Gambler Fishing

Bluefish How To: Choppers In The Dark

Bluefish are targeted as a sport and food fish in many ports along the eastern seaboard. Caught both in the surf and many miles offshore, they are caught by trolling, jig- ging and chumming. When it comes to night-time bluefishing, New Jersey and New York fishermen are unique because we have an extensive fleet of party boats sailing at night on a regular basis from early June, continuing well into the fall months. One of the great things about fishing blues at night is the fact that it doesn't require a lot of expertise to make a successful catch. Night blues can be a blast!

You'll need to bring a few essentials like extra clothing. A hooded sweatshirt and rubber boots are a plus. Food and beverages are supplied aboard most party boats - but call ahead to be certain. Give yourself extra time, get situated aboard your boat early; about an hour before the boat leaves is good. If at all possible, try to make your night blue excursion on a week night. Saturday nights are a lot of fun, but the extra elbow room that you'll find on a week night makes for even bet- ter fishing.

DRIFTING CHUNKS. The most com- mon method for catching blues in the dark is drifting a chunk bait into the slick. You can simply let the line run off your spool, keeping slight pressure with your thumb. Another good method is to peel the line off a foot at a time. Some anglers like to count the amount of pulls it takes be- fore they get a hit. Often you will find that this count will decrease as the blues get more aggressive. If you don't get a hit after you've let out 120 feet or so, reel in and start again. With either method, it is important not to let a belly get in your line. A lot of slack in your mono will result in more tangles and less fishing time. Likewise, don't have too much drag on the line, but keep the bait drifting with the chum so that it ap- pears more natural. Bluefish often inhale a bait and hook themselves as they swim away. Other times you'll have to let them pick up the bait and take it for a few yards before reeling in the slack to set the hook. Retrieving the slack will get the line tight to the fish to ensure a good hook-up. On some nights the blues will get in a frenzy and towards the latter part of the evening you may actually spy them run- ning under the quartz lights. Observing the gray shadows of big blues grabbing baits in the chum slick is enough to get anyone (including your skipper) excited. If you miss a hit, let your line out an- other 20 feet; your bait may still be intact and another ravenous blue will often grab it.

DOING BATTLE. Once a blue is hooked, it will fight like no other fish. Darting to the bow and then to the stern, a blue will leap and dive. These beautiful fish are mean and stubborn. Pound for pound they may very well be the tough- est fighting fish in the world! You must keep pressure on the fish, and follow him up or down the deck as he fights the tack- le. If you don't follow the fish, you'll cre- ate havoc by tangling lines or getting wrapped in the props. Many times you'll almost have to run to keep up with your hooked blue as he makes a fast run. Watch carefully as you "walk" your fish. To prevent tangles, you may have to go under one angler's line and then over the next. It's the delightful "bluefish two- step" that keeps fishermen excited all summer long.

FISHING TECHNIQUES AND TIPS. Blues lurk at various depths and you ofien need to employ split shots or weights to fish the baits properly. De- pending on the speed of the current or drift of the boat, you may need anywhere from 1/4 to I-ounce leads may be added to your line. Add the split shots a least a foot away from your hook; if you put the shot too dose to your bait it may spook the fish and you'll get no pick-ups. Also, do not crimp the split shot too hard or you might damage the line. Even though you will be using wire leader, check the monofilament just above your hook each time you get a hit. The razor-sharp teeth of bluefish can nick the line even when wire leader is used. A productive addition to your tackle box would be glow jigs. Glow jigs can be very effective at night and can add a few fish to the cooler on those nights when the bite may be slow. Most tackle shops and parry boats carry 4-ounce glow jigs ranging in price from $3 to $4. Hold your glow jig up to a deck light to charge it up so it glows. Do not use bait with it (this will ruin its action). Once charged, drop the jig all the way to the bottom. There is no need to cast this night-lure and I would actually advise that you don't. After the lure reaches the bottom, retrieve it at various speeds. Un- derwater the lure will mimic an injured squid. A fairly quick retrieve usually works best. If you miss a strike on the way up, keep reeling - the blue may still be chasing it.

DEEP BAITS. Later, in the fall season, as the surface temperature cools, blue- fish tend to settle closer to he bottom. This by no means suggests their vora- cious appetite lessens. A sinker-rig may be the ticket from the last days of Au- gust and into the fall. Ask the crew first. Try it, if they say a sinker rig is a good idea. A sinker rig is simple. Make a loop at the bottom of the line to attach to 5 to 8- ounce bank sinker, and then another loop up about 2 feet from that to attach your wire leader hook. Let your baited rig descend to the bottom, then reel in a foot or two. Hold it there, spool engaged, and wait to get slammed. It's as simple as that. If it's action you crave, night-blues on a party boat is where you'll find it. Follow these few pointers and you should have a great time.

Tuna How To: Get More Hook-ups

I've found that the best tuna fishermen are good detectives. The best offshore tuna fisher- men are always learning - they never know it all; they listen to the advice of experienced crew; they watch and ob- serve. This is why first-time offshore fishermen often do so well. A regular fluke-customer of ours joined us for his first offshore experi- ence last season. He seemed genuinely excited as he shook my hand upon ar- riving at the dock. He said, "Hey, cap- tain Bob, this is my first offshore trip. Can your crew give me some instruc- tion!" 24 hours later he was shaking my hand again as he posed in front o: his catch. He was high-hook, having landed four big yellowfin. The bigges weighing well over 150 pounds. Those of you who head off to the blue waters on a regular basis knov what I'm talking about. You've wit nessed the rookie who out-fished th salty experts and you might chalk-it up to beginner's luck, but it goes beyond that. My crew and myself, together are alwavs learning. Sometimes a customer will introduce us to a squid and new fishing method, a differ- ent jigging lure or a better knot.

WATCH CAREFULLY. Techniques learned on an~ other party-boat, private boat, or from reading The Fisherman can all help each of us land big game fish. your next offshore trip, watch carefully. Become a good detective. Don't be afraid to ask questions - even if you've been fishing a long time. This doesn't necessarily mean that you should jump at the first method you see catch a fish. For example, if you have the notion to use two egg sinkers and the angler next to you gets a bite while fishing one egg sinker, don't reel in and switch right away. However, if the same an- gler hooks-up twice be- fore you get a hit, you may want to re-evaluate. If this same guy gets bit a third time - well, you won't need to be hit on the head to figure out that you should match what this guy is doing. Likewise, if you landed a big swordfish on your last trip while rigging deep with a fresh squid - try it again. Seriously concentrate on your own fishing methods, but keep an eye on events around you as well.

LIVE BAIT. One reason we landed more tuna last season was live-bait. Sometimes live-bait doesn't matter that much, but last year the Tuna wanted it! Live squid and chub mackerel worked best. Squid and mackerel are not always easy to catch. Problem is, when there are a lot of tuna around, the bait-fish hide. In the dark, when we don't see squid on the surface, they may be down a hundred feet or more. Just be- cause we couldn't see squid on the sur- face, didn't mean they weren't there. So, using a heavier rod, we made tan- dem squid/jig set-ups. The mates and myself tied three dropper loops about 1 foot apart and slipped glowing squid-jigs onto them. We then tied another dropper loop at the bottom for a sinker. You may need up to 20 ounces to keep your squid system horizontal and away from the tuna lines. There is no need to jig this system the way you would for tuna. A light, easy motion is all it takes. With this much weight, it is difficult to tell when one of the ten- tacled creatures has latched on, but you should feel a slight change in resistance If you are lucky, you may catch two or three in a shot. A tuna rod should be ready to go, so as soon as you catch a squid, you can hook it on fresh and lively. Most tuna anglers prefer to run the hook be- tween the two fins of the squid, close to the pointed top of the body. My preference is through one eye and into the wider part of the body. If you hook into the head, make sure you don't dig the hook too deep or you may kill your live-bait. I like the "eye method" because I believe the bait has less chance of being stolen.

BE READY, BE PREPARED. One dark, breezy, rough, early morning last season, I climbed up to the pilot house of the Gambler to check on the fishfinder. We hadn't had a bite in two hours and I was considering pick- ing-up the anchor to try a new loca- tion. When I looked at my "machine" I saw blocks of bait-fish as well as tuna streaks, but glancing down into blue, quartz-lit water I saw no sign of these baitfish. Usually the lights draw squid and other baitfish. When I clambered back down the ladder I noticed most of our patrons were hanging-out in the cabin, suffer- ing from mal de mar, fatigue...or just plain boredom. I hollered a rally cry, but the guys just feigned sleep. Finally one of the mates and myself rigged our deep-tandem squid outfits and caught two squid at about 150 feet. We quickly hooked these onto the rods operated by a couple of true die- hards. I had barely made it back to the bow to catch more squid when I heard a drag scream. I was amazed. His line couldn't have been more than 25 feet out! When the second man's line burned off his 6/0, the rest of our patrons flew out of the cabin. I stood in the bow catching squid un- til daylight, as fisher- men ran up to grab squid laying on the deck. I even had a tuna grab one of my squid as I tried to reel it in. This tuna somehow stayed stuck on the squid jig for a full 10 minutes be- fore taking the whole works. I don't know why the tuna didn't want chunks that night or why they were so excited about the squid but squid were the only bait they would take. The point is, you should be ready to change your strategy.

TRY NEW IDEAS Tried and true methods often work best, but don't be stubborn about it. One humorous example was the "stepped-on butterfish trip" It was a slow morning. The sun had already risen and we had only landed a couple of yellowfins. One of our first-timers had accidentally stepped on his butterfish which had been lying on the deck, on his way back from the galley. He looked at it, shrugged his shoulders and decided to use the smushed bait anyhow. He had barely gotten his line away from the boat when his rod doubled over. Another observant customer. dropped his sandwich, stepped on his bait and before long he, too, was hooked-up. For the remainder of the trip all the fishermen were stomping butterfish - and catching longfins. The important thing, in most cases, is to start off as conventionally as possible, but you need to watch and listen. Take advice from the crew - ask for advice even if you are a pro. Be adaptable. You're never too experienced to learn more.

Spring Break-Out Rediscover Mackerel

The spring of 1997 saw the best run of Atlantic mackerel in over 20 years. Not only were the fish plentiful, but they were close to shore and of the biggest kind. people traveled from as far away as Ohio to get in on the action. Why was '97 such a good madcerel season! Many say it was a direct result of curbed commercia exploitation. Large foreign factory ships were all set to re- ceive tons of mackerel gathered by our local New Jersey commercia fleet, how- ever, Governor Christie Whitman re- fused to grant the foreign vessels a per- mit in '97. Other experts felt that it was simply a change in the mackerel's migratory route. My guess would be that both the- ories were correct. The lack of commer- cial pressure probably resulted in the mackerel schooling along our shores un- encumbered, following a route that was more natural to their ancestral journey. Whatever the case, we're al hoping for more of the same this year.

WHEN DOES IT START! Generally speaking, you can expect to hear the first news of mackerel catches From Delaware and Cape May New Jersey in early April. Mid-Jersey (Barnegat to Shark River) should catch a week to 10 days later, and the Long Island boats will be in reach a few days after that. It's a good idea to keep this progression ir mind so that you don't miss out on the run. Although last year's run lasted over ; month, during other years the mackere blasted through our area in little les than a week; so it's wise not to wait When you hear the reports in The Fish erman that the mackerel are here - ge going before it's too late.

WHERE TO GO. If you're taking you own boat out to the mackerel grounds, get some recent reports before leaving your dock. LORAN or GPS numbers from yesterday or the day before will give you ,good point to shoot for. Keep a close eye on your fish finding equipment as you approach the fleet. you don't have to be in the middle of the fleet to catch fish. In fact, you can be several miles distant from the other boats when you start to see readings on your machine. Often times mackerel readings will show high and.faint on the recorder - so faint that you may be hesitant to try a drift. Try it anyway. Give it a good 10 minutes and you'll know for sure. The fishing will be better (and more gratify- ing) if you catch them away from the rest of the fleet It's simply a case of less boat traffic.

TAKE THE KIDS. Mackerel are easy to catch. That is why they are great fish for a kids. With a little help a 7 or 8- year-old can land a bucket full of them. It is pure, blissful nostalgia when I get to bring my own daughter out for macks. It's hard for a kid to get bored while he or she is catching double or triple headers of these frisky, striped mini-torpedoes. So dress them warm and bring out rour kids, your grand-kids, or your niece and nephew maybe the neigh- nor's kids. A good day of mackerel fish- ing is something they'll never forget and you could turn them into tomorrow's fishermen.

RIGGING UP RIGHT. The best rig for mackerel is two or three mackerel worms tied about 16 inches apart and weighted with a diamond jig or a 5 ouncebank sinker. There isn't much brain-work in- volved in the type of rod and reel you use. Spinner or conventional tackle is fine; just about anything in the 20 to 30-pound class is fine. We even had one gentlemen using a 1930's hand-line to catch macks. He had a real ball and caught as many as the rest of our customers! If the party boat is not too crowded - or if you're on your own boat - sneak an ultra-light outfit aboard. Once you catch nearly all you need, you can whip the little outfit out and cast a single 1/2- ounce Hopkins lure. A big Boston mackerel fighting on ultra-light tackle is a lot of fun. The tricky part comes when you go to lift a 2-pound mackerel on 4- pound test line.

COOK'EM, UP! I can't tell you how many people say to me: Sure, mackerel are fun to catch, but what do I do with them! First of al, fresh mackerel is deli- cious. Many people have been turned off by mackerel, because it was either han- dled improperly or cooked too long. Make sure your mackerel are stored in a cool place, occasionally wet down with saltwater, and promptly filleted during the ride in. Thoroughly rinse the blood off your fillets with cold salt or freshwater. Like bluefish and other dark- meat fish, if mackerel is over cooked it will not taste good. Check out my recipe for Mackerel in Wine Sauce in the ac- companying side bar. Great, you might say, but what do I do with the rest of them! Freeze any mackerel fillets separately, or at least so the flesh is not touching. Admittedly I do not like frozen mackerel a tenth as much as I like it fresh - except when it is smoked. I have a good friend who owns a smoker and the two of us will get to- gether at least twice during the mackerel season and smoke a mess of mackerel fil- lets. I provide the fillets and he does the rest. The nice thing about smoking frozen mackeral is that it tastes as good as fresh. You can let the fillets defrost rignt in the marinade. And, if you don't have a smoker, an outdoor grill will work almost as well. Check out Erick's Smoked Mackerel recipe on our fish recipe section of the web site. This smoked recipe is very good! Try either of these and you'll probably nev- er turn your nose up at mackerel again. Not to mention how healthy it is. And don't forget to save a few frozen mack- erel fillets for fluke strips later on in the season, or whole macks that work great for tuna, blues and shark fishing. Don't let the macks pass you by this season - and don't forget to bring the kids.

Happy Fishing!!!

Party Boat Bottom Tactics for the Spring

You've had enough of the week-end honey-do lists (honey do this, and honey do that), the kids fighting over morning cartoons, and you've organized your work bench for the fifth time in as many weeks. Time to give yourself a break and make a spring bottom trip aboard your fa- vorite party boat, and if your wife breaks out the list when you break her the news, just tell her that you have an un- quenchable desire, an ancient survival instinct, you feel that you "must go down to the sea again" to provide your family with the Atlantic's fresh bounty. if you say this with the emphasis of Gre- gory Peck in his part as Ahab, she'll probably nod vacantly and say, "Okay, dear, maybe you do need a little R and R." Just watch that she doesn't make any discreet phone calls.) Party boats will have a number of various sailing times and schedules. Check The Fisherman and you'll see their advertisements and phone num- bers so don't hesitate to give those num- bers a call for any information you need. Make sure to dress adequately, even when the forecast calls for mild weather on land. Spring breezes on the ocean can be mighty raw at times.

RODS, REELS AND RIGS, Unless you are super comfortable with your spinning gear, you should leave it at home; the water you'll be fishing this time of year may be too deep, and the current too strong for spinning tackle, but more importantly you might need the extra backbone of a conventional rod and reel for when you hook into a I nice cod or big blackfish. Make sure you have a full spool of fresh 30 to 40-pound test. If you will be fishing the offshore wrecks, a 4/0 Eagle Claw or Mustad bait holder hook on 12 to 18 inches of 50- pound test leader are the best all around hooks for this time of year; these hooks are big enough for cod and pollock, yet small enough for blackfish and ling. Eight to 12 ounces are the norm for the season and bank sinkers are best because they have the least tendency to get hung up on the underwater structure you're fishing. One of the simplest and best rigs for wreck fishing is the bank sinker at- cached to a dropper loop with a single hooked leader tied just above it. This rig will not get hung up as often, will not tangle itself, and can still provide you with an excellent catch. Bring plenty of hooks and sinkers as your rigs will have a tendency to get stuck no matter what you do, but don't despair if you run out, because the boat will sell you whatever you need.

VERSATILITY PAYS OFF. In our fa- thers' and grandfathers' day, party boats would concentrate on a certain species of bottom fish, often singling out cod- fish, but during the early '70s, when large foreign fishing vessels plowed the depths to within 12 miles of our shores, the cod stocks were badly depleted, and have yet to fully recover. For this reason it is smart to be a versatile angler. If the cod aren't hitting too well on the day you're out, and you see a few blackfish swung over the rail, you might compen- sate by using a smaller hook. Don't turn your nose up at ling either. If you can put together a five-gallon bucket full of ling, you've got yourself a lot of terrific eating. Besides cod, ling and blackfish, you may hook into pollock, hake, sea bass, ocean pout, and silver eels. And last Spring, some of the party boats even saw big flounder flapping on their decks - yes offshore!

LOOK FOR THE BUMP. To hook your clam bait on, run the hook all the way through it once, turn the hook around and push it back in again. A sin- gle piece should be enough, but don't put more than two pieces of bait on a hook or you'll most likely get stripped. One of the tricks to catching cod and blackfish is to let the pesky nibblers, such as bergalls, have their way with your bait. It's tempting to take a swing every time you feel a couple good taps, but the time to really set the hook is when you feel two or three solid bumps. What I imagine happening down there is the bergalls attacking the bait as soon as it touches down. A blackfish or cod will notice the feeding action of his smaller aquatic brethren, the way a bear notices bees around a hive. The bigger fish will lumber out of his hole to see what all the fuss is about, but if he observes your clam rocketing up and down through the water, as you swing and miss, he'll know something isn't quite right, and decide to let the little guys continue on with their fun. When you finally get a good one on, lean back to set the hook and reel him steadily in. Catching cod and blackfish isn't real- ly as tricky as some ol' salts make it our to be. If you keep it simple, avoid cram- ming globs of clam chunks on your hooks and have some patience, you should do well, and the more trips you make, the better you'll be at your sport!

Fish Tales

by Captian Bob Bogan