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2021 was the year that Blue Fin Tuna became the new striper

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codfish

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Starting in the end of June the number of 30 to 60 inch bluefins for me were off the charts, later in the season August when they got on butterfish:eek: they were tricky to catch but small 5 inch 3oz 4xxxx swim baits were money:) lets hear about your 2021 Tuna experience??  

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6 mins ago, C.Robin said:

Not an accessible enough fishery to be compared with stripers.

I'm a shore bound fisherman, so it's basically moot to me - however, from what I understand, these fish had moved in close enough to shore to become a viable fishery for those who typically only fish inshore for stripers and other inshore fish

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3 mins ago, Gotcow? said:

Sometimes reality sucks.

In SoCal when the bluefin move in close, there’s hundreds of tiny skiffs out there trying to catch one of those fish. People just go crazy with excitement at having a shot at one of those fish out of their small boat. 
 

I’m not really sure what kind of reality you’re talking about. If you’re saying your reality sucks because you don’t have a boat or can’t afford to charter one with your friends to go chase bluefin for a day, then that’s your reality to deal with. Not sure why you have to rain on or try to ruin a really cool thread about the local inshore bluefin that has absolutely nothing to do with you since you clearly don’t fish for bluefin. Just move on and deal with your reality and don’t ruin it for others. 

(*member previously known as 'SoCalStripers')

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2 mins ago, WindAndWater said:

In SoCal when the bluefin move in close, there’s hundreds of tiny skiffs out there trying to catch one of those fish. People just go crazy with excitement at having a shot at one of those fish out of their small boat. 
 

I’m not really sure what kind of reality you’re talking about. If you’re saying your reality sucks because you don’t have a boat or can’t afford to charter one with your friends to go chase bluefin for a day, then that’s your reality to deal with. Not sure why you have to rain on or try to ruin a really cool thread about the local inshore bluefin that has absolutely nothing to do with you since you clearly don’t fish for bluefin. Just move on and deal with your reality and don’t ruin it for others. 

No one is crapping on bluefin fishing or denying that this years inshore fishery was better than usual. It’s just not at all similar to the striper fishery.

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3 mins ago, C.Robin said:

No one is crapping on bluefin fishing or denying that this years inshore fishery was better than usual. It’s just not at all similar to the striper fishery.

It seems like Codfish just wanted to talk about the summer’s bluefin fishing and see what worked for guys that got on some bluefin. 
 

They’re obviously very different fish. 

(*member previously known as 'SoCalStripers')

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This year was the first time I caught a bluefin.  I went twice with my brother in Maine last year on his boat, anchored up and drifting.  Hated it, bored, wet, no fish.

 

This year I decided to get tuna on my terms either trolling or casting.  The stars aligned with my buddy and his big Intrepid being up from Florida and we set off for south of vineyard rec class fish.  It was rough but fun.  Hooked up with 5-6 fish, biggest was about 50" and we caught on jig spinning rod.  Both of our young sons got to feel the power holding the rod.

 

Subsequent trips by myself were futile.  Either the weather was too rough for my 17' whaler or it was tuna wishing.  I tried a few times to get into the topwater stuff but fall and small boats are hard.  Plus it always seemed to clash with albie fishing days.  Last year was first albie for me and I was relentless in learning the fishery.  Got much better by the end of the season which allowed me to really get after them this year.

 

I learned a lot about tuna from reading threads and seeing what didn't work.  Bought a lot of super expensive gear that I realize is now very overkill.  Can't wait for next season, will attack early with lessons learned from 2021.

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First trip ever we ran my friend's 21ft CC south of the Vineyard toward the claw. Didn't even make it to the area we were targeting when we saw a huge pod of dolphins. Set the trolling gear and immediately doubled up on 50lbers. Didn't even get the spread out again before getting a third. Switched to trolling ron-z's on spinning gear for the lols and caught 5 more then called it a day. We fished south of block several times and the claw a couple more times mostly trolling bars and jigging. Most trips we landed one fish on the troll. Had a couple trips where we got hit, but didn't seal the deal. Had a couple where we didn't get hit at all. Tried giants on Stellwagen once (so boring). In the fall my buddy sold the 21 and bought a Parker 23 cabin. We fished east of Chatham on every possible weather window. Most trips we caught 1-2 fish in the 70lb range. Had a couple days on another friend's boat we got 2-3. One day we got bored of trolling and went to our cod spot, then tuna just started busting all around the boat. I had several days where we were literally surrounded by acres of busting tuna for several hours but just couldn't get hit on spinning gear, very frustrating. Most productive lures for me were green machine bar, widow maker side tracker, and silver ron-z. For my first season doing it, I would say we were very successful.

 

 

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The past few seasons my buddies and I have been starting to get into the offshore game. Both canyons and inshore (BI, MV, Etc etc) and this year was our best year yet. trolling was almost always a sure thing at first light and even a few hours into the sun rising. What jumped out to me the most was the amount of bait and marine life that followed. Seeing whales and dolphins and even threshers ripping the bait apart within sight of land was quite a sight to behold. Nat Geo type stuff! 

 

Catching BFT on spinning gear, in my opinion, is one of the best angling opportunities the Northeast has to offer and I hope that this resource continues to gain popularity and therefore protection. Should be interesting to see what the next few years have in store for this fishery.  

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