Ryan Collins
I know some of you reading this are probably saying to yourselves, "Ryan what do you mean bruiser bluefish finally showed up? I've been catching them all season long!"
Well that is terrific for you ✌?However big bluefish have been hard to come by this season for me!
The weather the past 10 days here on Cape Cod has also made fishing and scheduling trips very challenging. I've been postponing trips left and right due to strong northeast winds, but finally yesterday afternoon I was able to sneak out for a few quick hours.
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The wind was blowing 20-25 out of the southeast and it was pretty much torrentially raining. It was not exactly a good day to be out on the boat, and to be honest my boat fishing trips over the past two weeks have not been very productive, but I figured why not give it a quick shot.
After all any bluefish I caught would be bled, gutted, kept in a saltwater ice bath, and immediately sold to Fishermen's View Restaurant where it would be a special on the menu and also sold in their wholesale fish market. This was a cool opportunity for me and I wanted to see if I could follow through and make it happen!
About an hour into the trip I began marking a lot of bait and what appeared to be either striped bass or bluefish on the sonar. I put my baits out and within an instant one of my rods bent over under the strain of something large.
I thought it might of been a solid 20 pound striper, but then the fish came hurdling to the surface and slashed right out of the water. It was a bluefish! And it was a pretty big one.
I stayed in the area for the next couple of hours, picking off a big bluefish every 15 minutes or so. The bluefish were not feeding on the surface and if it was not for my sonar then I never would of known they were in the area.
Every bluefish was big, bright and extremely healthy looking. Several of the bluefish coughed up the dead remains of adult pogies (also called menhaden and bunker).
By 4pm I was back on land and en route to Fishermen's View. I dropped off the ice cold bluefish and Joe from FV took a couple quick photos of me as I stood there, drenched to the bone and quite chilled from the pelting rain and cool stiff breeze.
For more information about where I was fishing and what I used to catch these bluefish, members of My Fishing Cape Cod can click the download button below.
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Information about where I was fishing + what I used to catch these bluefish
With the weather the way its been, and with a bunch of other stuff happening right now in my schedule, I apologize for not being able to organize guided trips and group fishing trips for the past week and this weekend - I know several members here on MFCC were hoping to get out fishing with me.
However the winds look better for this Friday and Saturday, so if you are able to make it out there on your own I would like to wish you the best of luck. God willing we still have a solid month of fishing for bass and bluefish ahead of us.
Tight lines
Nice fish Ryan,
Also hoping for one more push. That’s my favorite area so Big Blues are welcome. !
Yeah I’ll take bluefish like that any day!
Good luck if you get out this week Dennis!
Nice work Ryan! Headed out late this afternoon and again tomorrow (hoping for decent conditions).
Winds look much better for tomorrow and early next week Drew. Hope you’re able to make the most of it!
NIce Job! Those are big blues! I wonder how they will cook them.
I’m not sure how they cooked it, but I’ll have to ask!
Ryan the drenching we don’t notice anymore as We are doing what We love to do. I’m hoping Your right and We can all enjoy Fishing thru October.
Ronan
Said well Ronan ✌? Striper bite has been slow for me recently but I’m hoping we get one more push of big fish before the season is a wrap. Gluck this fall!!!!