Bluefish in the surf

[DZ]

I generally don't target bluefish in the surf but generally catch them from time to time as by-catch through out the season starting in late May/early June. I took my very first bluefish of this season on August 24th. Until then I hadn't even seen one caught, and not had one eel or soft plastic chopped. This despite a good presence of forage in my Newport home waters. The boat guys seem to be picking them up but the surf seems a "no bluefish zone". Wondering how others are seeing this in their areas. I think in all the photos I've seen about the recent canal action none included any blues. Were they present in the canal at all?

[piemma]

Dennis, FYI. There are a ton of them in the upper Bay. Above the Bridges. May be south also but I haven't strayed that far or had to.

[Nebe]

Out on Cuttyhunk the other day there was tons and tons of blues in th harbor. They would not touch a popper. Switched to metal and it was non stop hickory shad. I could not believe it. I have not seen any blues this season.
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[fishgolf]

Haven't caught a bluefish in years in Ma or RI. But, had two curlytails chopped last night... so there are a few around.

[Rappin Mikey]

Gators from shore two weeks ago on the outer Cape if you could get them by the seals.

[fishbones]

I just mentioned to my buddy that I hadn't seen it caught a blue this year. I think I had maybe 2-3 last year. I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't mind getting into a bluefish blitz.
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[bassballer]

Theres large quantities out front Dennis but maybe just not coming close to shore.

[Guppy]

Boat offloading at bass river yesterday filled a couple boxes with Bloo...
Monomoy my guess.....
Guy named Rocky from that boat says hi Guppy, I'm still at a loss and embarrassed , old brain cells just don't work right, can't remember chit

[tattoobob]

Originally Posted by Rappin Mikey

Gators from shore two weeks ago on the outer Cape if you could get them by the seals.

When I used to go down there I would wait for a 2 or 3 guys to be hooked up with seals with my drag tightened down as tight as I could get it I would cast out hook a fish and reel as fast as I could

The birds, the seals, & the tree huggers have ruined orv use for everyone, Plum Island gave out 25 permits this year but thats a different topic

[shadow]

Yea I haven't seen any real numbers of blues in years I have gone a whole season with out catching any. So far this year is blue free for me as well I'll hear or see one or two caught by guys iam fishing with but over all they seem to be on the down cycle not to sound snobbish but iam very ok with it
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[blue oyster]

a couple years back you could walk from Weymouth to east boston on the snapper blues and not get your feet wet , I always wonder what happened to them , thought they may foot print but haven't seen any blues worth talking about since then ?

[bassmaster]

See Clammer he loves blues

[wdmso]

Last 3 week blues in front in newport Huge schools 15 min non stop moving feeds 8-12 lbers same in the river just smaller 3-8 lbers Bait is every where for how long thats anyone guess but very Fall like pattern

[tlapinski]

I caught my first bluefish of the year last week and had several chopped baits after that the same night. For the past several seasons, I haven't seen them in the surf until sometime in mid to late August. It is a bit disconcerting to me that we see some massive ones in a few spots each year but they're not as widespread as they presumably should be.

As an aside, dogfish have more than made up for the lack of bluefish. Going back about 8-9 years, a dogfish was a rarity for me in the surf. Heck, the first couple nights I got into a lot of them I was almost nervous about the idea of sharks being in the surf. Now if I eel or chunk, and even some tides when I plug, I'll land 6-8 dogs for every bass I land.

[Thumper]

Originally Posted by tlapinski

I caught my first bluefish of the year last week and had several chopped baits after that the same night. For the past several seasons, I haven't seen them in the surf until sometime in mid to late August. It is a bit disconcerting to me that we see some massive ones in a few spots each year but they're not as widespread as they presumably should be.

As an aside, dogfish have more than made up for the lack of bluefish. Going back about 8-9 years, a dogfish was a rarity for me in the surf. Heck, the first couple nights I got into a lot of them I was almost nervous about the idea of sharks being in the surf. Now if I eel or chunk, and even some tides when I plug, I'll land 6-8 dogs for every bass I land.

I have caught a stupid amount of dogfish this year. Nothing on plugs but I fill like every time I toss eels or chunk I am into dogfish. Lots of huge spider crabs too!

As far as blue fish go, the last few years I have probably landed less than a dozen. Last Thursday was the first time I fished cigar butts.

[puppet]

I wonder if the blues just get pinned by the great abundance of bait.

Like, they get on a bait source and just never leave it.

I fished for some early spring down in NJ. So much fun. Hours and hours of gator fishing.

Up here in the NE...not one all season. Part of me likes it. Selectively targeting them if I want to.

I have only bait fished once this year....and there were a ton of toy
dogfish. Last year I caught an mature model on a redgill teaser. I
found that to be pretty weird. I thought it might have been a big
fluke or something until I shined a light on it and saw the robot eyes
shining up through the surf.