thing for me,,,,and when the fishing is good, that's important too, You never know when it will stop, like a game of musical chairs.




Nonetheless, we both had a good time as we were frustrated together. We missed many more than hooked. But that level of activity, can be a fun thing tool
Fish again hit small swimmers.
This time they hit top water because of the mullet.
It seemed the 6" and larger plugs were toxic to them. Just for fun I went through a lot of plug profiles. Very little activity on anything 6" or over. The action sweet spot still continues to be around 4" for the plugs I'm throwing at them. Bombers have been the best producer. Lots o fun, good running into ya.

[DarkSkies]

The truth is OGB's a fishing machine....he can outcatch most guys fishing from land...and his friends who have boats all want him on board for the tourneys they fish...

The subtle things he does, from many decades of experience, are just little things, but they pay off....

So when ya read he got 14 fish, or 22 fish, or 25 fish,,,there's a little acronym called YMMV....Your Mileage May Vary...









********
9-26-12
The Old Grouchy Basstid,,, and the (Less) Old Grouchy Basstid...

Fished with the OGB last night looking for some bigger bluefish.
The mullet we were looking for were few and far between, as a result there was no sustained bite.

We each managed a handful of larger blues to 9#. And he caught the only bass of the night as well.
Of course, he outfished me. ...as it should be......Always an education watching the Grouchy Basstid, and hearing the stories, tons of stories.

We fished small plugs, mullet and spearing profiles. It was humbling to see even the Mighty Finchaser had quite a few missed fish as these bigger blues do not seem to be as aggressive hitting plugs at night when the primary forage is small bait.

He also got chopped a few times fishing rubber, but no hookups.
As I mentioned, these bigger blues are very picky and fishing for them at night with artificials, for me, is more challenging than fishing for bass right now.

If you were fishing mullet you could probably fill a wheelbarrow with these bluefish, but not with artificials....

The fish fed for about an hour, and that was it...
Always a pleasure to have the opportunity to fish with one of NJ's best old school surf pros....

[porgy75]

Wow that is some great info right there. Thank you very much! Can anyone answer if you are useing a different retrieve during the day and during the night? thanks

[Rip-Plugger]

Wow that is some great info right there. Thank you very much! Can anyone answer if you are useing a different retrieve during the day and during the night? thanks

Hi porgy75,

yes gators can be picky at night,they will smack their mouths just short of your plug but,no hook.
slim swimmers will work but,they have to be the size of the bait at hand.
in such a case you can use a smaller smiling bill with 6 inch curlytail[white]that will work.also slimmer lures like rebels,windcheaters and bombers depending on baits size.

as many guys know,I fish with large swimmers mostly and this past week with bunkers around and they are huge,I have been doing very well with them.
as I hook up on them my counterparts fishing with bombers,tsunamis and such are getting waay less hits and I am also staying hooked up more so.
that goes to show that bait size matters.

so,go with the bait size and you should hook up well.


R-P

[cowherder]

as many guys know,I fish with large swimmers mostly and this past week with bunkers around and they are huge,I have been doing very well with them.
as I hook up on them my counterparts fishing with bombers,tsunamis and such are getting waay less hits and I am also staying hooked up more so.
that goes to show that bait size matters.




R-P

Very interesting. you would never think bluefish would be that discriminating relative to bait size rip plugger. We don't have big bunker here right now. I wonder why you have them where you fish. Where is that. general area. and do you have the bunker all summer?

[Rip-Plugger]

Very interesting. you would never think bluefish would be that discriminating relative to bait size rip plugger. We don't have big bunker here right now. I wonder why you have them where you fish. Where is that. general area. and do you have the bunker all summer?

Hi Cow,

I may have left something out.small blues will smack at your plug at night,the larger ones will just hit it but,I have seen them do the same thing too.
we have had adult bunkers here all summer long,have not seen so many in a long time.
my area is milford to branford harbor with other spots in there too.
I am not a fan of travel to fish anymore,I try to stay local.

another point is if the fish have been feeding well for a good while they will be picky somewhat.

H-H

[DarkSkies]

Night bluefish 10-1-12 Early AM....

Went out last night looking for night bluefish....
I could not mark or find any bait and was already sensing the trip would be a bust....it was. Worked the water hard for 2 1/2 hours, not even a tap.

[DarkSkies]

Hi Cow,

I may have left something out.

1. small blues will smack at your plug at night,the larger ones will just hit it

2. but,I have seen them do the same thing too.
3. we have had adult bunkers here all summer long,have not seen so many in a long time.

4. another point is if the fish have been feeding well for a good while they will be picky somewhat.

H-H

Rip-Plugger makes some excellent points here....it really depends on the area you fish, and what they are feeding on at the moment.

I highlighted what he said here because it's that important.





New guys, review this as necessary....there are a few of us catching bluefish right now at night, but it ain't that easy.....
What Roddy said here should cause you to stop, think, and hopefully learn.
Thanks Roddy.

[storminsteve]

I think you all must be putting bunker oil on what you are trowing to get them or else finchasers secret pond must have some nuclear radioactive bluefish. I haven't seen any biues that big for awhile, definitely jealous.

[DarkSkies]

^ Steve, I managed to find some yesterday but not at night.
Total 9 to 8#.

It seems the night bite has shifted a bit, for this week. Could only find them where the bait concentrations were highest, and they were still picky. Check your PMs.

In fact, they seemed to be more picky yesterday as the bait concentration was high. They would not touch plugs, had to use small rubber.
The challenge of catching these fish is that as has been mentioned here, it is not the same fishing every time.

You are forced to think outside the box to find the best presentation method for that trip. Putting those pieces of the puzzle together is extremely frustrating. They do not behave the same way they do when they are blitzing in the ocean.
I haven't always been successful even though I have a general idea of what they want. But that changes daily.

On the plus side, catching the bigger ones, is like I scored the winning goal in a scoreless hockey game....the adrenaline has been a great motivator for me when they ain't hitting what I'm throwing.......and being forced to find another way to tease them to hit.


"Too much bait makes it difficult"...
When you are talking about a high concentration of smaller bait....Yes it does....

[DarkSkies]

10-5-12


Another Monty Marathon last night.....

Went to the back to see if some bluefish were around. In the last 24 hours a lot of mullet had been staging to leave, and it became apparent last night that maybe they had left that area. The bluefish that were left were popping on small bait, probably rainfish or grass shrimp. Very picky and very frustrating to have feeding fish that wouldn't hit what I was throwing. Even my smallest rubber and lightest smallest bucktails didn't get touched.

Finally managed 2 medium bluefish on a Daiwa DSM. (the smaller version of the SP). 3 hours of casting for those 2 bluefish.