Back in the 80's, when this writer was growing up on Cape Cod, stripers were exceedingly scarce and the bluefish was king of the Cape Cod gamefish world. They were almost boringly plentiful, had plenty of big baitfish, like menhaden, to feed on and some of them did actually get quite large-- but, usually not anywhere near as large as most people thought.
They were so plentiful and large in those days, fisherman turned to trying to catch them on ultra light tackle to make a new, sporting game out of catching them. Hooking a 10- 12 lb Blue on a 5 1/2 foot ugly stick/ penn reel combo on 4 or 6 lb test made for some epic battles and became the light tackle game that presaged the fly fishing boom of the 90's when the stripers came back..
Now, to be fair, Bluefish are super tenacious, bull dog fighters and a 12 -15 pound specimen can look and feel like it is way in excess of 20 lbs. But, the fact is, they very rarely are in Cape Cod waters. The no quit, never ending fight of a bluefish just makes it feel like they are.
In fact, there were so many fisherman running around telling stories about all the 20 lb'ers they were catching in the 80's, one of the Goose managers decided to offer a 50 or 100 dollar Goose gift certificate/ or cash reward for any bluefish that would hit or exceed the 20lb mark on Goose's certified scale. To my recollection, I don't think this reward was ever paid out for the many years it was offered.
In my 50+ years of fishing, I have only caught one that weighed 20 lbs or more. That fish was caught off the Wychmere Harbor Jetty, in Harwich back in the 80's on a live snagged Menhaden. It was over 40 inches long and 21 lbs and was sold at Georges Fish Market for the prevailing price of 10-20 cents a pound. It was the only fish I ever saw that actually made the 20 lb mark after years of working at/ running tackle shops around all over the Cape.
So, all this big bluefish talk begs the question- what is the biggest bluefish ever caught weigh? I was shocked when googled the answer....
Apparently, an angler named James Hussey caught it on January 30, 1972, off Hatteras, North Carolina( pictured above). The fish tipped the scales at an astonishing 31 pounds, 12 ounces (14.40 kg). Hussey was fishing from a boat using a conventional rod and reel setup when the giant bluefish struck. The record still stands to this day 50 years later!
Have you ever caught a Bluefish 20lbs or over? We would love to hear from you! Send us a pic on our Facebook page here