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Chasing Bluefish Video

The day before we arrived, there were 60 fish pods of Bonito destroying bait in the cove we were parked in. The bait was there, but today was an exercise in frustration. The wind was outrageous. The forecast said 15 to 25 but it was more like 35 sustained. Bonito like clean, clear water and the tide was pushing out, approaching dead low and getting dirty fast. It was apparent that the fish had headed somewhere more suitable to their predatory nature and it was our job to find them. Jeremy knows the Rhode Island coast like the back of his hand and has been chasing Tuna species long enough to know what areas they prefer, according to tides and water conditions. We motored up and down the coast for hours, sacrificing our bodies getting beat up bad by the surf. Every once and awhile we would spot them, make a drastic change in direction and be in them. The problem was they were only showing half-heartedly. They would stay up on the bait for a brief time, usually just out of reach from the boat and going down quickly. Then they would pop up again further away as they terrorized giant balls of baitfish. On the second morning the wind had laid down and we found ourselves smack in the middle of a decent number of them. Jeremy would watch them feed get a pulse on them, fire up the motor and drop us right in their path, a hundred yards away. We watched them work the bait up the slick towards the boat, the anticipation was out of this world, I was shaking from head to toe. I had at least a handful of shots at them before they decided to pull the disappearing act again. Meanwhile, giant pods of Bluefish were

erupting all along the coast. There were literally thousands of them, the birds were going crazy and bait was flying everywhere. When you are trying to get a Bonito on the boat the Blues can be quite a nuisance and distraction but it was driving me crazy. I told Jeremy it would be cool to redeem myself and throw a few casts into the mix. So he motored us out ahead of the blitz and put us into the perfect position, with the wind behind my right shoulder. The waves were ridiculous; I had a tough time steadying myself to even be able to get the cast off. After several attempts and repositioning the boat I was finally able to get in the game and lace one up! It felt great after getting beat up by the Bonito for a few days. I’m not going to throw in the towel though; I’ll be back out for a shot at those Albies in a few weeks. Thanks again, looking forward to chasing the hard tails real soon!