On a summer day, Elliott Taylor sent me a report saying adult menhaden had just moved into the lower Connecticut River. We knew what that meant — enormous, voracious bluefish must follow. Later that afternoon, Taylor and I launched in the river at Old Saybrook and motored south toward Long Island Sound, where we soon spotted large baitfish schools swimming nervously inside the breakwalls. Suddenly, a tell-tale swoosh — like a small wave crashing on a beach — spun our heads in time to witness hundreds of 15-inch menhaden thrashing across the surface, obviously pursued by aggressive predators below.
As we coasted into casting range, Taylor zipped out a 5-inch Rapala Skitter Pop, leading the frenzied school like a quarterback uncorking to a favorite receiver downfield. Moments after he started a chugging retrieve, a 17-pound bluefish crashed his plug and ripped out line against a tight drag.
Meanwhile, I cast a spinning outfit, rigged with a 6/0 treble bunker-snag, into the melee, and after just one rod sweep snagged one of the baits. Now, I had a perfect menhaden to use as natural bait for the bluefish. Quickly, re-rigging and casting it back out, I was ready for the bite. With my heart racing to match my line’s tempo, I counted to five, closed the bail, and leaned back into a fish matching Taylor’s beast. It was an amazing start to a world-class fishing day just a short ride from the launch, and we were the only boat on the action.
What Are Big-Head Bluefish?
Late each spring and into summer, bluefish ranging from approximately 12 to 18 pounds follow warming waters and baitfish into major southern New England estuaries like Long Island Sound. Fresh from their offshore spawn and lengthy migration from over-winter southern waters, these large blues are called “big-heads” or “racers” because they’re lean from their months-long calorie expenditure. They then earn the nickname “slammer” blues later in the summer when they’re fattened for the return migration south.
With a predictable annual pattern, big-heads first show in western Long Island Sound in May, where they exhibit strange surface behavior, possibly linked to remnants of their recent spawning ritual. They make fantastic surface sport for dedicated anglers in the know.
“Every spring, I consistently have excellent topwater fishing to big bluefish, and I have clients booking a year in advance to get in on this mid-sound deepwater thrill,” says Capt. Chris Elser, a pro with decades of experience. “These blues cruise the surface, making v-wakes, and from a distance you think they’re bunker (menhaden) or small fish, but then you get close enough to take a cast and you’re suddenly into a 15-pound gator blue. Big bluefish are the best topwater sport we have in the sound.”
Finning bluefish play the fool for topwater plugs, striking out of instinct or aggression rather than feeding, Elser says. “If you’re able to work a lure partly under the surface and partially on top—in the ‘surface film’—it creates a seductive wake that’s not too splashy and very predictable for them to track and ambush, especially when retrieved in a walk-the-dog fashion.”
The surface-finning phenomenon occurs in open-water depths of 70 to 100 feet near mid-sound—very uncharacteristic of more typical bluefish staging areas like rips or harbors. To take advantage of this annual event, you need good sun and light winds, conditions that are most prevalent from late morning to early afternoon. “No need to get up early or stay out late,” Elser adds. “This is banker’s hours fishing.
“Such conditions increase your chances of finding and hooking into these surface cruisers because it’s strictly sight-fishing. There’s a lot of open water out there, and if you can’t see them you won’t get the action. Once you locate the blues, you’ll soon find you’re tangling with 30-plus-inch (fork length) fish, with some real trophies of 36-plus-inch fish mixed in.”
The monster blues attack plugs, but Elser’s go-to lures are soft plastics because they create the subtle surface wake necessary to trigger consistent strikes. “I prefer durable soft plastics,” explains Elser, “that perform a great walk-the-dog retrieve. I’ve tried hard plastics like a Zara Spook and similar lures, and although they draw hits they don’t work as well, possibly because they aren’t directly in the surface film.”
Elser rigs the plastics with a weightless swimbait hook like a 6/0 Owner Beast Hook with twist lock. To the main line he ties a length of 30-pound fluorocarbon leader connected with a double-Albright to 6 inches of 30-pound knottable wire. He ties a non-slip loop knot from the wire to the hook to achieve the proper walk-the-dog action. This configuration works for surface plugs, too.
For an outfit that handles light lures but can also subdue big bluefish, Elser recommends a stout rod like a 7-foot, 10- to 20-pound-class stick rigged with a 3000- to 4000-class spinning reel loaded with 20-pound smooth braid.
Catch Bluefish with Bunker
Following May’s mid-Sound finning bite, big-heads move near shore and key on adult bunker schools, gorging on them along the Connecticut coast. Being zooplankton feeders, bunker congregate in the nutrient-dense harbors and estuaries of southern New England as the waters warm. Schools are easy to spot because they ripple the top or fin just beneath the surface in dark, amoeba-like masses.
Because they’re filter feeders, however, you can’t catch them conventionally. Snagging bunker simply involves casting a weighted “bunker snag” treble hook across a school and retrieving it with brisk, sweeping rod pulls. It’s important to hold your rod tip low to keep the rig in the water as long as possible, which also helps avoid having the snag rocket into the cockpit.
Many anglers quickly reel in a snagged bunker and re-hook it near the tail using another outfit already rigged with a single 8/0 circle , and then lob it back into the school. A live-lined bunker appears wounded and swims below and behind the school—the direction predators are coming from—and makes an enticing target. An 8- to 18-inch wire leader is import to prevent cutoffs from razor teeth. Once a baitfish is swimming, leave your bail open to avoid holding the bait away from the school. When a bluefish grabs your bunker, let it run about five seconds, flip the bail and set the hook as the rod loads. But don’t wait too long because that increases the chance of gut hooking.
Fishing Shallow for Bluefish
Large bluefish often settle into shallows to stalk random prey when not targeting bunker schools. Such fisheries occur along estuary perimeter waters like the sides of the lower Connecticut River. Not all depths produce strikes, no matter how fishy an area looks. You must put in your time and learn the spots and nuances of this sport. Bluefish under too much water can’t sense or won’t pursue a topwater lure. If bluefish are present and active, they’ll come up from maybe 15 feet to grab a plug—but not much more. On the shallow end, stealthy pros catch them in as little as 18 inches of water. The action in this range can be phenomenal.
Attach your main line of 20-pound mono or braid to a short leader of 45- to 60-pound flexible, vinyl-coated wire. Avoid single-strand wire because it changes the action of the plug and can kink. Many experts, including myself, simply use 18 inches of 60-pound mono because bluefish strike from behind and rarely reach the leader of a lure, and of course, it’s almost invisible.
For lure choice, a Musky Mania 7-inch Lil’ Doc in bone color fished in walk-the-dog fashion is popular, but also try other 5- to 7-inch floating plugs, which can draw savage, heart-stopping strikes right up to the boat.
Fishing Rips for Bluefish
The largest of Long Island Sound’s rips—the massive Race and Plum Gut—both of which are tidal entrances in eastern Long Island Sound, can hold big-head blues from late spring into mid-summer, where they fatten into true slammers by gorging on butterfish, herring and squid.
Giant bluefish appear regularly in the Race early summer and can stay for several weeks. The trick is to be there at the right time. During certain tide stages, like the first two hours of the flood or ebb, these monsters of 12 to 18 pound trap baitfish against the surface, their presence revealed by clusters of working birds and surface breaks. On calm days—the only sensible time to fish the turbulent Race—these blues make for world-class topwater action for anglers from three surrounding states (Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island). With the gators in such feed-mode, any 5- to 7-inch surface plug or 2- to 3-ounce metal lure like a Kastmaster is foolproof.
Fishing the Race on windless days is straightforward for anyone in a seaworthy (18 feet or longer) boat. Time your trip to arrive about a half hour after the slack tide when the current begins to move. Locate the small vessel fleet or cluster of birds, and run uptide of the action. Cut the motor and drift back toward the rip line, blind-casting or targeting specific breaks as you drift.
