Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

 Plenty of blues being taken from Cape Ann well into Maine. People were getting
them off of jetties in Maine, from the beach in Mass and NH. Working birds and
busting bait are the visual clues- some real blitzes have been occurring.
Like they say "get'em while they're hot!"

FyshByte got out (from Hampton Harbor) on Saturday (8/3). There were no
blitzes that I heard of, and it was mostly slow picking. There was a big
fleet of boats about 3-4 miles straight out from the Merrimac, everthing
from tin boats and a float-boat to (at one point) seven head boats.
Probably 50 boats in all, spread over less than a mile, in sort of an
oval mass on a straight line between the Isles of Shoals and Halibut
Point, and centered on a straight line drawn out from the Merrimac.
Anyway, the head boats were chumming, and that probably drew in the few
fish we saw. 

Both my loran and my chart recorder went belly-up, so I can't give the
exact location other than above (later found to be an internal fuse in
the loran; haven't gotten to the X-16 yet).

Anyway, we trolled four rods with various plugs, then went to what
worked: mackeral finish JawBreakers and Magnum Rapalas. We had one double
hook-up. We smelled watermelon... and hooked up. We smelled stinky
chum... and hooked up. It was interesting. The fish were in the 10#-14#
range, and began hitting about an hour after the tide turned to come in
(low tide was about 11/30). It was a slow pick, a hit every half hour or
so, but it beat hell out of mowing the lawn.

NOAA reported 1'-3' seas and 5-15 knot winds, we saw 1' mostly glass.
There was no wind.

Art

    I was there too and have the same to report.  Water flat, boats
    everywhere and sloow fishing.  I picked up two about 1 1/2 hours apart
    on rapalla magnums orange and one on a surface swimmer 2 miles out from
    the "fleet".  I didn't have my loran on but I believe that we were out
    6 or 7 miles from the mouth of the merrimack.  A fish finder wouldn't
    have done much good anyways because I marked hardly any fish except for
    small schoold of bait about 25'.
    
    I never have much luck fishing around party boats.  I think that they
    chum so much that the fish gather closely around them and us trollers
    get the ones heading to the chum.  I have done better by myself away
    from the crowd.  However, it's very tempting to stick around when you
    see so many boats fishing together; you ask yourself "they must be
    getting something - why else would they be here?
    
    Gordon

    	I'm looking to find out the names of some charter boats in the
    	Newburyport or Salisbury area that goes out for Blues. I'm
    	hoping to go out this weekend. Any help would be greatly ap-
    	preciated. 
    
    	Thanks,
    	Scott

 Eastman's in Seabrook NH goes out for blues at night. A very short ride from 
salisbury.

    You'll find one at Plum island point in newburyport Ma. Call
    1-800-427-1333 for their schedules.  It is called "Captain's Fishing
    Parties.

    Another one in Newburyport is Hilton's.  I like to go out with 
    them from time to time.  Sorry, I don't have a phone number for
    them.
    
    	tt

    	Thanks for the help. Went to Captains Fishing parties and got 10
    	between us.
    
    	thanks again
    	scott

    
    Whilst shavin' this morning I had the Today show on and caught the
    end of a segment about the Blues.  The commentator said that a
    school, in what she called a "feeding frenzy", started to munch upon
    some unsuspecting bathers.  Apparently they went for their feet 
    thinking they were baitfish... yikes!  In closing she said that one
    swimmer received 34 stiches.
    
    You're just a snack. 8)
    
    Tim
    
    

    
    
    RE-1	I read in the Telegram and the Globe that the blues were
    munching on beachgoers/swimmers at Hampton beach.Lifeguards had to
    clear the water after 5 persons were bit,one requiring 34 stitches. I
    guess the Blues are getting tired of getting picked on and are bitting
    back :-)
    
    
    	Frenchy

    Actually, Mark, two weeks ago I was at Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard. 
    This is a clothing-optional beach for those who don't know.  I did do
    some nude surf-casting, but made sure that I didn't go in past my
    knees.  I caught a bunch of small blues 2-3 lbs to boot!
    
    Tim
    

    
    Tim,
    
    >>I didn't go in past my knees
    
    I'd still be worried... 8)
    
    Tim
    

    Well, if I went in any further, I'd have reason to worry!! ;-)
    
    Tim
    

    re:-1
    
    	Tim, are you trying to say that a certain part of your anatomy
    resembles a sand worm ;-) Sorry, but when you leave an opening like
    that I just couldn't help myself.
    
    	I went down to fish the river on the Salisbury side Monday and
    heard the usual, "Ya shoud'a been here this morning" line. I did fish
    a lousy part of the tide (3 1/2 hours of out-going.)
    
    	While I was drowning some worms hoping for some pollack, I heard the
    blues were breaking on the surface just to the left of the Salisbury 
    reservation beach (about 500 yards from me.)
    
    	It would seem they're running the river in the morning and the
    beaches in the afternoon. A guy I work with was going to try the Plum
    Island beach after work yesterday so I may have some info to add later.
    
    	RAYJ

    should 've been here yesterday.  There no blues at the mouth of the
    river this morning.  I "heard" they were really packed in there
    yesterday.........
    
    Mark,
    

    re: .last few
    
    	I was down on the Plum Island side of the river Sunday morning
    	At about 5:00 AM, the guy beside me got a few small blues (about
    	6 lbers). This was about 2 hours before low tide.
    
    			Robert.

I went out Yesterday and the blue were everywhere. We got in the water at about
5:15 am and fished until 10:30. Hooked up to about 15 fishes boated 11. We were
catching them one after the other. It was great! I was fishing the mouth of
Merrimack. When we left they were still everywhere just had to get home.

Also went out Sunday morning. Got in the water about 8:00 and was catching
fishs until about 9:30 and then they turned off or I lose them. A friend fished
for 5 - 10 am and was catching fishes all morning until 9:30.

						Jim

    Actually, it resembles an a gigantic striper eel, not a sandworm. ;-)

    RE: 15.11
    
    	Asks about the effects of Bob on the Striped Bass.
    
    
    What about the effects of Bob on the Blues?  Did Bob bring warm water
    with it because of its low pressure wind direction? Will the fresh
    water streaming into the coastal waters push them out?
    
    Don

    
    What about bluefish in the Bar Harbor/ Arcadia National Park area??
    Any chance of hooking up with some up there ??  I'm heading up and
    would love to get into some blues while I'm there....
    
    (Also posted in note 15.13 for stripers)
    
    Thanks for any info...
    
    Gus
    
    
    

    re: .20, I just called two bait shops in the Merrimack R. area.
    
    Neither had any real info on Bass, because no one has been out striper
    fishing.  They didn't think the added water would affect them in the
    river (but they weren't real convincing).
    
    Back to the subject, Bob churned up the water and there are lots
    of weeds in the water.  The heavy chop and east winds have pushed
    the blues inshore.  They said they have been catching blues off the
    beach when it's been an east wind the last couple of days.
    
    Mark,
    

    
    	Did any of you Blue fishers see the story about swimmers getting 
    bit by blues?  One fellow had to get over 30 stitches after one nibbled
    on his foot!
    
    	Never saw one myself, except in pictures.
    
    	CP
    

re:                     <<< Note 16.21 by SYSTMX::SURRETTE >>>
    
>    What about bluefish in the Bar Harbor/ Arcadia National Park area??
>    Any chance of hooking up with some up there ??  I'm heading up and
>    would love to get into some blues while I'm there....
    
	My guess is that there are blues up there by now.  There are
	party and charter boats out of Bar Harbor itself that go for blues,
	but I've been out on another smaller party type boat run by a 
	commercial diver/fisherman out of Southwest Harbor (I *think*)
	on his new lobster boat.  His kids are the mates and we always 
	visit them when we go up there.  Last time we were the only 2 on 
	the boat!  If you don't catch fish, he takes hands out numbers and
	goes to his lobster traps.  #1 gets the legal lobsters from the first
	trap hauled in, #2 the lobsters from the 2nd trap, etc.

	I think the name is the "Mako Queen" or something like that.
	They have brochures at the usual spots.  

	Ken

    Any post-Bob news from Plum Island?  I'm going out tonight to try out
    a new 5.2 oz 8 1/2' stick.  Will go to Portsmouth where there are
    usually small blues unless there's encouraging news from another venue.
    
    Heard on the radio a fisherman was swept off the sand bar last night.
    Seems like once a month.
    
    Jack

    
    
    Blues:
    
          The day after Hurricane BOB- which kicked the shit out of
    the Cape. But it pushed all kinds of fish in. Check the striper
    note if you are curious about the stripers. As for the blues
    they were every where. I had the opertunity to give a beach
    full of spectators a lesson on catching blues and what are all
    those fish on top of the water. I was using a trebel hook weighted
    and casting into the schools of pogies. Snag a pogie, blue fish
    latches onto pogie- real em in. Well after brining in about 15
    half eaten pogies and making a mess of the beach I decided to 
    cast a blues buster into the school. Bingo! Blue fish with
    no guts on the beach. Alot of fun until my 3 year old son threw
    one of the pogies at my wife. You know the story- lets go NOW
    dear.
    
    Oh well- it was fun while it lasted!
    
    The best was when I was leaving with my 12 ft surf caster and
    some guy ask me if there were any fish he could catch with
    his kids Mickey Mouse zebco's! I said I dont think so!
    
    
     Wildman

     Shoulda said "sure, just cast your biggest lure under those squawking
    birds yonder" and watched the fun. :-)

    Blues were at the mouth of the Merrimack yesterday afternoon.  We
    got in on the very tail end of the action.  The fish were at the tip of
    the Salisbury side jetty.  I managed to catch two schoolie stripers and
    a small 2-3 pound blue on a rapalla before the action died.  I got
    a 10 pound blue way up river later last night on an eel while striper
    fishing.
    
    Mark,
    

	Nailed the blues on a night party boat out of Pt Judith RI
	friday night.   Won the pool with a 17 lb blue caught on a
	medium action 8' rod with 17' test.  What a fight! 

	I think it was their last trip for blues this season.  They're
	now going out for tuna.  Boat was the Gail Frances.

	Ken

    Blues were running on the Eastern Point jetty in Gloucester Saturday
    afternoon on the incoming tide.  Ten and twelve pound fish, some
    bigger.  They were right on the surface hitting fast-moving poppers
    and rabbits cast into the channel from the tip of the jetty.
    

    This may be old news to you folks, but it was new news to me last
    night.
    
    The speaker at our club meeting last night was a marine biologist with
    Con Ed. He talked about what they do to monitor the marine habitat near
    their influent and effluent areas.
    
    Seems that blues are caught off the jetties around the effluent of
    Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant all year round. The only drops in
    population occur when the plant has a shutdown. When that happens, the
    temperature drops and the blues and other "warmwater" fish inhabiting
    the area die off.
    
    Anybody ever fish around the Seabrook jetties?
    
    
    John H-C

    
    Do they glow?  8) 8) 8)
    
    TTheo

    
    Blues in the salem and south  boston power plant outlets are
    common even in february. School stripers are also caught year
    round in these spots.
    
    Bruce

    I've caught school stripers at the Salem power plant in Jan/Feb.  Air
    temp 10 degrees, water temp high 60's.
    
    
    Tim
    
    (haven't caught any bluefish here, but I may try plugs this winter, or
    maybe jigs)
    

Ditto with the Brayton Point power plant in upper Mount Hope Bay.

Art

This is very true.  I *regularly* fish off the Pilgrim powerplant.  People
on the jetties don't get very many though..You really need to be in a boat,
lures moving into shore don't attract very many blues as it is unnatural 
to them.  Also, you only want small atoms, preferbly blue/white with white
tails (after all, fish also want a piece of tail).  I've sat there in my
boat and caught as many as 30 to 40 fish at a time.  It's great fun.  All
the fish there tend to be 5-8 lbs.  /Eric (who did this yesterday!)

    Anyone still getting bluefish north of cape ann (newburyport area)? 
    Went out 2 weeks ago and got about 10+, kept a few and released the
    rest.  Looks like it will be the last time this season for me, they
    start removing the slips after Oct 15.
    
    We haven't had any good storm so I think they should still be here.
    
    Gordon (still looking for the 20 pounder)
    

 Some guy was fishing off the coast of NH recently when he came upon what he
thought was a pod of blues chasing pogies. He trolled through the middle of
them and hooked up right away. He pulled in a 20 lb atlantic salmon. reported
on the usenet.

    I would have killed him for trolling through the middle!!  Idiot!! No
    wonder he only caught one...
    
    Tim
    

    HELLO, ANYBODY HOME????????????????????????????????????????????
    Anybody been nailing any blues yet.
    With all those striper reports in note 15 I would think that
    they might latch onto a blue in among all them schoolies!!!!!
    
    Headin down the Cape the 20th for a ten day vaca!
    I hope the blues will be in and around the canal by then.
    But if not I hope we can nail a few keeper stripers on the evening
    tides.
    
    If anyones catchin them yet, whatchya gettin em on???
    I'm going to try the old faithfull green tiger back 6" rebel
    and the 6" yellow broken back bomber. We were getting both 
    blues and stripers on them last year just trolling the mouth
    of the canal on the bay side near the power plant.
    And on the West side near the Maratime ship and out around
    the Mashpee flats. 
    
    Good luck everyone! 
                                        I got the blues on my mind.
                                                                   Scott.
                                                                         

    I just heard from my son who heard from a friend of his who was on the
    Vineyard Memorial day weekend that the blues are thick there. Everyone
    on the beach was catching them. Big ones too -- 10 lb range. That's
    heavy for this early in the season.
    
    I would guess the south side of the Cape would be a good bet right
    now. 
    
    Good luck.
    
    Art
    

    Thanks for the info Art. If their around the vinyard then I'm sure
    theres a few schools running through the Canal also.
    
    Sounds good. By the 20th they should be all over the Canal!!!
    
    10 pounders!!! Maybe the bigger ones are on their way.
    I'd like to get some in the teens this year.
    
                                                        Scott.

    
    
       I got three on cut mackeral in the canal on wednesday under the 
    r r bridge. All were in the 27" range, good fun but i wanted stripers.
    
      K.H.

    Tony Chamberlain in the Globe Fishfinder today also says they're in the
    canal along with lots of schoolies. (I usually don't believe much of
    what's in that column, but if it's confirmed in here I figure it's for
    real).
    
    Have fun.
    
    Art
    

    
    	I use Tony for a intuition confirmation ...ONLY !
    
    	Some of the Bait/Tackle shops aren't to interested in the truth
    	either, but they are interested in you buying tackle and bait...
    
    	But, for a real live-action report:
    
    	  The south cape beach in Mashpee was very active with blues last 
    	  saturday at day-break.  7, long lean and mean blues were brought
    	  in with surface plugs (bombers, poppers).  Chunk-bait fisherman
    	  were doing even better.  The blues averaged around 18" and
    	  4-5lbs.  Good enough to GRILL !!
    
    	  I maintain in the early season at least, tide has little to do
    	  with propensity to get a blue hit, taking it for granted there
    	  are no marine-geographical advantages (sandbars, jetties, or 
    	  mini-penisulas) I feel day-break, and late afternoon, sunset.
    
    	Good luck to all, I plan on quite a few more entries to this note
    	and the Bass note.
    				

	Good to hear someone singin the Blue's....

	Chomp Chomp here they come....

	I'll be in Harwichport this weekend and will give them a go.

	Thanks for report
	-< Tuna Tail >-

  Went down to Race Point this past weekend, Got my over sand permit and
had the line in the water early Saturday and Sunday. Still slow out there.
The only thing I saw was about five flounder pulled on. 

  Even though there was no fish it was still a good weekend out there.


                 Mike

	re:.47
		Mike thanks on last weekend's Race Point report.
		Will be trying Newburyport area this weekend and see what's up.

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    The party boats go a hit of Bluefish Monday in the Hampton/Newburyport
    area. The guess would be that they are the early scouts. 
    
    Steve

    
    	I forgot the Grill Report:
    
    	   We started this season in style with blackened bluefish out on 
    	   the deck with a few cold ones. 
    		
    		Just in case no one's every blackened their blues...
    
    		All you need is :
    			Gas Grill w/ burner on side "real handy"
    			1 cast iron skillet (spider) "large"
    			Oil (I use the med.$$ olive/veg mix)
    			Chomper Fillet
    
    		Pour in enough oil into the skillet to bring it up
    		to a 1/4"-1/2" deep.  Put the burner on high, keep
    		an eye on it, its ready when the oil just starts to 
    		smoke (400').
    
    		Take a fillet, sprinkle on some Paul Prudhomme's 
    		cajun seasoning just a coating.
    
    		Lay a fillet in the oil, it only takes 1-1.5 min. 
    		per side for a 1" thick of fillet, adjust accordingly.
    		
    		Hints: Make sure after you rinse fillets, that you pat 
    		dry all water off the fish before you season, and before 
    		you put the fish into the hot oil.  Reduces spattering.
    
    		If you don't have a side-burner; I used to just pat level 
    		the lava rocks and lay the spider right on the rocks.
    		work just fine.
    

      Even better if you substitute the oil with lots o' butter!
                                 Denny

    
    	No can Do !
    
    	Butter will burn at a much lower temperature than needed to
    	fry the fish...
    
    	Butter if fine after the fish is cooked...However, I find that
    	nothing beats cajun seasoning, or just the plain fish.  
    
    	By the way I skin the fillets, I don't like the cooking the skin
    	however, I have done it, and it takes some practice to skin a 
    	fillet without tearing the flesh.  
    
    	T_C

Once you know how, it is trivial to skin without tearing the fillet.  Flounder
are a bit harder as they stick to the board in one direction and slide off
in the other.  Cod/Bluefish are easy.

	re: .53

	<Once you know how, it is trivial to skin without tearing the fillet.

	Directions: Have solid flat cutting surface (wood/plastic etc)
		    Put Half fish filet with skin face down
		    Take long "Razor Sharp Knife" in one hand.
		    Grab skin at tail end gently lifting up tail with
		    hand resting on cutting surface.
		    Take knife and at aprox 30 deg angle gently pear away the
		    skin away from the meat to about an inch from the 
		    tail end or untill you feel that there's enough skin
		    for your hand to obtain a good grab on.
		    Then grab that portion of skin firmly with your hand
		    resting gently on the cutting surface and place the knife
		    in between the skin and meat at the 30 deg angle again
		    but now very firmly agains the skin and the cutting 
		    surface without actually cutting any of the skin away.
		    Then maintaining the pressure of the knife against the
		    skin and the cutting board make sure the hand with knife
		    "does not move" either the hand or angle of the knife.
		    You now take the hand with the small piece of tail skin
		    and firmly pull the skin away from the knife position
		    keeping the skin angle low close to the cutting surface.
		    And "voila" seperation occurs.  minimum loss of meat.
	     Enjoy
	-< Tuna Tail >-  PS: for Tuna substitue "Chain Saw" for Knife.

       Recipes I've seen say to use at least a half pound of butter and to
    do it outside if you don't have an industrial strength range hood.
    Plenty of smoke, but it's supposedly doable.
                                 Denny

    Bluefish  are now in the Merrimack River.  Not alot of them.  I don't
    know how big either.  While striper fishing with eels last night we
    had a couple chopped up - a sure sign the blues are here.
    
    Mark,
    

    Last friday night I got one blue on a white bucktail jig down at
    the RR bridge on the canal. the fish was as skinny as a rail - but had
    it been fleshed out it would have gone 12+ pounds easy. That was the
    only one I saw all evening. They're comin'!!!
    
    			Robert.

	re. 57
	Robert,

		Nice fish.
		Keep the reports coming.
		I'll be down the cape for 1st 2wks in August.

		Gonna B fun 
		Inda sun
		Blues onda Line
		I likes it fine.

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    
    	I think the anorexia is going to be satiated !! CHOP CHOP !
    
    	I'll be down in the south cape, buzzards bay area this weekend
    	watching for birds, and relaxing with mackerel sushi, and poppers!
    
    	Report back on Monday !!	
    
    	I got the blues bad...

Went out yesterday to the NW corner of Stellwagen Bank.  Blues, blues and more
blues.  Most were down deep.  Caught a few on poppers and some on swimming
plugs.  The rest were caught trolling.  Got a total of about 40.

They are skittish.  We encountered hundreds of them finning just west of the
bank.  Two hookups on poppers.  The rest spooked.

Tim

Tim,
	Nice catchin and thanks for report.
	Keep um comin.
-< Tuna Tail >-

    Blues everywhere!!!
    I was out along the Buzzards Bay side of the canal from the 22nd-26th.
    First day we launched the boat kind of late in the day but managed to
    pull up two Stripers trolling opposite the tug boats on the side of the
    canal. No keepers but one was 30 inches about 8 or 9 pounds.
    
    The next day we headed out for the incoming tide and cleaned up!
    Came home with 9 big Blues all around 8 pounds. Lossed alot to.
    We where chasing the Churns from the Maritime ship out to the 
    Mashpee flats. You could see the Blues jumping out of the water!
    We got all of them on Rebels and Bombers, a couple on silver spoons.
    
    Did good the latter part of the week too but it was tough fighting the
    wind. The flats were white capping in the afternoon.
    
    Going back down the weekend of the fourth. It should be alot nicer
    fishing the morning tides because you generaly don't get the wind
    on morning high tides. I think it's a noon high tide Saturday.
    
                                     Can't wait to get more!!!
                                                               Scott.
                                                                        

    RE: .62
    
    	Keep your eyes peeled for the Canal Patrol boat if you're fishing
    where I think you are, across from the Maritime Academy.  They frown on
    people fishing from boats in the canal and they will at least make a
    spectacle of you, or ticket you if they've been too busy in that area.
    	I'm guessing also that you mean the Mashnee (not Mashpee) Flats
    over near Mashnee Island??  It's good to hear that you did well as I've
    got the job of putting a friend from Ohio into some Blues and Bass. 
    Too bad the only day that's good for him is Sunday...  I expect it'll
    be a real zoo out there!!!
    					B.C.

	re.62
	Scott,
		Sounds like a great time had by all.
		Thanks for report and hope you do equally well on 4th wknd.
		I'm gonna try to see the Constitution do it's turn around and
		listen to the Boston Pop's from the Charles on the 4th.

		I wonder if Blues come in the Charles??? Hmmmmmmmm

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    RE:63
          Mashnee, your right. The Patrol boat never bothers us
    there,"across from the tugs". We stay just outside the edge of the 
    Canal. If the Canal was busy I'm sure they would hassle us. But as
    long as your under power and safely out of the way they'll leave ya
    alone. Also we only make a few passes so as not to piss them off.
    
    RE:64
          Blues in the Charles, couldn't tell ya.
    
                                                      Scott.............
    
    NO RAIN ON SATURDAY!!! and thats an order!

	re: .65    >>NO RAIN ON SATURDAY!!! and thats an order!

	Scott..........

	I hope your Karma is working Scott.
	I'll be doin the Charles and Boston Harbour and back for fireworks.
	Maybe I'll do some trolling while in the Charles and check for Blues???

	-< Tuna Tail >- aboard the FishTeaser

    So much for my order!!!
    Engine trouble Sunday but fixed that and headed out to the Flats
    Monday and got six Blues and five Stripers!
    No keepers on the Stripers but there fun to pull in anyway.
    Seems the Blues are going to be around for a while. I hope so!
    Won't be going back out for three weeks. 
    Now I really got the Blues.
    Good luck to all the Canal fishermen, and save some for me!
    
                                                                Scott.

    
    Hi everyone,
    
    I'm headed out bluefishing tomorrow down the Cape and intend 
    on taking a few home for the grill.  I'm also planning to drop
    a couple of filets of at my parents house on Monday.
    
    My question is, would it be better to freeze the filets until
    Monday or pack them in a cooler filled with ice ??  I'd prefer
    not to freeze them, as I believe you lose a little of the freshness,
    but I also don't want to risk having the fish spoil.  
    
    Of course all of this becomes moot if I don't catch anything !!!!!
    
    Thanks !
    
    Gus who likes the 4-5 lbers best for eating !!!!
    
    

    Bluefish are notorious for not freezing well.
    

 Don't freeze them.

 Fillet them as soon as is practical after you catch them. Rinse them in
(clean) saltwater- not freshwater! Pack them in ziplock bags, and put in
the cooler with plenty of ice. So long as you keep them ice cold, they'll 
easily last to monday.

 The Doctah

    Thanks alot !!
    
    I just wanted to make sure they wouldn't spoil.  
    Hopefully, it'll be a BIG grilled bluefish dinner
    tomorrow night !!!
    
    Gus
    
    

    	Although I would prefer not to freeze them, I have had very good
    luck freezing small (2-5 lb'ers) in ice. Put the fillets in a pan,
    cover with water and freeze, remove from pan and put in a bag.
    
    	I haven't found anything that seems to work well with the bigger
    ones. Definitely remove as much of the dark red meat as possible,
    especially the strip that runs through the middle of the fillet.
    
    	RAYJ

    They'll be fine. Your only talking a couple days.
    I always go by the the three day rule. Any longer than that with
    fish or poultry and they begin to loose flavor and go bad.
    
    Yo Doctah, I have never washed my Blue filets in salt water.
    I filet them as soon as possible then rinse them in the kitchen sink.
    What does salt water do?
    
                                                      Scott.

>IS IT A FLAVOR SAVER?

 Yep. A captain whom I have alot of respect for admonished me to never let
freshwater touch a blue fillet. I didn't, and we prepared the fish using
his recipe and it was delicious. No sense fixin' what ain't broke. :-)

 Actually, I think that a freshwater rinse leads to a fishy taste, but I'm 
not sure why.

    If your a salt lover, rinse in salt water.
    
    I prefer to rinse in fresh water. Havn't had a bad one yet.
    
    Its really personal choice.
    
    Enjoy, 
    
    JIm

    	Here's what works for me:
    
    	Bleed the fish while it's still kicking, cut either it's gills or
    it's tail.  Believe me, it'll bleed out fast!
    
    	Fillet and skin the fillet immediatly and put it on ice.
    
    	Whatever you rinse it in, fresh or salt, don't rinse it any more
    than you have to.  I've never found much difference in the taste
    between a fresh water rinsed and salt water rinsed fillet.  It gets
    really blah tasting if you over do your rinse.
    
    	Throw it on the grill with the dark (skin) side down.  In about 2
    minutes flip it over and you can scrape the dark meat off much easier
    than you can cut it off before it's cooked.  Flip it one more time and
    you've got a great tasting grilled bluefish fillet that's browned on
    both sides and has no dark meat.
    
    	My favorite is with a little Paul Prudholmes Cajun spice on it.
    Other options would be to cook it with slices of tomatoes and oranges
    on it (don't knock it till you try it!), spreading a little mayonaise
    on it before it's cooked, or just plain lightly buttered.
    
    	I like the little 3-4 lbers. the best but if the fish is treated 
    properly the size isn't that important.  I took a friend out a few
    years ago and all we could find were 12-14 lbers. (Bummer, huh?) and he
    fed about 15-20 people with them that night.  He cooked them with the
    tomatoes and oranges and everyone loved it, even the people who claimed
    to not like bluefish.
    
    	And.... DON'T OVERCOOK IT!!!
    
    					B.C. 

Fresh water rinsing of a salt water fish does not harm the flavor.  If it is
not cooked very soon after contact with fresh water, it does become mushy, i.e.
it loses some texture.  I always rinse in salt water on the boat and 
occasionally in fresh water just prior to cooking.  DO NOT RINSE IN FRESH WATER
PRIOR TO FREEZING!  I suspect RAYJs method of freezing in a block of ice has
this problem, although it works for him.  I notice a difference.

Tim

    	re:rinsing
    
    	I seem to see more of a difference from the "temperature" of the water 
    rather than whether it's salt/fresh. Since the ice you use isn't salt-water 
    ice, by the end of the day, you typically wind up with the fillets in very 
    cold, but fresh, ice/water.
    
    	If you wash a bluefish fillet in warm water, you can literally see it
    turn to mush right before your eyes. As Tim said, the less rinsing the
    better.
    
    	RAYJ

Except if you're smart, you'll toss some kosher salt in the ice/brine with the
bluefish.  Makes 'em a lot colder (almost freezes them).

    ...or freeze milk jugs full of water. The Water never touches the fish.  

    re:79+80
    
    	Sounds like good ideas. I've done the milk jugs before and now I
    typically just use ice packs in my cooler (same thing I suppose).
    
    	Unless I get small blues, usually the only thing I ever do with them 
    (and mackeral) is smoke cook them. This tends to remove and/or overpower 
    the stronger fishy taste in these fish anyway. After smoking the fish, I
    can freeze it and it does fine.
    
    	Something I heard one of the mates on a head boat say appeared to make 
    sense too. A guy had placed the fish he caught in a bucket of (salt) water 
    on a sunny day. The mate told him to dump the water because he was cooking 
    his fish. The guy didn't listen. At the end of the day, when the mate
    cleaned his fish, you could visable see the difference in his fish. They 
    were so mushy, even the mate had a hard time cleaning them. In this case, 
    the fish was cod, but the same would probably apply to any fish.
    
    	It would seem that no water is better than even salt water if it
    isn't kept cold. On this particular trip, I covered my fish with a
    burlap sack, to keep the direct sun off them, and they were fine.
    Certainly much better than the fish the guy had in the salt water for
    the same amount of time.
    
    	RAYJ

Re: .-1

The important thing to note was "bucket" and "sunny".  If you put them in the
fish box in water, they more or less stay alive.  Keep the water cold and no
problems.

 Yep. And also, I was referring to _rinsing_ the fillets, not storing the
whole fish. Always keep the fish cold.

    
    	I guess this is the beauty of fishing, ask a simple question and
    get any number of answers, such as -
    
    ============================================================================
    Note 16.74
    WAHOO::LEVESQUE "Now we fade to black..."
    >IS IT A FLAVOR SAVER?
    
     Yep. A captain whom I have alot of respect for admonished me to never
     let freshwater touch a blue fillet.
    ============================================================================
    	
    	and....
    
    ============================================================================
    Note 16.77
    11SRUS::LUCIA "Stop The Outfall Pipe"
    
    Fresh water rinsing of a salt water fish does not harm the flavor.
    ============================================================================
    
    	The problem is, both of them could be right. Can you say,
    AAAAHHHHHRRRRRRGGGGG!!!! I thought you could ;-) The following note 
    probably summarized it the best:
    
    
    ============================================================================
    Note 16.75
    PIPPER::BORZUMATO
    
        Its really personal choice.
    ============================================================================
    
    	RAYJ

       Well, I thought it would be three weeks.....
    But, I couldn't hold out. Goin back after them Blues this weekend!!!
    Heading out of Buzzards Bay Saturday morning. Fishing through till
    Monday. We plan on filling the boat a couple times.
    
       My Father said my Brother and He got 15 Blues last weekend and
    that they lost about the same amount. So I figure We'll clean up this
    weekend. They were all around 8 to 10 pounds so I guess the big ones
    are starting to come in. 
    
       As far as what kind of water to put the in; Who gives a chit!!!
    As long as we catch alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I'll report back Monday night as to how we did.
    
       If any of you fishermen got a CB, give me a call on channel 15 or 19
    Saturday morning between 10 and 12. I'll be heading from Marlboro to
    Buzzards Bay. Just call for the "Blue Fish"!
    
                                                         Scott. 

    	A friend of mine went down and fished the Merrimack river from shore 
    near the toothpick yesterday. He was fishing with cut bait (mackeral). Got 
    a few stripers but no blues. I was kind of surprised. He said he got a lot 
    of hits that he just couldn't hook into so who knows.
    
    	On a different note I happened to see people pulling in pollack off 
    the Hampton bridge one night last weekend. It seems the bridge lights
    attract the sand eels which attract the pollack. I've fished for them
    when they were running with silver/white rapallas with good luck, but
    only after dark, nothing during the day.
    
    	RAYJ

	The FishTeaser worked all shifts this long weekend and did well.
	We launched from Salisbury Beach State Park Ramp at noon Friday
	and except for out of water time midnight to 5:00am Sat she was
	in the water till 3:00am Sunday morning.  Only bad weather was
	during out sleeping time which had a brief rain storm pass by.

	Fished the Merrimack mostly at the mouth but did go out about
	3 miles and caught a few out there also.  Ocean was calm all weekend.

	This trip I didn't do any fishing as I was host to some friends,
	my son and his friends and a Brit Simon Moxley whom I met in via
	this NOTESFILE.  All 6 aboard not counting me caught fish.

 	They all caugbt Blues and the best time was the Friday 6:00pm 
	to Sat 7:00am shift.  Before and after that it was slim pickins
	but we did continue to bring in Blues all weekend.  Last two
	fish aboard were Stripers caught around 2:00am Sunday morning
	near North jetty at the green can.

	About 30 Blues were caught/released over the weekend. 
	Simon caught the largest Blue a nice 32" 10 lb fish. His largest ever.

	The two Stripers were caught by my son....his first and only Striper
	caught at age 8 he's 22now it was 28" he was a happy camper.
	His friend caught a nice 34" fish.  What a thrill.  He's never caught
	one before. He's moving to Houston soon and this was a get together.
	-< Tuna Tail >-

    We did real well on blues on Saturday, three of us caught about 50 fish
    ranging from a 7 lber to 13 lber.  The small one was caught at the
    mouth of the Merrimack and the rest were caught 4-5 miles out from
    Boars head off Hampton.  Many times we had 2 fish on and a couple times
    had 3 and 4 fish on.  Four fish on with 3 anglers is interesting.
    
    Went out Sunday and caught 5 in the Hampton Shoals area.
    
    One of the best weekends fishing in a long time.
    
    Gordon
    

    There was a good schools of blues about 2 miles east of halfway rock
    yesterday. I was comming in from a whale watch and picked up
    for in about 15 minutes. My 5 year old cranked two of them in while
    I kept the rod (and him) from going over the side. The look of
    determination on his face will be a long lasting memory.
    
    Bruce

    Howdy,
    
    There was a decent bluefish blitz at the Red Rock section of Lynn
    Swampscott harbor yesterday.  I heard that they were there most
    of the day in varying numbers.  I live a block from there, and got
    home at around 6:30 pm, and got word.  I grabbed something to eat and
    headed down there around 7:30 or so.   Started off losing two at small
    ones before landing the first, about 5 lbs.  They continued hitting 
    until 9:45 (probably later except I only had a couple poppers with
    me and lost them both).  The bigger fish came is as it was getting
    dark, and ranged up to 12 lbs or so.  Ended up with 10 caught, and
    many more hooked and lost.  They seemed to like an orange atom popper,
    and silver/green rebel Pop-R best.
    
    A nice surprise to go home to !!
    
    Gus - who has to restock his supply of poppers.......
    
    

FYI, I was on the north end of Casco Bay (near Popham Beach/Mouth of the
Kennebeck) a week ago and there were a number of nice blues around.  Fishing from
shore I caught 3 in the 3-7 lb range (loners mostly) and ran into one run of
10-12 lbers chasing pogies into the rocks.

    The good news.   
    
    Got a 12 lb beauty a couple miles below Southport Island (Maine).
    
    The bad news.
    
    Never having caught a bluefish before I sure screwed up something
    in the preparation.  Threw ice on the fish in the box on the boat.
    Bled the fish.  When I got home (1 hr later) fish was finally
    dead.  Gutted fish but still very bloody so took a lot of water
    (fresh) to rinse.   Stored in plastic bag in fridge about 5 hrs
    and then grilled fish whole.   Taste was excellent but consistency
    was so mushy as to be inedible.
    
    I cook other species of whole fish with regularity and haven't had
    this problem.  The previous notes and comments from another fisherman
    in our group indicate that the fish probably absorbed too much fresh
    water when cleaning, but I'm not sure how I could have used less.  The
    fish was never immersed in fresh water so it was either the ice cubes
    or the rinse after gutting.
    
    Any ideas how to approach this?

    	Not sure if bluefish have the same sort of nervous system as a
    tuna, but if they do, this may explain what happened. 
    
    	A salt-water fishing paper I read had a detailed procedure on how to 
    prepare a tuna. One of the steps they did, which is permanently burned 
    into my memory because of the bizarreness of it, was to remove the meat in 
    the soft spot on the fishes head so as to expose the front end of the 
    fishes spine, and then run some 400# leader wire down the fishes spine to 
    destroy its nervous system.
    
    	The article went into some detail as to why this was done.
    Apparently, the fishes nervous system triggers the excretion of a 
    chemical to help it adjust to variations in water temperature. This
    system, in a tuna anyway, is supposed to continue to work for some
    time, even after the fish itself has died (automatic reaction). Placing 
    the fish in anything significantly colder than the water it just came
    from would trigger the excretion of this chemical. The article went on to 
    say that if you don't do this step, that the fish will basically start to 
    chemically cook itself from the inside out.
    
    	Normally, most people fillet blues on the trip in. Party boat trips
    tend to be half-days vs. full-days, meaning the fish is filleted fairly 
    soon after it's caught. This, if it applies to blues, may explain why
    the meat was like mush if you left the fish whole vs. filleting it.
    
    	As I said at the beginning, I'm not sure if this applies to any fish 
    other than a tuna. With the price per pound that is usually gotten for 
    tuna, it makes sense to do this, but I doubt it's worth the effort for a 
    bluefish. Since you can probably fillet a blue almost as quickly as you 
    can gut it, it may be worth the extra minute to try that next time. 
    
    	RAYJ

    
    	We will be fishing this coming weekend out of Wells for blues. Did
    anyone fish there during the Labor Day weekend and if so how was the
    action?  Any info would be appreciated. 
    
    
    Ken

Planning on heading out to Race Point this weekend. Anybody hear of any action 
out there lately. I got my off road permit for the Natl Seashore in May,
an this will be the second time I've had a chance to go out.

         Mike

    My cousin reported a friend of his was blue fishing and was boarded by
    fisheries inspectors inside of Block Island a few weeks ago.  The
    inspectors advised the fishermen that the Bluefish limit inside the
    3-mile limit is ten (10) per angler.  They had 19 over the limit and
    were fined $50 per fish ($950).
    
    I was not aware of such a limit.  Does anyone know if it pertains only
    to Rhode Island?  Sounds bogus to me, but $50 per fish is pretty
    expensive seafood if the limit applies to the rest of New England.
    
    
    	-mike-

>    I was not aware of such a limit.  Does anyone know if it pertains only
>    to Rhode Island?  Sounds bogus to me, but $50 per fish is pretty
>    expensive seafood if the limit applies to the rest of New England.

 I believe this applies to the atlantic coast, though it may only be the 
northeast. 10 blues per person per trip seems quite reasonable to me...

re:96
    >> inspectors advised the fishermen that the Bluefish limit inside the
    >> 3-mile limit is ten (10) per angler.  They had 19 over the limit and
    >> were fined $50 per fish ($950).

    Sounds like a bit harsh to me for bluefish.  I don't ever keep blues as
    I don't care for there taste so never paid attention to any restrictions
    on limits etc.  Appreciate the info.

    You didn't mention how many fishermen were on the boat?  If two then
    that meant they had 39 fish aboard.  That's the best bluefish report I've
    heard so far this year?  Anybody else hear of more???

    -< Tuna Tail >-

    Federal limit of 10 fish per angler. More than enough.
    If you want to keep more get a commercial license.
    
    At 10lbs a fish, using the 1/3 rule, each angler gets 33 pounds of
    fillet. Since they don't freeze well this limit is more than fair.
    
    Bruce

    RE: 98 - 99
    
    There were two fishermen.  They had 39 Blues, 19 over the alledged
    limit.  Some of the catch was made outside of the 3-mile limit, but the
    inspectors levied the fine for the count found at the scene.
    
    I have no objection to imposed limits, and I abide by all limits that I
    know off.  The laws should be available to all coastal fishermen.  I still
    don't know if the limit is Federal or one used by RI only.  I'd hate to
    learn of a new fishing law by being and unknowing offender of some
    esoterical law.  The risk is too costly.  If there's a law - tell us
    what it is and who it affects.  Some of us would like to know.  That's
    *my* point.  
    
    I can find out about Maritime issues from the Coast Guard's "Local
    Notice to Mariners."  Who passes down information on salt water fishing
    regulations?  How do I know I have the latest information?
    
    Most salt-water vessels fall under the new fee system.  Seems to me that
    some of the $$$ could be used to inform us of changes in the fishing
    laws.  Or is that taking money out of some congeressman's pocket?
    
    
    	-mike-

  re: .100

	Mark,
		Thanks for the follow up on the blue fine.
		Agree with you on getting the info out there.
		Seems as that kind of fine would be posted at bait/tackle
		shops like the size limit on Stripers?

	Oh well.  too much to ask.

	-< Tuna Tail >-

	Major blues action out on the Gail Frances/Pt Judith RI
	friday night 7pm to 2am.   Only 17 people on the ~90ft boat.
	Beautiful full moon and high tide, nice calm night.

	Everyone caught blues, and one guy pulled up a small bonito
	(pretty fish!).

	I boated at least 20 blues, all but 3 released.  Must have had on
	and lost at least 20 in addition.  They'd hit the bait (cut herring)
	so fast they were hard to hook.  Feeding like crazy. Even hooked, 
	they'd squirm off before being boated.  Great night for fishing!  
	My biggest blue was 14 lbs.   A 17lb fish won the pool.  

	Ken

	At the Cape I went out of Wychemere Harbour in my brother-in-law's boat
	Sunday about noon.  Kinda windy but the seas were calm along shore.  
	Some white caps off shore.  Not many other boats fishing.

	We went past Hyannis and did some trolling but only nabbed one.
	I caught about a 12# Blue on an 8" deep diving rebel.  Had difficulty
	landing this one.  Thought it was a bigger fish even a keeper bass.
	As it turned out it was fowled hooked.  Front treble in lip,
	middle treble in gill and tail treble almost catching a 2nd Blue
	that was running cheek to cheek with the hooked Blue.

	Kept it as we have a friend who just suffered a heart attack that
	eat's fish daily.  He appreciated this nice size blue.

	-< Tuna Tail >-

	

    
    
    	The bluefish have gone south from what I found Saturday.  I fished
    all along Plum Island and Halibut Point and marked nothing but
    mackeral.  The Mackeral are in heavy at the mouth of the Merrimack
    river, I caught about 50 in about 2 hours.  It is alot of fun on real
    light tackle but still not has much fun as 10Lb blues.
    
    	George (JOY III)
    

If the mackeral are around, any signs of stripers in the Merrimack?

Any reports?

Thanks,

Joe

Joe,

The stripers should still be around -- they're in the Beverly area, although not
as thick as I would have thought...  Liveline some of those spike mackerel and
you should catch some nice stripers.

Tim

       Does anyone know what is going on with the Blue fishing north of the
    Merrimac ? 
    In past years we had been catching fish for some time now.
    
    A couple of comments I have heard are; the fish are spawning and the 
    water temp. is to low ?
    
    thanks
    Paul