Couple of Visitors from NJ

[Broad Bill]

A few more Florida gators caught by friends of a friend. Apparently there's a fairly decent size concentration of them in Florida waters this year, hopefully someday they make a comeback in local waters and we learn our lesson from past mistakes. Many people, I'd dare say got into fishing because of night bluefish trips years ago when it was lights out fishing. Maybe the giant bluefins off North Carolina pushed them further south this year!

[Captain Rich]

This thread developed legs !

[dales529]

Ol Pedro / BB
Thanks for your responses. No arguments here I just have always seen bluefish as opportunists so if there was / is food they would be there regardless of water temp inshore freezing or warm and /or offshore in many different temps.
Caught them 1 mile off the beach in Dec and they sure ruined many a shark drift in June / July. ( the only plus there was when they left scared mr mako would take a bait).

Just never saw them as a water temp seeking fish.

There are some interesting articles around about bait fish / Bunker, sardines, herring, anchovies and smaller fish seeking different habitats that may have more to do with everything.

[Broad Bill]

Who knows what moves fish other than many factors. The big bluefish, other than a few quick appearances, seem to have left our local waters some time ago but they're somewhere. What's driving their migration routes, who knows. What I do know is their range is from Florida to Maine if not Novia Scotia and anywhere from bays to 80 miles or more offshore and they appear to be able to tolerate a wide range of temperatures. Pretty impressive fish when thought off from that point of view. The one commonality is if there's no bait in an area, you won't find bluefish. Otherwise they appear to be a pretty versatile fish which doesn't get the respect they deserve.

[Captain Rich]

These puppies keep getting bigger, today they had Spanish Mackerel mixed in ! Very Tasty !!

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by Captain Rich

These puppies keep getting bigger, today they had Spanish Mackerel mixed in ! Very Tasty !!

Looks like a picture of summer fishing in New Jersey years ago. Honestly I think climate change has driven fish so far north they're now showing back up in southern waters.

[cletus109]

those big choppers, man that brings back some memories of years past. they were like a 24hr fish, many boats fished in the day and night for them. in jersey, they were like a the fish for a lot of pb to make money off of back in the day.......i remember when i was a young mate back in the day, i had the job of dropping them into the grinder then throwing the chum as hard as a could into the drink....the skipper used to hollar at me if i didin't sling it hard enough to break it up. certainly they way i smelled i never got lucky in a bar having some drinks after a long night at rail...........fond fond memories of blues, and cutting the cheeks out after everyone left..........

[Captain Rich]

The last charter, the guys were from Minnesota and had never eaten Bluefish. I had the marina restaurant cook up the bluefish blackened and the Spanish Mackerel breaded and fried. I think the guys preferred the Bluefish ! I gave a big bag of fillets to the restaurant for the staff and they all scarfed it down. Imagine a NJ restaurant serving Bluefish ???

[Ol Pedro]

Originally Posted by Captain Rich

The last charter, the guys were from Minnesota and had never eaten Bluefish. I had the marina restaurant cook up the bluefish blackened and the Spanish Mackerel breaded and fried. I think the guys preferred the Bluefish ! I gave a big bag of fillets to the restaurant for the staff and they all scarfed it down. Imagine a NJ restaurant serving Bluefish ???

Town and Country had it on it's menu a while back.

[dales529]

Originally Posted by Captain Rich

The last charter, the guys were from Minnesota and had never eaten Bluefish. I had the marina restaurant cook up the bluefish blackened and the Spanish Mackerel breaded and fried. I think the guys preferred the Bluefish ! I gave a big bag of fillets to the restaurant for the staff and they all scarfed it down. Imagine a NJ restaurant serving Bluefish ???

Still a menu staple at NJ Diners under seafood and advertised as Bluefish. Dont see it ordered too often except maybe at the early bird times