September 4, 2018 — A fisherman dragging a burlap sack full of 10-pound bluefish off a party boat following a night of fishing used to be a familiar sight at the Shore.
And it may be again, but the habits of the once-dependable fish seem to have changed, at least in the present.
What is causing them to change their behavior is puzzling fishermen and federal fishery managers who appear to have hit a wall trying to figure out the best way to utilize the fish.
By all indications the numbers of bluefish up and down the East Coast are not scarce, they’re just not where they’re expected to be.
“There’s an abundance of them. They’re just 80 to 100 miles offshore where the longliners can’t keep them off the hook,” said Captain Lenny Elich, who runs the Miss Barnegat Light party boat.
But they’re not the on the Barnegat Ridge, and because of that the Miss Barnegat Light, which used to fish night and day for blues, has resorted to fluke fishing.