As the spring warms the waters of the southern coast, the English have looked at the blue fish, a powerful and aggressive species that deserves every bit of its bad reputation. The bluefish seems to be a passionate fish, which picks up something in its course, and makes a wild journey through the surf and streams.
They are so intent on striking and imposing their will that they will eat other bluebirds as well, if nothing else is available. For this reason, schools of blue generally contain fish of the same size: smaller vagrants are afraid to join the pack.
You can catch bluefish in many ways with a variety of baits and lures. Sometimes fishermen or various trout anglers, who do not want to catch them at all, have an encounter with a hungry bluefish that decides to mix in a worm or a plug. However, if you want to selectively target the blue, there are some basic strategies you can use to capture them.
Blueberries are called by different names for different sizes. There are small snappers, large bluefin are called tailors, and large bluefin are called tartar. As I said, you won’t find mixed sizes very often as Blues have no problem with their cannibalistic friends.
For catching true snappers and tailors in the surf or in the ocean, you’ll want medium-heavy gear. You need to decide if you want to freshwater fishing lures to throw in the blues. Fishing with lures is more funFishing with bluefish is biting but can be a bit of a chore when they are not around.
As far as lures go, spring bluefish will hit anything fast and bright. Gotcha-style lead plugs with red head and white bodies are classic blue lures. See the video of my friend Dr. Bogus showing how to throw a Gotcha plug for blues check this out: Pugging for Hispanics and Blues by Dr. Bogus.
For bottom fishing, get yourself a good 7 to 8 ft rod and spool it with 12 lb test line. Throwing down the ramps and you need something that can handle the weight of two or three inches. Many stores will try to sell you wire racks of bottom blue fish, because of their sharp teeth. But you’ll get more hits if you stick with heavy monofilament leaders.
The bait is best on the fresh mounds, and the bloody bait is cut hard with blue gills. The flesh cut from almost any fish (even bluefin tuna) will catch those snappers. There are also other almost natural blue fishing baits on the bottom including shrimp, lollipops, bloodworms, or even cut moths.
True blue fish are also fished on the bottom. Fisherman better rig this type of fishing. Bluegills love finger mullet, pogies, mud minnows, small minnows or most any live bait you have out there.
Bluefish are great fun to catch and it really is the perfect time to go after them. If you want to encounter a difficult fighting species that will put your fishing skills to the test, blue fish are the perfect target for you.
For more fishing tips and articles see my blog A Dash Of Salty
