First Large Blue of the Year

[Jman]

I caught my first large blue for 2018 (31") this past week, while fishing locally. On previous trips I caught blues up to 25", but this was my first to surpass that measurement. This one was caught on an 1/8 OZ jig head with a Zman "Bad Shad" soft plastic. I used fairly light tackle (15# leader) and managed to keep the blue away from the oyster beds. I haven't been able to pick up on any pattern yet for the big blues. They seem to be caught in a variety of situations.


Studblue.jpg

[tmc3p]

Congrats!

[summersoff]

Nice job! That’s a nice, healthy blue. I cought a couple big blues in Jersey this weekend. They dragged me around for good bit but then just died. When I got them to the yak they were skinny as heck, I had one that was 33’ but nearly half the weight of yours. You could tell they just moved in the bay to feed. But ummmmmm,after 40 short stripers, I wasn’t as generous as you, mine ended up in the smoker

[Jman]

Nice job! That’s a nice, healthy blue. I cought a couple big blues in Jersey this weekend. They dragged me around for good bit but then just died. When I got them to the yak they were skinny as heck, I had one that was 33’ but nearly half the weight of yours. You could tell they just moved in the bay to feed. But ummmmmm,after 40 short stripers, I wasn’t as generous as you, mine ended up in the smoker

Thanks, it seems like the first wave to infiltrate the inlets were skinny and exhausted. After I released this one, I found two partially digested pieces of fish that the blue must have spit out. Smoked blues are delicious - I enjoy making a dip from them.

[Oldbayrunner]

Nice blue... we caught quite a few down there this past week but didn't land anything that big. They are also really good if you bleed them out right away then cook them up the same day beer batter fried.
My most proud catch and release was a 20 1/2 spec.

[ComeOnFish]

Finally.
Good Job!

Joe