If only I could save bluefish like the one above for a live bait tuna trip!
Speaking of tuna, I heard that an 83 inch giant was taken yesterday east of Chatham. It must have been a little snotty out there with the Northeast wind, but some hard working soul stuck it out and was rewarded. I'd imagine more fish were taken yesterday - hopefully we'll hear some positive reports soon.
I'm not a huge fan of catching bluefish from a boat, but I do enjoy catching them from shore. May and June is a great time to target blues from the beach, so we might as well take advantage before they head out to deeper water.
I fished a few different areas yesterday searching for any signs of life. Unfortunately it was hard to spot much of anything in the wind and waves. After hitting up 3 different beaches I decided to make a move east to a nice little deep harbor that I had scouted out using Google Earth.
There's no better way to catch bluefish in my book than casting big top water plugs. Catching blues with top waters during the spring is pretty straightforward, as long as you are working the plug nicely back and forth and making some commotion. There's a lot of squid around right now, so odds are that bluefish on the end of your line was expecting some calamari when he bit.
I did not get in on a full bluefish blitz yesterday but I did manage to cull up some action. At around 8pm I made it to the spot and began blindly casting around.
On my third cast, and only about 20 feet in front of me, a super aggressive blue came hurdling towards the surface and smacked my pencil popper. Fish on!
He put up a good little tug like bluefish always do, but I soon managed to get him up on the beach. I was happy, as this was my first bluefish of the season. Nothing huge but a healthy looking guy that, like I said, would have looked real good under the kite. If only little blues like this were easy to get the morning of a tuna trip!
After a couple quick photos I sent the guy back into the ocean and watched him swim off. I continued casting around and had a few more chases. Before I knew it the sky was dark and the action I had was gone.
All in all a satisfying little surf casting trip. The first blue of the season has been checked off my to-do list.
I've been hearing good reports of bluefish in certain areas around the Cape this week, so I would imagine that if you give it a good shot in the right spot you'll be able to connect. With the weather the way it is right now fishing from shore may be the only option this weekend, so why not toss some top waters to aggressive bluefish.
Click here for more information on the areas fished, and your best bet for a blue this weekend.
Stay dry and good luck fishing!
Take care,
Ryan
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