Conference wahoo::fishing

    	Starting to get psych'ed about tommorrow. I'll be going out
    on an all day trip out of Chris's (Plum Island) tommorrow. From
    what I heard about the slow bottom fishing, bluefish will probably
    be the target. I talked to a guy I work with that went out on Hilton's
    last Sunday. He said he was off the coast of Maine and massacred
    them. I'm hoping we'll do the same. I'll have a full report on Monday.
    
    Hoping_my_arms_still_aching_on_Monday
    
    RAYJ
    

    Folks beware.
    
    	Last week the blues off the Cape pulled thier annual disapering
    act.  Just about the entire cape was fishless.  It happens ever
    year but usally latter in the month.  They come back in about a
    week to 2.  Hope they are all back for you folks.
    
    Bassin Bob
    
    You know some strange things happen this year to the deep blue.
    No whales lots of sharks many strippers and blues leave early?
    
    Whats happening???????  lets here some opions.
    Bob
    

    		If you think about it, the fishing isn't the only thing
    thats been strange this year. I know New England weather is notorious
    for changing but this years ridiculous. Check some of the old fishing
    notes for reminders of weather conditions. Although just an opinion,
    this past week has been the start of some cooler nights and for
    the first time in about a month it hasn't rained everyday. Thats
    the only obvious thing I can think of.
    
    If_you_don't_like_the_weather_wait_minute_and_it'll_change
    
    RAYJ

    I'm glad that I'm not the only one that thinks that this weather
    is the worst it has been in years. Some support for the "weird"
    conditions comes from the Science Mags. They report that the volcano
    activity has been up these last two years and that is one of the
    major reasons for the flakey weather patterns we are not enjoying.
    I guess the jet stream keeps moving all around as a result and has
    lost its stablity of the past years. The south is in just as bad
    shape from all the reports, especially the southeast............
    Oh ya, cold winter coming too. That should just make my year.
        
    I haven't been able to find fish two days in a row in the same places.
    Now that is not the way its' suppose to be. Anyone else having any
    "luck"? I'm talking consistant type, not the spotty kind. I've never
    had the spotty kind :^)
    
    Anyone for Florida??? At least I "know" you can catch fish there.
    
    Tight lines, Ron

    Yes, and there's a scarcity of tuna this year too.  Guess they're
    not too pleased with the weather conditions.  We've been catching
    the blues, nice ones, out at Halibut Point.  Gonna cook em' up
    tonight for supper.  I stil like catching them better than eatin'
    em.
    

		Well, the fishing wasn't great Saturday but at least we
caught a couple of blues. About 20 blues on a boat of 38 people. The pool
was split by a pair of 14 lb'ers. We fished for blues for about 1 1/2 hours
and every 4th fish was a blue. The rest were sharks up to 4'. About 1/2 the
people on the boat wanted to go deep so out we went for cod,cusk, haddock,
etc.. Only one decent cod was caught (about 5 lbs.). After we got out there
and fished for awhile, the 1/2 of the boat that wanted to go out realized we
should have stayed put. There were sharks everywhere.

	I have a tip to cleaning blues. It may be well known but I'll put it
in in case some of you don't know it. When skinning a bluefish, unlike other
fish, you don't run the knife as close to the skin as possible. You want to
leave about a 1/4" of meat on the skin. The reason for this is that it is all
dark meat. Dark meat on a bluefish makes deer fat taste like a delicacy if you
get my drift. If its skinned right, you should have a strip of dark meat about
1 1/2 wide running right down the middle of the fillet. This dark meat looks
like a wedge running through the meat. The easiest way to remove it is to cut
it out as shown below.

				\     / - knife cutting angle
   side view of fillet - |        \ /         |
			 
	If done right, you wind up with 2 good pieces of meat from one fillet.
Once this is done, you can cook it as you would any other kind of fish. The
trick is to remove ALL the dark meat possible. Contrary to what you might have
heard, bluefish is a good tasting fish. I had some Saturday on the grill 
wrapped in tin-foil with butter, salt, pepper, garlic, and lemon and it was
excellent.

	Bon Appetite...............RAYJ

    check the oceanography notes for more on the changing weather patterns
    and there effect on  marine life. look around 39.

    This weird weather has had it's effects down here in Jersey, too.
    The season started off like gang-busters, with really consistant
    action with blues from late May until late July. As usually happens
    down here we saw declining sizes as time passed, but 2-pounders
    still fight like hell on light tackle. However, the start of August
    brought on the summer doldroms. Ususally this goes on for about
    15 days, and there is usually a scattering of fish in the surf.
    This year, its well into the 3rd week of no blues. Also, the only
    bait we've seen in the wash has been spearing and an occassional
    pod of bunker (menhaden).
    On the bright side, Friday night I did come across some short stripers
    that were chasing spearing between the beach and a sand-bar. But,
    due to the fact that the usual mix of bait (sand eels, anchovies,etc)
    was missing, one had to "match the hatch to catch". The right
    combination proved to be a 1/2 oz Atom Swimmer with a 2" bucktail
    teaser up front, and swimming right on the top. This combo even
    enticed a fluke to come up and take the teaser. This has been the
    only action on the beach in quite some time.
    Hopefully the remains of Charley made have stirred things up enough
    to get some action going. I'm heading to the beach either tonight
    or tomorrow (wife permitting) to check it out. (Of course with my
    luck, the beach is washed away!)
    
    Tight lines,
    Beach Bagel Rich
    
    P.S. Hey RAYJ - enough garlic makes anything taste good!!!!! 

    
    et al bloo's..
    
    		mibbe that bloak 'massacred' too minny aff the
    		coast o Maine??????????
    
    
    					trapper
    
    
    				

    Spent Labor Day at Plum Island with GC.... My first surfcasting attempt,
    nothing.  Unless of course I can count the bogie(?) that I snagged,
    it was ALMOST AS BIG AS MY LURE 8^)...                 
                                                          
    Nobody got anything... 
    
    Oh well, maybe next time
    
    Don Mac   (but i DID get another 5lb bigmouth fri night!!!)    
                                
                                   

    Just got back from Rhode Island where I spent 4 days looking for
    fish, any fish.  I was fishing from a rock jetty in Westerly a couple
    miles up from Misquamicut beach.  The others on the jetty caught
    a couple sea robbins and a small flounder.  I was ready to give
    up when I saw a crowd on a bridge over a tidal river at just about
    low tide.  Snapper blues, the biggest about 3/4 lbs, were chasing
    bait up the river.  A local lent me a lure; surgical tubing over
    a long shanked hook and 4" of broomstick as a bobber, and I started
    casting across the water.  The action was fast and furious; even
    when I didn't catch one, it was fun to watch them attack the lure
    and fun to watch the baitfish jump in front of the bobber thinking
    it was a babyblue.  The action stopped as suddenly as it started
    when the tide started to move in.  I went back again and it was
    an instant replay; the most fun I've had fishing all summer !!
                                       
    Steved

    Re: .10
    
     BOGIE?!?   Don, could you mean Pogie, aka: Bunker, Mossbunker,
    Menhaden? If it was silvery with a deep body it probably was. Next
    time you snag one, try either live-lining it or cut it into chunks
    or fillets and try bottom fishing with it.  I have never seen bunkers
    (pogies) without at least a few blues, bass, or weakfish in the
    vicinity. 
    Better luck next time.
    
    Rich  - {beach bagel}  

    Bogie, pogie, hogie... something-gie...
    
    Yea, it was silvery, a pretty fish.  They say that it's a bait fish,
    and normally comes in with the blues right behind them, chasing
    them.  But, noooooooooooo, not on Monday anyway...
                 
    Don Mac     who_likes_them_BLACK_fish
                 

    Just above the jaws behind the eyes there is a nice filet
    of white meat on the larger blues.   This is the one that 
    closes the jaw (and the one that gives "chopper" his name).
    
    \s\Rick
    

    I have a small (18 foot) boat and go out of Point Judith, R. I..
    I've had some luck out about a mile or so from the Harbor of Refuge.
    Not great, but caught some nice ones between 10:00 and 11:30
    Saturday, 8/23, then they left.
    
    Does anyone know why they just quit at a certain time? Also, I went
    out on 9/6 and 9/7 late in the afternoon and had absolutely no hits.
    
    Are the blues gone for the season? Are they coming back? We used
    eels on the bottom, as I'm not set up for trolling.
    
    Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! Also, my boat is
    really too small to venture out to Block Island except for maybe a
    really calm day, so I'm limited as to how far I can go out.
    
    I have a digital readout depth gauge (OMC Tracker 2000), so I can
    tell how deep I am, but can't pick out things like troughs or ledges
    too well, although I can pick out a drop off to a certain degree.
                                                          
    Thanks for any tips!
    
    Bill K
    

    Re:.15
    If you were staying in one area the entire time, the fish you caught
    from 10:00 'til 11:30 were probably holding on a particular structure
    that only provided forage at a particular tide stage. Quite often
    the blues become notorious for feeding only at very specific tidal
    periods. This relates to currents, temperatures, and, of course
    the presence of bait. 
    Your digital depth finder can help you find blues if you can find
    drop -offs. They like to hang on the down-current side and ambush
    bait being swept over the edge.
    I doubt (hope) that the blues are gone for the season. The trend
    for the past few years is for them to stay later and later each
    fall. Down here in Jersey we still see them as late as December,
    with October and November being prime time. Since these runs are
    fish migrating down from New England, keep trying up there!
    
    Tight lines,
    Rich  who_is_heading_for_the_beach_tonight_

Re: Cooking Bluefish

Contrary to common sense, I feel that Freezing the fillets actually
improves the texture and flavor of Bluefish. Mid-winter they taste rather
akin to swordfish. Don't know why..I expect the freezzing might break down
the oil or something...

I also remove the dark meat..I don't think it tastes that bad actually
but my family is not crazy about the fishy taste. I dont take so deep a cut
as to create 2 pieces of meat , just get the most of it. I have heard that
the PCB's widely reported a few years ago in Boston Harbor Blues was
concentrated in this dark meat.

The critical thing about bluefish is to ice the fillets as soon after death
as possible. The meat turns to mush rapidly. As soon as the fish is caught
I nearly cut the head off and place head-down into the bait-well which
drains overboard, to bleed the fish. For some reason , bled bluefish are
much tastier, both fresh and frozen. If they are coming fast or I want to
defer cleaning, I move them from bait-well to large boat cooler and ice
them down whole after gutting. The resulting firmness facilitates cleaning
later and keeps them fresh.

We usually broil with lemon juice and butter or grill outside.
Vrobel pan fries chunks in burnt butter and soy sause which makes a nice
cold snack....

Sometimes we have polish surf and turf up at the Isles of Shoals.
Grilled Kielbasa and Bluefish.....rocky

Chowder tip: Don't throw out those lobster shells and bodies. Simmer for a
few hours to make a wonderful chowder base, add bluefish,spuds,veggies and
and some cream or milk at the end and you have a wonderful chowder. My wife
also further reduces this base to make a lobster_bisque-like sauce for
cod which is out of this world.

         I'm a new reader to this file.  In response to .15, I also
    fish out of Pt. Judith, R.I.  I have for the last 8 years or so.
    The first year I didn't venture too far past the west gap or center
    wall.  The problem with that area is that the fishing is too
    unpredictable.  This tends to be true of a lot of close to shore
    or harbor type fishing.  Bluefish are chasing pogies all over the
    place and it's hard to stay on top of them.  They are here one minute
    and gone the next.  You might not find them in the same place twice.
    So I decided to take my 17' center console out to the Block Island
    area.  The difference is like day and night.  The bluefish that
    are 5 miles off Block Island are feeding on sand eels.  The tend
    to congregate over bottom structure like the East Grounds.  Bluefish
    are there 90% of the time from May to November.  The do come and
    go during the day depending on the tide and current.  You might
    be doing 5 to 8 pounders from 8AM to 11AM.  Then it dies for 2-3
    hours.  Then a group of 12 to 15 pounders invades the area for several
    hours.  This is an area that you will find the charter boats from
    Gallilee.  They are there because they can depend on these areas
    to produce fish for their charters.  You don't find them chasing
    schools of pogies around Narragansett bay.  An 18' boat is quite
    adequate to make the trip to Block, and the fishing is mostly within
    5 miles of the island.  The north end of the island is about 9 mi.
    off the pt. so you are always within about 5 mi. of land.  Out of
    about 15 trips a year, I'll find maybe 3 that the water is too rough.
    I've had a Wellcraft V-20 for the last three years and that makes
    it more comfortable.  I strictly either troll umbrella's with tubes
    or use jigs.  I don't really like using bait.  I have the numbers
    of several locations so if the fish aren't in one area,  we just
    go to another.  I would be happy to show anyone my methods and areas
    - no secrets.  Also anyone that would like to make arangements to
    "tag along" is very welcome.
    
                                                        Paul