Where did the big blues go?

The lack of big bluefish was quite apparent. last year, and the final results of The Fisherman magazine’s Dream Boat contest illustrates that situation.

For several years there was a substantial run of jumbo blues into bays and rivers of NY/NJ Bight in late April and May which produced so many 15-pounders that the bluefish minimum was raised to 15 pounds. There were usually even bigger blues entered in the fall. Yet, last year there were only four blues entered in the spring and just the winner of 16.2 pounds in the fall as the last four places in the top ten went unclaimed by the best anglers from North Carolina to Maine.

There were decent quantities of small blues in the Bight during the summer and a few large ones among the abundant stripers in Raritan Bay during a brief period in the fall. Since stripers were eliminated from the Dream Boat as a conservation move, blues have usually been the largest of the seven species involved, but last year it was a 16.26-pound blackfish which won the contest for Bobby Cifarelli. Actually, he tied with Kyle Krause at 33 points. That huge tog became the tiebreaker as the biggest fish.

Bluefish have been regarded as a cyclical species in the past. There were periods of great abundance followed by almost complete disappearance. There were hardly any adult blues when I was a kid growing up on Long Island, even though we caught lots of snapper blues each summer with our cane poles. Hal Lyman of Salt Water Sportsman postulated a seven-year cycle, but after adults reappeared in the 1950s they grew bigger every year — and have never disappeared.

The present strict regulations will hopefully end the waste that prevailed during the prime years and limits the commercial fishery for what had been a cheap fish, but is now of greater value.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported another beautiful day on the water Monday as there was lots of bergall life on bottom and a couple of cod boated plus one tog and some shorts. The pollock caught were shorts and went back.

Wednesday starts with south winds at 25-30 knots that increase to 30-35 in the afternoon along with 9-14-foot seas and showers.

Capt. Joe Massa with both a bluefish and striper from a “secret” spot.