With the exception of cow stripers or albies frothing on the surface, few things rile inshore fishermen of the Northeast as much as the sight of finning bluefish. Known from Maine to Florida (and beyond) for their ferocious attitudes, insatiable appetites and unmistakable yellow eyes, bluefish are some of the Atlantic Ocean’s most well-traveled, yet mysterious predators.
What separates bluefish from other inshore desirables of the northeast, like striped bass, is their migrations can differ drastically from year to year. While stripers are creatures of habit and predictably return to the same rivers to spawn each spring, bluefish go unaccounted for. They are pelagic, not anadromous (like striped bass), and can be caught worldwide. Surfcasters in Italy and Portugal target gator blues much like we do in the northeast. South Africa boasts brutish blues in the surf, too, and in Australia, they’re generally smaller and are referred to as tailor.
The good news is, no matter where you find them, bluefish are willing to crush a topwater plug 99 percent of the time.
Although relatively little is known about the reproductive cycles of bluefish, such as where they go to spawn and when, at least a handful of blues follow the snow birds south to the warm waters of Florida each winter. However this winter, the numbers of big blues in Florida waters has been exceptional.
In the video below, taken by New England ex-pat Captain Cody Rubner of High Roller Guide Service on Florida’s Treasure Coast last week, a school of finning bluefish can be seen holding tight to shore before erupting on the lures cast by Rubner’s clients.
It has been theorized by anglers and marine biologists that finning blues may be in the process of spawning, or even digesting while en route to a new area. And while the mystique of finning bluefish carries on, one thing is for certain: a well-placed cast with a popper or walk-the-dog style plug will surely get bitten, whether the blues are driven by appetite or irritation. Capt. Cody Rubner and his charter took full advantage of this thick school of blues and enjoyed explosive topwater action after a solid morning of snook fishing.
We hope to see finning blues in the northeast again come late April or early May, but there’s really no telling how strong (or weak) the bluefish run will be this year. All the more reason to start checking flights for a winter fishing trip to Florida’s east coast.
The Mysterious Lives of Bluefish
