Rough Surf Fishing for Bluefish by Bayside Dave

Posted on October 3, 2024 by bayside425

The morning of October 1st, I met with Ed Valitutto, John Steubing, and Alan Goracy at Surf City Bait & Tackle. We picked up bags of fresh mullet, mullet rigs, and headed out to the beach mid-island. The tide was coming in, a strong wind was blowing from the northeast, and the water was rough with a strong current but we were in a prime spot. We set our spikes, rigged up our lines, added bait, and cast into the surf. Despite the challenging conditions we managed to catch a few nice-size bluefish in the three to five pound range. After three hours of fishing we were running short on bait and decided to call it. The four of us had fun sharing laughs and catching fish. On days where it’s too rough to take the boat out, surf fishing is a great alternative.

Posted in Member Reports

Membership Form

Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.