BEFORE the big re turn of striped bass to New York and New Jersey’s maritime waters, bluefish had been the No. 1 game fish – but even at No. 2 they are, pound for pound, the best fighters that roam our inshore waters. They respond well to most things thrown at them and especially plugs cast with spinning outfits. They’re great on light tackle and most importantly, they are in our waters from spring to late fall.
Their equally tenacious offspring, snapper blues – which grow up in small bays, tidal creeks, rivers and estuaries – are just starting to emerge.
Bluefish are built for speed. Their large mouths are fully equipped with razor-sharp teeth that can cut a fish in half. They come in all sizes, from the cocktail-size 1 or 2 pounders up to the slammers can get to 20 pounds and better.
Bluefish are schooling fish that move en masse after schools of bunker, spearing and sand eels. It’s the tailor blues, 3 to 6 pounds, that you’ll usually find in the South Shore bays. This time of the summer, the larger choppers are found marauding in deep water in lower New York Harbor, in the surf from Breezy Point to Montauk Point, from Pollock Rip east to Block Island and almost everywhere throughout Long Island Sound.
Off the North Fork, they are summer residents in the deep waters of Plum Gut, Pigeon Rip north of Plum Island and always between Little Gull and Fishers Islands.
The most exciting way to catch a blue is by casting with plugs or metal jigs, or even a fly rod, to feel that powerful strike. A close second is drifting and bouncing a jig off the bottom. You can also drift and chum them, letting your line drift in the slick with a bait attacked and wait for the line to go tight.
The only difference between a snapper blue in late summer and its 18-pound parent is size. Throughout early summer, snappers feed at the heads of tidal streams, on the shoals of estuaries or in the back shallow bays. They get more aggressive as they grow, and you’ll start noticing them about now, in the deeper channels or under docks, bridges and piers as they chase bait to the surface.
Catching bluefish is a great way to spend a summer afternoon, and fresh-caught bluefish for a barbecue is pretty good eating.
