I have probably spent more time fishing for bluefin than any other pelagic. Bluefin are very exciting to catch and also frustrating at times.
Trolling cedar plugs fast in the early part of the season is the most action filled
fishing I know of. I know things are not as they should be with the bluefin population and
hope we can save this noble fish. In years that we have done well, we have been signalled
early on by the abundance of sand eels. A sure sign of a good bluefin year is when we
catch bluefish, bonita, etc. in early June which contain lot's of sand eels. When this
happens, I know that I can go to several hills inside the 20 fathom line and spot clouds
or balls of sand eels with my fishfinder. These marks almost always precede a knockdown or
even multiple hookups......but let me back up here before I get ahead of myself.
In mid- June, I tend to leave the dock around 4:30am and run towards 20 fathoms as quick as I can. Often I have an experienced crew and we get the
lines in pretty quick. I normally pull a bird, several vinyl squid and a green machine
daisy chain on the center line way-way-way back. The other lines are all triple cedar
plugs; sets of black, blue and white, red and white, and also natural. I like to drag a
total of 5 lines in rough, crowded or hotbite conditions. If things are less hectic, we
drag 7 lines. We have caught more fish on black or blue and white plugs on the long rigger
lines than any other combination. At times the natural plugs work well right up close on
the flatlines. Also a "zuchinni" tuna clone is hot at times real close to the
prop. We seem to do better fast. I used to catch bluefin best at 8.6 to 9.5 knots on
Humility. Daybreak does best around 8 knots but by my own admission does not raise bluefin
like my old boat. I know of boats that can troll at 10 knots without planing and they
outfish a lot of slower boats. My crew and myself have done our best when we have gotten
the jump on the crowd of boats and found bait and tuna on a hill. Hookups can be one after
another for a couple hours or more. By 9 am the bite is often over and usually lot's of
boats are around. This is a good time to put on a #3 1/2 drone spoon and #2 planer in
place of a flatline and exchange the plugs for ballyhoo/seawitch rigs. Ballyhoo was very
effective in 1996 for bluefin and saved the season for us in 1999. Red and white was the
hot color in 1996 and pink was prefered in early 1999.
By early July, one of two things normally occurs. Either the fish begin to shift their preference from plugs to lures like
the green machine run way back and ballyhoo or they quit biting altogether and must be
chunked. I remember, by the way when chunking was something completely new to Chincoteague
and only practiced by a few boats. The local boats and wachapreagers were pretty
skeptical. Back then it was done at what we called "the second set of pots'' which
used to sit just inside the 20 fathom line. They have been moved some thru the years.
Through the early and mid-nineties the chunking spots varied and the sport was a bit more
exciting to me as the fish might be chunked at any number of pots, several rough bottom
areas, wrecks like the ammo wreck and of course what was later to become known as the
"Parking Lot". In 1999, the Parking Lot finally fell to second in
popularity with the Lumpy Bottom the new hotspot. This area, too has been renamed as years
ago it was known as the seamount.