This weekend I went up to Long Island, NY to do some fishing. My favorite fish to fish for are bluefish. It is one fish you literally can catch anyway you want... Bottom fishing with bait, throwing a popper on the surface, trolling, casting a streamer with a fly rod, you name it they'll cooperate! They get big, 20+ pounds... They fight like champs, multiple long hard pulls and they often impress you with a last second leap out of the water! Although the Chesapeake Bay has bluefish, it doesn't come close to comparison to Long Island Sound... So yesterday and today I had a blast catching bluefish! From the tiny "snapper" blues up to the pig "chopper" blues to the in between "cocktail" blues as they are known, I was a great time!

Cedar Beach on Long Island


My first snapper blue


Up close


Stratford Shoals Lighthouse


A nice porgy


A couple of cocktail blues


A very fat cocktail blue


A nice sized chopper blue


Another nice chopper blue


Nasty teeth in that mouth, like little razors! One actually cut a porgy in half I was reeling in!

Nice looking fish. If they did live in fresh water, just think how hard they would be to manage in a pond.

Live bait, artificial or a mixture?

How old is that lighthouse? It looks like it's been around for a while.

1/2 day Cattle boat?

You'd need a huge lake to manage them... They make LMB's appetite look pathetic. Those bad boys will puke up what they ate just so they can eat more! The teeth on them seriously are razors. No needles like pike. They don't poke you, they slice you and I swear the bluefish will try to bite you if you let them.

Most of the blues were absolutely full of baitfish and many were spitting up butterfish like this one:


Most of the blues were caught diamond jigging. Lots of fun and darn good work out as well! Using braided line on medium tackle makes for a great fight... Diamond jigging is piles of fun... You basically drop a diamond shaped metal jig to the bottom, crank 5-10 times while pumping the rod, then let the line out til the jig hits the bottom and repeat. If you're on the fish it usually doesn't take more than a few drops before you feel a freight train hit.

The lighthouse dates back to 1877. It wasn't until 1970 that is was automated and people no longer needed to actually live in it! It has a very cool history.

Yup, head boat, cheap and efficient! This boat does a great job...

Great pics Travis! Looks like a great time! I am jealous.

Great report!

CJ, When I worked offshore in the Gulf of Mexico we fished a lot. When reeling in a fish those blues would hit it and you would get nuttin but the head. What kind of Blues are in the Gulf?

I know Blue Sharks are in the Gulf.

eehup, I should have looked it up on the internet to start with

Bluefish
BLUEFISH - Pomatomus saltatrix Family Pomatomidae, BLUEFISHES

Description: color blue or greenish blue on back, sides silvery; mouth large; teeth prominent, sharp, and compressed; dorsal and anal fins nearly the same size; scales small; lateral line almost straight.
Similar fish: blue runner, C. crysos.
Where found: young can be found INSHORE spring and summer, moving OFFSHORE to join adults fall and winter.
Size: most west coast catches under 3 pounds, much larger on east coast.
Remarks: travels in large schools, following schools of baitfish; cannibalistic; all members of a given school about the same size; spawning occurs OFFSHORE in spring and summer.

I didn't know that those bluefish went that far south!

Travis,

All that looks like just way too much fun.

As for favorite saltwater fish, it is a difficult decision between "rockfish" (saltwater stipers), bluefish, and redfish. The three are at the very top of my list, with weakfish/sea trout just a little ways down that list.

There is just nothing like bluefish -- any size, snapper to monster -- filleted (not skinned), and broiled in a tomato sauce. Don't skin, because they fall apart. And don't eat the brown meat next to the skin -- it is basically fish blood that just doesn't taste good. Other than that, ummmm!

I seriously need a vacation! I need some saltwater fish! A few crabs would be great too.

Good eatn'
Ken

Funny you mention that... I was reeling in about a 10" porgy when I had what felt like a huge run and then dead weight... I get the fish up and 2/3 of it was missing with a perfect mouth shape of a 12 pound bluefish missing! The blue had cut it just in half. Insane!

I was fishing in the Long Island Sound out of Port Jefferson in the Middle Grounds area of the Sound. A couple of stripers were caught, all were too short to keep... A few other trashfish species were caught as well.

Bluefish have a very wide range. They are found in the east and west Atlantic, the Mediterranean, parts of the Indian and Pacific ocean. My largest bluefish is 19 pounds. My dad caught one that was 26. He has a pic of it and he is holding it by the tail kneeling with the fishes nose on the ground and me as a 3 year old standing next to it. The fish was longer than I was tall!