As long as they're bled properly, I actually prefer eating blues to striper (which is a bit bland in comparison unless you eat the belly strip). Blues also grow faster so they don't have as much mercury if you cut the red strips out.
When I caught my first schoolie, I remember a weird pull, rest, pull rest kind of fight. With a bluefish, it's pull pull pull until the end and then it still flops around once you land it and until you bleed it out. :-)
The striper hunt is a lot more challenging though...

I've only caught a few blues in my day, none over 3 pounds, but I remember hooking one and seeing a flash of a small fish, just thinking it would be another dink striper, and then being caught off guard when the thing just took off and put up a tussle. I can only imagine what a 15 pounder pulls like!

Here are two good recipies. One is from a family friend, his goes like this.

Take the bluefish, do all the gutting/icing, and prepare it any way you want, with whatever herbs and spices and oils, etc, that you prefer. Then carefully place the bluefish in the oven, on top of a brick. When the fish is done, take the fish off the brick, throw away the fish and eat the brick. Ha, this guy was not a fan of bluefish whatsoever, I love that recipie.

Here is the simple recipie we made for him that changed his mind.

Do all the gutting/bleeding/on ice stuff,

Scale then fillet the fish. (bluefish has to be the easiest fish next to fluke to fillet) Cut the fillets into easy-to-fry pieces. Marinate the bluefish overnight/24 hours in vinegar and crushed, minced, chopped garlic, a little salt and pepper, that is it. Then just fry the fish, simple and you won't believe it is bluefish. We had our family friend try it and he says "I can eat that."

If there were a "BluefishTalk" how would the threads go?

Q: What lures to use for bluefish?
A: (always) Any!

Q: What colors to use for bluefish?
A: (always) Any!

Q: What tide, what moon phase, where to try for them?
A: Any tide, any moon phase, fish everywhere!

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/Bluefish.jpg

that reminds me...we went on a tuna charter last year and found nothing, so the captain brought us over to race point near provincetown MA and that was our first experience w/ bluefish. Since it was September, these things were massive (easily 1.5x the size/girth of the one in the one in the above image)...I swear a few were a good 20-25#. I wish I weighed one. We used tuna gear on them (heavy braid and conventional reels) and hauled them in w/o tiring them out and they were bouncing all over deck. Even when thrown into the cooler, they'd bounce off the top of it so hard, they'd almost get out so someone had to sit on the cooler to keep the lid on. Tap on the side and they'd slam the top of it like crazy.
How's that for bluefishtalk? :-)

I am goign to come across as a jerk, but just like bass, people WAY over estimate the size of bluefish.
The RIJIMMY Calcualtor:
They say and What it really is
10lbs - 6lbs
15lbs - 9lbs
20lbs - 12lbs
25lbs - 16lbs

Does not the saying/joke go;

There are 3 sizes of fish caught. Small, Medium, and, the one that got away.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I can't believe some of the pictures I see of fish that I know are not close to what the person claims they are. Years ago, I caught a blue that I swore went 25 pounds easy. That was after a hard fight on pretty light tackle. My friend said it wasn't close to 25 and we bet a 6 pack. He pulled out the scale and it barely made 18 pounds. I bought him the beer when we got back to the dock. I now weigh anything that to me is a big fish.

While we're at it, I think most people also grossly exagerate the legnth of time it took to fight and reel in a fish. When someone say's it took 20 minutes, it's usually more like 5.

lol..or maybe it's because they just look larger flopping around like that and looking angry ;-)

I went through some of the pics from the trip but didn't take a pic of that biggest one. The smaller ones were roughly the same size as the one in the above pic. And they did take maybe 5min to reel in at most because of the heavy gear.

the only blue I like is the one on my partners line:D

I love blues, they are my favorite fish to catch. The bigger and meaner they are the better I like'm. Dont get me wrong, I want to come home with a trophy bass, but I would miss blues if I didnt catch one once in a while.

Went out Saturday and found no BLUES yet!!!
Will try again tonite!!!
Water is definately warm enough up here now!!!
Anybody have any luck???
Will report my fishing trip to all!!!

OK BASSY!!!
Can you give me a hint= Did you catch those on the NORTHSHORE???
Just a YES or NO!!!LOL'S!!!
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

No, Southern MA.

From 03-06 when I fished around Plum Island by boat, the southern jetty of the river, anytime around low tide, always, always had bluefish. From what I hear about this year, there may well be none at all, yet.

As for Bluefish recipes - I fillet and leave the skin on. Then in a ziploc bag I put a 50/50 mixture of lemon and olive oil. I will soak the fillets in the bag from 2 hours to overnight. Then I put them on the grill skin side down. Watch you don't burn off your eyebrows - it will flame up. While it's cooking put your favorite dry spices on - I like onion powder and black pepper. Flip after 5 minutes with a spatula. Again, watch the flame up. Then, with your fingers you should be able to pull off the skin in one swoop. It should be hard and dry and pull right off. Again add spices. Cook until the fish starts to break apart. If necessary, carefully flip one more time to brown the now-skinless side. I was told that the citrus in the lemon will draw out the oily taste that most people don't like. Bon Apetite!

Yes it is. My bro took that pic leaning on my truck.

I've actually weighed one fish at 22lbs and two at 18lbs.All three were around 10 minute battle,which when you're actually fighting the fish seems like an eternity.

I think people exaggerate unintentionally because blues fight so much harder than their actual size would indicate.

last week i was in my canoe sitting just inside the wickford walls and hooked into what i thought was a good striper. tide was going out and the fish pulled my anchor off bottom and dragged me into the channel as the tide was going out. when i finally landed the fish...probably 10 minutes later.... i was about 150 yards out of the harbor. it ended up being an 18 pound bluefish. biggest one ive ever caught. thought i finally had my 20# bass, but i wasnt that disapointed.

FISHING REPORT!!!
2 days of fishing P.I. at high tide with NO BLUES!!!
Only got a couple of stripers!!!
Will try low tide to see what there is then!!!

ive been checking out the areas where i usually see hundreds of bluefish sunning themselves on the surface at slack tide, and there has been nothing. ive been getting alot of snapper blues in my pogie net. then feeding them to the bass.

Down my way the blues don't seem to be in their traditional areas.Have no idea why.This time last year I was hitting one spot everyday and just slaying some real alligators,haven't seen a thing there this year.

No blues yet for me this year.Hoping they show soon.

Last year by this time, they seemed to be everywhere. LARGE blues too! This year, I have only gotten a couple and they were both small, only a step larger than snappers. On the plus side, I've caught more stripers this year. Not a bad trade off, but I still like the blues for a workout.

Down here on Long Island's north shore I've been getting between 20 and 40 small blues a night. My brother and I wade about a 1/4 of a mile off shore at low tide. I've been getting small bass and blues every low tide for over a month but the twinky blues, one to two pounds, have showed up for the last four nights. Their feeding on small sand eels and they won't leave. If I'm lucky they will head up your way.

They are fun to catch but I've got more cuts and scrapes on my hands then I can stand.

I treat blues Like Clamma...:deadhorse::cens::nailem::gorez:

$5.99/pound for bluefish fillets at Shaw's Supermarket last night. And they don't carry Striped Bass in their seafood department.

and the bluefish fillets look absolutely horrible

Not after their cooked with wine, onions, peppers, and old bay wrapped in foil on the BBQ

Oh I enjoy bluefish, but only if I caught it that morning. I've seem fillets in shaws/stop&shop that were BROWN!

anyone know what comm's are getting for blues right now?
$.75ish per pound?