Landing bluefish

[Longtrav]

Is there a secret to landing bluefish? I hooked up with 5 today an only landed two. I lost the other right as I went to pull them aboard. Also what do you all use when they are hitting bait on top the water? Thanks!

[kevinfry]

Kastmaster spoons and small sinking/countdown rapalas work best for me when they are breaking on top. I retreive tree he kastmasters fast and erractically.

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[Frogsauce]

That's the same think I do for the blues. As for getting them into the boat, I just have to quickly pull the out of the water and let them drop in the yak. Then get ahold of them by the mouth with these: http://www.austinkayak.com/products/...Fish-Grip.html

I wear canvas crocks, so I just step on them while they are in the yak.

[Southerly]

agree - they seem to especially enjoy that fast erratic snag action fishing technique. i like it too because it's easy to do, requires minimum 'feel' of the lure - meaning you can cast far in wind and wave, cover a lot of ground and catch the fish.

maybe I'm not the best one to answer about landing them since i'm not very surprised to lose any blue boatside due to ripping out of the fish's inner soft tissues or break/bite off of the leader. to increase chances to land him and/or not lose my lure, i try the best i can to not horse him around as he gets closer to the boat, and have a net ready.

[bignose]

Bluefish are very hard fighting and go absolutely nuts as they approach the boat.
I would advise not trying to catch them with a lure with treble hooks, either bend a couple over, or replace the hooks. Barbless is easier to remove, but you will lose a few fish.

Fishgrippers and forceps to remove the hooks, are useful.
Keep your fingers well away from their mouths!
I like to cover their eyes with a towel to settle them down and have something to hold onto.

I'd be a bit leery of dropping a good sized bluefish into a yak around my legs, lap, and nether regions.
Between the snapping jaws, the blood and the puke….well you get the idea.

[J.A. Veil]

Unless the bluefish is very large, I grab the leader, slide my hand down to the jighead and grab it (making sure I keep my fingers away from the mouth), I pick up the jighead and firmly grab the fish around the body behind the gills to secure it. I can then unhook the lure and release the fish or add it to my cooler. Sometimes you can grab the jighead and give a shake -- the bluefish flops back in the water without being touched.

Nobody else mentioned using soft plastics. Most soft plastics get torn up quickly by blues. Supposedly the Z-man plastics hold up considerably better (I have never tried them myself). I keep a stash of old unwanted plastic tails. When I get into blues, I use these old tails to catch bluefish. Since the tails have very little value for me as go-to lures, I am happy to sacrifice some for bluefish. If you start out with a plastic tail that is several inches long, and the bluefish cut off some of the tail, you can still toss out the remaining nub and fool a few hungry blues.

[Cowpokey]

Z-Man soft plastics are very durable, and very soft. I've yet to have one come up missing a piece of the tail. I like the 4 inch paddle tails in white.