Bluefish

Bluefish

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltratrix) also referred to as gators or yellow eyed devils, are one of the most savage inshore predators that inhabit Rhode Island waters. They have a long bluegreen body, bright yellow eyes and a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. They are extremely aggressive, eating almost anything they can catch and swallow, including their own young.

Bluefish can grow to impressive sizes, with the Rhode Island state record coming in at 26 lbs with a length of 39 inches, caught by a man named D. Deziel. They are very fun to fight on the rod and reel, but can be quite difficult to handle due to their ferocious nature and dagger-like teeth.

One of the coolest things about bluefish is that they have a tendency to school up into massive feeding frenzies, creating a washing machine effect as they terrorize bait near the surface. These blitzes can hold up to thousands of bluefish, and hundreds of thousands of baitfish creating a huge spectacle that can be seen from quite a distance.

Not only are these feeds cool to witness, but it usually creates some lights out fishing. These gators are so fired up that they will hit virtually anything, I often joke that you can catch them with a fork in these scenarios. Bluefish blitzes can last for days depending on how much bait is in the area, and you can often catch fish on almost every cast from sunup to sundown.