BLUE FISH TOURNY IN CT???

[hookedstriper]

DOES ANY1 KNO WEN THE WICC BLUE FISH TOURNIMENT IS IN CT AND LONG ISLAND. IM PLANNIN ON GOIN OUT THIS YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME AND WHAT KIND OF RIG SHOULD I USE. WEN I GO OUT FOR STRIPERS WEN I CHUNK AND LIVE LINE I USE 20 POUND TEST LINE AND A BARREL SWIVEL AND 40 POUND SHOCKER BUT SINCE THE BLUES GOT THE RAZER SHARP TEETH SHOULD I USE A STEEL LEADER. MANY PEOPLE TOLD ME THAT THE STRIPERS SOMETIMES WONT HIT A LINE WITH A STEEL LEADER IS THIS THE SAME WITH A BLUE. THANKS IN ADVANCE.
HOOKED

[Flounder]

The WICC Bluefish tournament is (I believe) always the THIRD weekend in August. You must register in advance, so your local B%T should have the exact dates. You get a tee-shirt upon registering that has the dates as well. You should use a wire leader on Bluefish, or else you will get bitten off. Stripers that refuse wire leaders is a controversial subject, with emotions running high on both sides. Speculation on Bluefish being "leader shy" is a moot point. Without wire, you will only land one in ten. Don't bother to liveline, if the blues are THAT thick, a popper or a "rabbit" plug is far less time consuming. Most entrants soak a chunk, the smart ones chum. There is so much stiff competition that winning comes down to pure luck.

[Patrick]

Yeah, the WICC bluefish tourney is held late in August. I never enter because I don't fish for blues, I don't eat blues and I have no interest in blues.

If I were you, I would chunk bait. Last year's winner came from Rye Beach in Rye, NY from the shore.

As far as wireleaders, use them. You can't take a risk tourney fishing. It is possible to fish a mono leader with blues but I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking to land one big fish.

[Jaiem]

I used to fish the tourney years ago. My then-girlfriend's father had a boat and we fished the Huntington/Northport area for the tourney. Talk about a mad house!

Did see some interesting things however. For example, one year we (and about 50 other boats) setup in the mouth of one of the bays in Huntington Harbor (don't remember the name of the bay) expecting the blues to come in as the tide changed. The water was very shallow, in some parts we could see to the bottom. We had fresh bunker chunks on the bottom and free floating. The darndest thing was the blues came through, past our baits and everyone elses and no one hooked up! We saw the schools pass right under the boat and no takers. Must have been all the boats in the area. But it was odd to see.

[JohnR]

Soon enough, I fished that last year for the first time and had a ball. I fish with a good group of guys out of ahh, Fairfield (ahem) and Trumbull...

I run against the grain as with bass or blues, I'll use a 50# mono leader with bigger bass and any blues in the area. I've lost maybe 2 plugs to blues when using this (probably wouldn't have lost any but the leader had chafed after numerous fish) and I never need to worry about wire.

I don't have a midset about bass being steel leader shy as I really don't use them...

The funniest thing I saw last year in the WICC Tourney was a boat getting towed in by Sea Tow was trolling for blues on the way in, just couldn't hang 'em up I guess...

[Sean]

I fished the tourney last year w/ my father & brother. We fished at the Race & around Fishers Island. NO blues were around! Out of the 100+ boats in the area, we saw less than ten blues caught! The fish were in the mid to Western part of the sound. This year we'll be around the Western end. I'm sure the blues will be at the Race.
Stripers will bite lures/bait with black steel leaders. The largest striper I ever caught, a skinny 49" racer weighing 36#, hit a 4oz. kastmaster with a 24" black steel leader attached to it. I have also caught plenty of stripers on steel high low rigs.

John R. is correct that a blue will rarely bite through heavy 50# - 60# mono.

When fishing during the day, if blues are around, I go with the steel. At night, I am strictly a mono guy. I just check the leaders if I catch a blue.

[hookedstriper]

Again thanks for the info and advice. This site always has good people to take time out for others who need help or just to talk about fishing. Thanks again.
Hooked

[chris L]

fish the western end of the sound norwalk west and the LI side in the west . biggest ones usually come from there year after year . I find that tourney a waste of good fish ( even if they are blues ). too much waste from the money grubbers . I fished from shore last year and got squat . cool T-shirt though of mean olde razor lips .