Well, well. Look who's back. The bad boys. The blues brothers. Up close and personal. Coming to a jetty near you in Falmouth.
The wind slacked a bit at 6 and died at 8. I went out at 6:30, right after sunset and started tossing eels in the pond channel. The pond was swollen from all the rain and the outflow was phenomonal. First cast brought a massive hit; headshake, wiggle, signs of a bluefish. My approach with bluefish on eels is to jab quickly once or twice; try fotr a hookset, and if the line goes slack, open the bail and freespool immediately; wait for another headshake and jab, jab again.
This one took three tries before I got a hook up; evidenced by whitewater and an airborne blue. Last year I learned not to try and land big blues from the jetty; this year I was ready. I got the blue about 10 feet off the jetty at the tip, then hit the baitrunner lever. As I had hoped the blue went down current past the jetty and towards the beach side of the jetty. I was able to work the blue down the beach side of the jetty as I scrambled back to the beach where I landed it.
I love circle hooks for blues; the hookset was as perfect a location as you could wish for; corner of the jaw; teeth gnashing on the hook shank; leader not even nicked. In the waning light I admired the 30-32" perhaps 12 pound fall fat bluefish; a filled out version of the spring racers, with a deep chest and belly matching the massive head.
As it got darker I had s string of bluefish hits; some hooked up, most missed. I keep feeding the chewed up eel back until eventually its only a 2" head at which point I get another.
The last one was special.
I was on eel number 4; 2 bluefish landed; a couple others hooked and lost, a few others just plain missed. All good sized 10 pound plus blues.
The eel was meat; lacerated all over its body. I chuecked it across the channel; right at the opposite corner and had an immediate pickup. I waited; jab, jab, pressure, slack. wait, wait, pickup, jab, jab, heavy pressure, heavy weight, serious drag being taken.
The reel in question is a Shimano Baitrunner spooled with 20 pound test and drag set to about 8 or 9 pounds. It just went. I could feel tail strokes; much harder tail strokes than the 18 pound bass I had taken last week. the way the drag was going I was thinking big bass; 30 pounds at least. The weight of the fish and the way it found; just using weight to take line reminded me of the 40 pounder I had taken in Bournes Pond 2 years back.
The fish was across and outside the far jetty; I knew it was too big to land from the rocks and knew I had to work it across the channel; past the tip of the jetty and in to the beach on my right. With the fish out a good ways and riding the outgoing current, leading it was a joke; I was simply trying to keep the tip up and pressure on the fish.
After some period of time the fish came straight out from the tip of the jetty perhaps 30 yards or so out. I grabbed my flashlight out of my pocket; punched it on, and put it in my teeth; aiming it down the line to see the line angle. Still straight out. My eeling rod is a Penn Slammer which has incredible backbone when used sideways. I put the rod almost horizontal and moved the fish, still taking drag, so that it was past the tip of the jetty, still far out, but now controllable from the beach.
I very carefully backed down the jetty; maybe 20 rocks or so, rod tip held high rod raised over my head to avoid ticking the line on any jetty rocks.
I made a semi-mistake and tried to save a rock or two, jumping down into the wash; knee high with water washing over the tops of my boots. No matter; now on the beach I started working the fish inwards.
The pull was incredible; weight,plus power. The two 40 pounders I had previoulsy taken didn't have this much power; when this fish ran, the drag screamed. If you know my beach you know its a scalloped curve, perhaps 200 yards to the next jetty. Working the fish in I found myself walking the beach at a steady kid-speed pace; to keep even with the fish as I worked it in. About 50 yards down the beach I saw it for the first time two waves out. My mind had been thinking 48"/40 pounds. But the fish was short, way shorter than 48".
Huh? Bright side, forked dark tail; deep silver flash? Its not a bass; its an alligator bluefish! I had the devil of the time with the fish in the wash; it would not give up and kept diving under the surf and hanging 10' out and 4' down. Eventually I backed up and beached it; realized I was halfway down the beach, almost exactly in the middle of the two jetties. It had been a 100 yard fight!
I believe I might have caught longer bluefish; I once caught a 38"/18 pound bluefish in July/Woods Hole.
This bluefish was a shade longer than the 36" old-style keeper mark on my rod; perhaps a 37" bluefish. But its girth and depth of chest and belly was enormous. I grabbed the leader; pulled it up the beach, slacked the leader and shook it and the circle hook fell out of its mouth. Grabbing it by the tail I hefted its weight and guessed it was roughly the same as the 18.75 pound bass I caught last week. There were sea-lice all over the fish and it had that sea-bright look that the spring blues do.
Weighing it in with the hook already out of its mouth was stupid. Two hands on the tail, back to the water, aerate it a bit and amusingly watch it try and take a snap at my boots as I worked it too close to my feet and off it went.
Its been a few years since I caught a bluefish over 15 pounds; I had forgotten what a battle they put up and how they refuse to give up; fighting as this one did; right into the wash.