Casting
Fan casting is a popular technique for targeting bluefish. Whether you are fishing the bays, the surf or the piers, if you are using lures, you are going to need to make a lot of casts to cover some water and get your lures in front of as many fish as possible.
Drifting
Drifting is a popular live bait technique. Drift with the current during tidal changes and you can get you can cover more water with your live baits. Some anglers will jig over deeper water as they drift too. You have some options with the different baits that you can use. This technique works if you’re willing to put in the time.
Still Fishing
Still fishing is popular from the beach and piers. Cut baits and live baits work great when still fishing. Find a productive spot, cast your bait out and wait until you get a bite.
Trolling
Trolling is very effective for bluefish. When these fish are running nearshore just off the beaches, trolling may be the most effective technique for finding the larger schools of bluefish. Once you find them, continue to troll or break out the casting gear. Trolling with spoons, tubes, jigs, plugs and umbrella rigs will work well for bluefish.
Chumming
Chumming is very effective for bluefish. Most anglers will use bunker chum, which is ground up bunker that is frozen and put in large tins. Bunker chum is very oily and produces a nice chum slick on top of the water. This chum slick will attract bluefish and it will usually position these fish near the surface. If you are going to fish with live or cut baits, a free lining rig will usually be more effective. Topwater lures and spoons fished just a couple of feet below the surface will also be effective for catching the bluefish that are near your chum slick.
