blues feasting on large bait...help

[mikev]

was out on saturday in Hempsted harbor, west side and spent 4 very frustrating hours on large blues eating 14" herring or bunker. I of course threw every fly I had at then, but not one strike. Why would they when there was 10s of thousands of big baitfish in the water much larger then any fly I own. I did get to watch one blue bang a baitfish and then continue to hit him not more then 15 feet of my bow for about a minute. unfortunately for the bait he could only make right turns. After about a minute both the bait and the blue disappeared. Anyway, how do you convince one to bite in those conditions. It was fun, but it could have been so much better. The blues were all 10lbs or better. By the way, I was using a 9wght with poppers, decievers, snakeflys, squid fly, assorted colors... HELP:confused:

[BIGE]

I find it really odd that you didn't get any. Usually blues are so voracious that the size and pattern don't matter much.

With bait that big I would put on the biggest fly I had with some red in it and tried drifting the fly with a little twitch. Like a bunker that's been bitten in half but is still kicking.

Also try working the edges of the bait/blues. Less competition for attention.

That's still weird that you didn't get one, though! Tough break.

[FLYRODER]

Start tying some Sedotti Bozo Slammers bunker pattern and you'll get more than a few hookups. Fish the fly at the edges of the bunker schools using a very fast sinking line let the fly sink and strip slowly and hang to your rod real tight.

[fmw]

Bluefish on large bunker is often the most exciting sight one sees fishing the North Shore of Long Island -- where tunoids are often few and far between and where the bass (while there are plenty), don't show themselves on top in the same way they do in Montauk.

However, in my experiences fishing around Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor/Huntington, when the big 10 lb.+ choppers are on large bunker, it is often very difficult to catch them on any type of artificial, be it fly or plug, and these offerings are ignored. I've found in this situation, the blues are usually only willing to take the live bait (which itself is often 2 or 3 lbs). They will aggressively chop in half a swimming bunker within seconds of when it is placed in the water. However, like the above post suggests, try the very large Sedotti slammer on a sinking line and see what happens.

[stevec]

MAybe you did everything right and the gorillas wanted flesh instead of feathers. I usually carry my surf pole around while I am fly fishing for such instances. Its a pain in the ass but it worked for me 1x this season. I actually got the idea from another fly fisherman.
It freaks me out how a bluefish can hack up bunker the way they do.
Watch your fingers!!!

[oldman]

try a sinking line. some times they just won't take a fly close to the surface. i've fished 325 qds in breaking fish and had more fish hit then with a floating line. some times they just like the fly to be deeper.