blues

Question
im 14 and usually fish deal and asbury, NJ and catch a few blues.  i fish from the jedy, beach and boat(inshore).  id like to know what lure and bait/rig is your favorite and when you have the most success(day or night). i usually catch them on poppers or rat-l-traps, but would like more advise thanks  
                            -Scott price

Answer
Hi Scott;
 Though you can catch blues at any time, the best times are sunrise and sunset,  followed by during the night, and last and least during the day.  During the cooler months, especially in the fall, daytime fishing is not too bad, but during the middle of summer, for every blue caught during dayligt hours, many more are caught in the dark.

When bluefish are in a feeding mood, just about anything you put in the water will catch them.  And at other times, especially in the middle of the day during summer, they become much more difficult to catch.  It is during these periods when "stealth" becomes vital.

Many, many years ago, before you were born, I took a friend from work on my boat for some bluefishing on a summer day.  My friend was just starting to get interested in fishing and wanted to learn.  With us came his brother-in-law who thought he was a "fisherman" who knew it all.  I have been fishing over 40 years and still am learning.  We anchored up at the Cholera banks along with many other boats intent on catching blues.  This was one of the popular spots and it was not unusual to find party boats from both NY and NJ along with many private craft on these grounds.  We did everything right, chummed and fished bait.  No one was doing a thing.  After a while the majority of the boats left and my friend's brother-in-law wanted us to do the same.  To demonstrate to my friend that the problem was that the fish were simply not feeding, and anywhere else we went would probably be the same, I set up a little demonstration.  I took a rod from the cabin that I used for flounder.  It had 6 pound test mono.  I tied on a tiny hook without any leader, completely hid the hook in a piece of the same bait we had been using, and drifted it back in the current.  Within a few minutes a blue took it and of course almost immiediately chewed through the line and was gone.  I did this two more times with the same results just to show my friend the blues were there but very, very reluctant to feed, being extremely careful not to eat anything other than a "perfect" piece of food.  I give you this little anecdote to illustrate how diffucult it can be  to catch bluefish during sunny days in the middle of the summer.

Bluefish are not reluctant to go after large baits.  When fish are in a hungry mood, you will catch big fish on big baits.  If you want to catch lots and lots of smaller fish, keep your baits and lures realtively small, but if you want those big alligator blues, go with big baits and lures.  Some of the largest blues caught each year are taken on large bunker spoons trolled for striped bass.  A blue weighing in the teens has no problem eating a whole bunker, seabass, porgy, or most anything else, even if that fish is as much as 2 or 3 pounds and some 15 to 18 inches long.  

It is good to see the bluefish population is on the rebound.  The last few years have seen rather poor fishing compared to many years ago, but maybe the trend will continue and you will get in on some of those "old time" bluefish blitzes of the past.  

-Rich