losin and gettin the bluesi

up at 4 am yesterday, and headed off to shackeleford banks on the coast.
my original plan was to see is if i could find a puppy drum in the
same areas i caught them last fall. got there near the end of the
rising high tide and stayed through full cycle of tides back to
high...but no drum. however, the blues were plentiful...except in my
head. caught a lot of them, inside in the marshes and out in the ocean
near the lookout jetties. all good eating size and put up a good fight
on my light spinning tackle. as a bonus, i had close up vists by the
shackleford banks wild horses. i walked around on the low tide flats
and sand bars, and walked with one of them for over 300 yards between
the islands they frequent and graze. unfortunately, i didn't have my
camera at the time.

here are a few shots...the last one below shows the same island as this
one but at a different tide level.

When I was a kid we called the "snapper blues at that size. We used to catch
them off the train trestle at Lords Point by Stonington Ct. A couple of
years I used a Zebco 202 from spring until the end of our week at the shore.
After the week on the shore the reel would have locked up inside and I'd
need a new one next year..
George in Las Vegas

George wrote:
When I was a kid we called the "snapper blues at that size. We used to catch
them off the train trestle at Lords Point by Stonington Ct. A couple of
years I used a Zebco 202 from spring until the end of our week at the shore.
After the week on the shore the reel would have locked up inside and I'd
need a new one next year..
George in Las Vegas



these were decent-sized, but definitely not the choppers we hope will be
running along the coast in may. they have caught a few of the big ones
offshore. this size is the best eating, but also tough on gear. i
probably lost 10-15 lures in cutoffs, and an equal number where the back
end of the plastic lure was bitten off. remedied that with crank baits
and trailing treble hooks. g when the blues are this thick, they
probably chase away the drum and trout. the blues are mean, aggressive
feeders. i got several of them to take near the surface, but most were
stalking baitfish deeper in the water. still, as you state, they are a
fun gamefish to chase with artificials and give a good tug on light tackle.

jeff

when the blues are this thick, they probably chase away the drum and
trout. the blues are mean, aggressive feeders.

A friend of the family says " if bluefish got as big as sharks I wouldn't go
near the water". I have caught a few large blues in my life usually on
menhaden which are called "bunker" where I'm from. I have seen 18" blues
chop a 12" bunker in half.
George in Las Vegas