The spring is here Spanish has arrived thread

[charlie_the_tuna]

most folks with sense don't eat blues. they are a blast to catch and have saved many a fishing trip but I probably would opt for starvation on a desert island infested with bluefish. when they show up they'll hit anything and you could catch one every cast for an hour or more. they're easy to find, easier to catch and always fight until they cant fight no more. I will always do my best to release them unharmed to fight another day. that said, I have eaten snappers (baby bluefish) and if you dunk 'em in oil and fry 'em up, they aint half bad.

[spareparts]

Ive eaten small fresh blues, they are OK, but not something I crave, the milk thing helps with the oil in them as well. I never freeze blues, they turn to mush. If they dont get eaten fresh, they get turned into chum.

[THEFERMANATOR]

The small ones is pretty much all we get down here. I've never seen what most would call an average size bluefish in the Atlantic, down here on the Gulf side. The ones we get are only 2-4 lbs normally(under 20 inches is the norm). The biggest one I've caught down here was on the flats, and he was only 23 inches. The ones I caught trolling up in the Atlantic were all double the weight and bigger. I'm not saying they're great, but if you clean them fresh, trim the dark vein out, brine them in saltwater, then a milk brine, then they come out good enough to fry up.

[SkunkBoat]

SHARK BAIT!

[charlie_the_tuna]

we get a lot of blues when shark fishing. I had one, many years back. hit a whole mackerel on a 50 setup and gave me a run for my money. big blues, and I mean BIG blues will show their stuff. this guy was in the low 20s and we thought it may have been a little mako. the big ones are savage!! I guess if you run a couple miles out they average about 10 to 17 pounds. we get schoolies in the bays, 2 to 7 pounders. anything in the high teens is a gator and fewer. somewhere out there is a 50 pound bluefish that will terrorize most anything in our area.

[Giorgio]

My biggest to date was 19# and I thought I hooked into a Mack truck, they jump, swim all around the boat, they will swim up your line and bite it off if your not using wire, oh yeah your fingers too, plus their mean because they do not want to die. I've always called them the Piranha of the ocean. I think the biggest caught was 31# and in one of the Carolina's. Around here we get the Gorilla's early in the spring and late in the fall, in the middle cocktails which are great to catch on ultra light stuff.

[phatdaddy]

i knew i didn't like them for a reason.

[randlemanboater]

I love to eat blues IF they are fresh caught and properly handled and cleaned...I find them to be delicious.

I also love to eat Spanish Macs, sauteed in olive oil and a little old bay...mmmm mmmmm.