Fish on: How to have a ball in a blitz

Where did the mild weather go?

After a great spell of early fall weather it all ended with a rainy day and a 20 degree drop in temperature along with a strong northwest blast that cleared the decks. The winds were so stiff last Saturday it was not even remotely ideal fishing weather. But for those who braved it or who were shielded by land masses, the albacore were there for the taking and several nice bass were plugged up along the rocks at Gardiners.

There was even a 15-pound striper caught by a bottom fisherman fishing from a boat inside Coecles Harbor, for Pete’s sake!

And yet, after spending seven hours in the rips off Montauk on Monday and landing 19 albacore on flyrods with Mike McConnell, I didn’t see a single boat hook up to a bass or any from the beach, either.

With the full moon just passed, huge high tides and water temperatures dropping, the fish should be waking up, so if you can get out, go!

Here’s How Corner: Between now and the end of November, the larger game fish will be eating all they possibly can to fatten up for their long migrations to the south. This is the most exciting time for light tackle anglers since they might be able to actually see the fish before the fish see them and allow the caster to get very close to fish.

The last several times I’ve gone fishing I’ve discovered several schools of fish that were feeding on the surface. Some of schools were full of bluefish or albacore that were casually pursuing baitfish up to the surface and chasing individual baits until they ate them or the quarry escaped.

If you come on to that kind of situation, the fish are spread out quite a bit and you can cast between them or at them to try to get them to hit your lures. You will often be able to see individual fish chasing individual baits and if one misses the poor critter, his wingman usually doesn’t!

While any fish on the surface is pretty sporty fishing, the real thrills come when the whole school of albacore or bass or bluefish attack a whole school of baitfish in a very small area and we call that a “blitz.”

When the blitz is on, the bait is leaping wildly out of the water for safety, the game fish are equally wildly pursuing and jumping out of the water to land in the baitfish school and are almost entirely ignoring any boats that are quietly drifting near them. It is pure mayhem and very noisy too, with the birds screeching as they dive on the blitz in hopes of picking up some morsels, and the fish smashing the surface or, in the case of bass, thumping into the sides of your boat as they go by. A full scale blitz has its own beat that will stir your blood.

So what do you do to catch the fish that are blitzing? First watch a bit to enjoy the scene and see what’s going on so you can judge what kind of fish are in the mix. Blues and bass often mix together in blitzes and blues and albacore do as well, but usually bass and albacore are not together in these tightly packed killing areas. The bass simply open their mouths and plow on through the bait, catching dozens on each pass. The blues and albacore are more single target-oriented, but can also get piggy if the situation presents itself.

Next, slowly motor up to the blitz trying to get “up tide,” or up wind of the action so you will drift into it.

But be mindful of other boats and don’t ruin the blitz for everyone by pushing right into the center of it.

You’ll know when you have done something stupid like that since the anglers in other boats will very politely scream at you for your transgression.

Once you’re positioned, cut your engine within a reasonable casting range and throw smaller lures at the fish. Why small lures? Because the bait that the fish are eating are usually no more that 3 to 4 inches in length so big lures will be largely ignored in the blitz itself.

Try throwing 5-inch Zoom “Fluke” jerk baits in white or pearl on a size 4/0 weighted hook with a 1/4-ounce weight on the hook shank or a small Deadly Dick with a single 2/0 hook on it. But whatever you throw, don’t use lures with trebles on them since you may catch a fish by snagging it and that’s not what we are about. Blitzes will continue to happen right through November so you still have time to go get ‘em.

I’m off to Florida in a few days and will report again in about two weeks. If you have questions or have info for me or photos to show me, contact me at [email protected].