Thought nearshore water temperatures had warmed enough to try again to find some Bonito, Bluefish or Spanish Mackerel. Took my son along for this trip.
Forecast was 1 to 2 feet, 10 second interval. Nah. More like 3 feet on 5 seconds. Slow roll out.
Head sea out, much better coming back.
It was bouncy enough, and Easter, that I figured we might be the only knuckleheads fishing nearshore. So, decided to go to some public numbers that might be pretty crowded on a calm weekend day. Did not see anyone else fishing except inshore on the run out and back.
Fished in 50 feet of water, over structure, trolling Clark spoons on Number 1 planer. Trolling speed 4 to 6 mph by GPS. Never put out more than two lines. Water temperature 60.5.
Caught many Atlantic Bonito and Bluefish. No size, particularly, for either. Largest Bonito would have gone around three pounds or maybe a bit more. The Bonito wanted a faster trolling speed and we caught almost all of them trolling with the current. Few hook ups going the other way. No Spanish, water temps maybe still a bit too cool.
My son got out the fly rod and caught one bluefish the hard way. I love flyfishing but it really isn’t the right tool in 50 feet of water unless the fish are right on top. While he was fly casting caught some on a gold Hopkins spoon on light spinning gear.
Threw back many, kept 10 Bonito and two Bluefish. Bled all the Bonito. Some bonito consumed as sashimi, some smoked and made something like lakerda (salt cured) with some. All delicious. Smoked the bluefish, wonderful as well. Sadly, the Bonito don’t hang around long.
My son showed me a new one he learned at a sushi restaurant. Smoked fish mixed with mayo then combined with sushi rice in nori. Kind of like a cone, use the nori the wrong way with multiple wraps around the filling. Awesome, if you like smoked fish and the taste of nori.
Nearshore should be good for at least a little while.