Any bluefish in mid-bay yet?

[CHOC]

I'm a big fan of these fish. My wife makes a mean blue cake which is essentially a crab cake with bluefish meat in them. My buddy also has a cold smoker and has really been itching to smoke some blues in it.

Has anyone hooked one in the mid bay region yet? If so, where?

[Zarddog]

Haven't seen or heard of any significant numbers yet.

[yakscientist]

I may be traveling this summer to find some, I just got a smoker for my birthday a few days ago. I love me some smoked bluefish, I like to eat them fresh as well. They're an underappreciated fish IMO. We could make a group trip to target some if you'd like.

[Steve6902]

I don't know how to fish for blues, but count me in for a group trip.

[yakscientist]

I'm hunting around for some bluefish spots, asking a charter captain I know. Will keep you posted. I'm no expert, but blues will usually hit all your favorite striper lures, but it's best to use zmans if you think they're around, cuz they're the only thing that'll stand up to them repeatedly. Bring some wire leaders too, I've got extras if you want 1 or 2. Blues also love ratltraps, spoons, anything metallic/shiny. If they're in an area, and feeding, you'll have trouble not catching them. And their fight puts striper to shame, I got spoiled up at the jbay tournament this year.

[CHOC]

Down for a group trip as well.

[Franzel08]

I don't know how to fish for blues, but count me in for a group trip.

They're a pain in the ass but fun to catch. Softbait destroyers. Toss anything hard, shiny and fast and bingo.

[J.A. Veil]

I'm hunting around for some bluefish spots, asking a charter captain I know. Will keep you posted. I'm no expert, but blues will usually hit all your favorite striper lures, but it's best to use zmans if you think they're around, cuz they're the only thing that'll stand up to them repeatedly. Bring some wire leaders too, I've got extras if you want 1 or 2. Blues also love ratltraps, spoons, anything metallic/shiny. If they're in an area, and feeding, you'll have trouble not catching them. And their fight puts striper to shame, I got spoiled up at the jbay tournament this year.

Bluefish teeth are very destructive to most soft plastics. The Z-Man products offer a different type of plastic material that is far more resistant to bluefish teeth than most soft plastics. Using Z-Mans is certainly an option when bluefish show up. I do add Z-Man tails to my trolling lineup when I am confident that bluefish are around.

I also follow a different approach. Most of us have many old bags of soft plastics sitting around our homes. These may be a color or shape that you don't like so much any more. It could be a full bag or a partial bag. I accumulate these "expendable tails" in one tackle tray.

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When I am in an area that has a strong potential for bluefish, I use those plastics too. I typically follow this practice more often from my boat than from my kayak. It works great in late summer when you see a large pod of breaking fish -- often there are small to medium blues in these pods. Since the expendable tails are fully surplus anyway, they don't cost me anything. I can use them to catch bluefish or at least get bites from bluefish. It becomes a challenge to see how many different colors and shapes of plastics can catch bluefish on any day.

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[mchottie]

Also in for a blue group trip.

Willing to donate a bag of Zmans (LMK best color to purchase) for use by the group.

[J.A. Veil]

Regarding when and where to target blues, it does vary from year to year. I am not talking about the very large blues that hang out by the ocean coast during May -- that is a spectacular fishing opportunity while those fish are around. Looking at fish in the mid-Chesapeake bay and tidal tributaries, blues from 10"-15" are usually common in the mid bay from July - Sept. They are often in large schools that can be all blues or mixed blues and stripers. They can be found by watching for working birds, clusters of gulls sitting on the water, and oily bait slicks on the water. Occasionally, schools of larger blues (15"-22") are found, but they are much less common than the little ones.

Last year was an odd one for me regarding bluefish. I had a few tails bitten off during August, but did not catch my first bluefish until Sept 20. That was caught trolling in the Severn at the mouth of Weems Creek. In most previous years, I would catch dozens to hundreds of small to medium blues in the Severn, Chester, Eastern Bay, and the main bay throughout the summer and early fall.

This year offers a new challenge. The sustained presence of dolphins in the mid-Bay will undoubtedly affect the amount of bait and smaller fish in the areas where I typically fish. 12"-15" bluefish would be suitable prey size for a school of dolphins. I have experienced a small number of tail bite offs so far this summer. Since I was working in shallow water, those bite offs could have been made by crabs or even overzealous small stripers.

As anecdotal evidence, Shawn Kimbro posted photos of bluefish caught on his boat during the last week. He posted on July 9 "Yes, blues are in the mid-bay. There are very few breaking though. They're on structure". He rarely tells where exactly he was fishing, so you can draw your own conclusions.

[Zarddog]

Caught a few decent (15" to 18") blues last August near the Bay Bridge I live on Kent Island and access from the ES. Saw them woking what I believe were bay anchovies or peanut bunker. Small diamond jig (1oz. if I remember correctly) worked sitting outside the school and casting to the edge. Only problem I had was keeping up, by the time I landed the fish the bait had moved. The Diamond jig started with a white tube tail which didn't last long and seemed to have no effect once bitten off. All the blue's I've caught prior to these have been in the surf mostly at the OBX.