bluefish

[mpwylie]

i really wanna catch some bluefish but never have done it except for a few tailor blues off the beach while i was surf fishing. i understand the bay is loaded with them and that many people see them on the way out and just cast into them and have a ball with them. i have never seen them hitting the water but understand that when you do, you can cast into them and they will hit just about anything. it seems like a cheap and fun type of fishing and was just wondering if there are any tips that people would be willing to share with me? baits, lures, somewhere to start, etc.....i would appreciate anything, i understand they're very plentiful and pretty easy to catch but would just like start with some advice from others. thanks

[MattD]

HRBT at night in the lights. I like an outgoing tide. Another good place is the south side of the 3rd between the bridges where the rocks and pilings meet on an incoming tide at night. Anything works, but I like to use speck rigs and rapala x-raps or rattletraps. Fillet them and cover with kosher salt in a tupperware and freeze...flounder candy!

[racn35]

use metal - 99% of your soft plastics like storm lures are only good for 1 shot, they are wortless after a chopper bites the tail off.

[LandingCrew]

blue fish are my specialty, love em, here is the bluefish killer setup, a shiny spoon, tin, or top water. wire leader(about 12 to 20 inches) 15 to 20 pound main line and the ability to find a school. its simple if you buy single strand wire leader just haywire twist the lure on, then on the other side do the same to a barral swivel, if you buy the coated braided wire then youre gonna have to crimp them, personally if you dont know what your doing with wire then buy the predone ones that you can get at like a bass pro or tackle shop. if you want to eat them this is important, just like tuna,you need to cool them down quickly so if your gonna go for them take some of the 20 oz water bottles and freeze them the day before, then when you catch a blue you wanna keepimmediately gut and bleed him out then put the bottle in the body cavaty(sp) then when you get home go ahead and finish cleaning him up and enjoy.

mark

[NNMountaineer]

hrbt at night, under the lights on the norfolk side of fort wool there is a TON, sometimes they dont really start breaking the water until 1 or 2 am but they are thick over there, last sunday night we caught well over 100 fish, they will bite anything that remotely resembles a baitfish but they will tear your soft plastics to pieces, use a wire leader with whatever you use

[xxmikexx]

You can go to any of the islands of the CBBT and cast 5" wind cheaters or 6" black back Rebel deep diving minnows (my favorites)or anything else really to the rocks and around the back side of the islands. You'll catch a lot more fish if you bounce the lure off of the rocks or land it within an inch or two of the rocks (it really does make a difference to get very close to the rocks). If there is current moving the fish are there somewhere feading. You might have to move arround to find the fish. The best side of the island is the roughest side. If there is a ground swell that is even better but be careful not to get too close to the rocks. Once you find them you can catch one on every cast.

[Matt Morrison]

This is good! lures? we have caught them on lead heads with no body, a coke can will work, a shoe, any thing with a hook in it, just make sure its tough so they dont bite it in half.