Bluefish always been an exciting fish for us to catch. They are the most ferocious fish in our waters. I have seen them while snorkeling and it’s amazing how aggressive these fish can be around a school of prey. We found a school in 2005 off of Green Harbor that must have been 10 acres around! They were feeding on baby pogies, just attacking them from every direction. They were feeding on pogies and, all of a sudden, giant tuna came in and started feeding on them! It was the coolest thing that I've ever seen--the tuna were in 50' of water and the mayhem was incredible.
Bluefish fight something tremendous. They are so strong. We often catch them while fishing for striped bass or tuna. They feed in the same waters as both of these fish. Only with tuna, they're also the prey! We have jigged them on every drop while catching bait for tuna on Stellwagen Bank. They are that aggressive. I like casting to them as they break using spinning gear. We end up with many break-offs due to their sharp teeth, but it’s a light tackle workout.
They aren’t known for being great eating; you don’t want to freeze them with hopes of a good meal later, but they are good on the grill or, even better, are quite excellent smoked. They make a great spread that will compete well with any other smoked fish. We keep them for shark bait, tuna bait, and lobster bait as they are some of the best baits around.
