Beating the blues

Roccus · #1 06-07-2005, 01:43 PM

I see A lot of people having difficulties with marauding bluefish...

This far north they are only an occasional nuisance,spending more time out to sea and little time close to shore,I'LL share a few tricks that have worked for me in the past,both from anglers better I than that no longer fish our waters...but are watching down on us all (if I get struck by lightning you know they're *i$$ed!)

Back in the late 70's and early 80's we had bunch of those toothy marauders that totally destroyed the bass fishing,every morning I noticed one old gent with a few nice bass,while the rests of us chummed in the bluefish with our eels and bunker.... well as it turned out this gent was trolling sea worms along the grass banks and creeks(much like iI do with eels) and avoiding the blues who preferred larger,meatier and bloodier targets,yes he caught some blues(or got cut off ) but he managed to get to the bass,something the rest of us failed to do,since then on a few fall runs when the blues invaded my striper blitzes I too have gone the worm route, it works!!!! at least you have half a chance....

the other bait (crabs) I learned from another old trickster only because I caught him red handed! while everyone else was singing the "blues" he was racking up some impressive catches on green crabs by anchoring by structure in a current and floating the crabs under a large cork bobber,I've tried it several times(using a balloon instead) with mixed results,I have caught bass,some good ones too,buy have also been skunked when i knew the bass were present but ole razor lips refused to let my eel swim un molested....
but they never ate the crabs!!!!!

just another option instead of racking the rods in disgust..unfortunatly those tactics don't work on dogfish....if it sinks,floats or swims...THEY EAT IT :x

tight lines(bass only)
Rock

stmn0 · #2 06-07-2005, 02:17 PM

ive heard that if you use the fishes heads blues wont bite em.also if the dogfish have a huge bard in front of their dorsal then theyre spiny dogfish and taste really good.your right though thell bite anything.one day we were fishin for reds and we caught about 100 dogfish, no joke. every time we threw out a line they would hit it. finally we got tired of em. we threw em all back then the next day when i was readin a book about fishin it said they tasted good :cry:

Red_Cherokee · #3 06-07-2005, 02:28 PM

Roccus has it right...use noggins to get under the Razorlips! That's where the Bass be. As far as the Doggies....fillet and ice IMMEDIATELY after catching.....cook em that night. The Hispanics and Asians love em, I prefer a bowl of Fava beans with a nice Chianti..... :D

Roccus · #4 06-07-2005, 02:28 PM

When the blues are thick,they even will eat the heads!

Yes spiney dogfish are eatable,they are the main ingrediant in Englands fish and chips...

However,they contain a high amonia content in their meat and must be cleaned soon after capture (I have a problem eating anything that pee's through it's skin) besides there are soooo many better eating fish out there....

Striperjim · #5 06-07-2005, 04:54 PM

I tried noggins with a weight the other evening and was shocked to see the blues rip them apart. Even the two day old stuff. :roll: I tried the tube and worm for a while but couldnt get under 2 knots to troll. wasnt gonna bother too much. Bunker spoons only produced a monster blue that tore up halfsheds net and made off with an expensive spoon. I told him to gaff it. :P If I had more time I think I would have succeeded. 8) Next time. Maybe clams will be the ticket.

sea sea rider · #6 06-07-2005, 05:45 PM

Jimmy get a sea anchor. That will slow you down.

Striperjim · #7 06-08-2005, 01:12 PM

Yea my thoughts that night sea sea but too much trouble at the time. a bucket with a rope would have caused some drag as well.

Roccus · #8 06-08-2005, 01:59 PM

Jim,
I fiind buckets,drouges and such a PITA, what I do,which is very effective is let the boat do some work,I bump it in and out of gear,making the tube dart,drop and jump,also,work the current ,sided to side,maybe even get the boat sideways in the rip(providing there is one) let the current slide the boat back,all the time making sure the LURE (aka TUBE) is right where I want it keeping the boat out of the strike zone but the bait/lure is in fishy water....
I use simular tactics with plugs on wire.....trolled livies.