“Chopper” bluefish runs once were commonplace at the Outer Banks beaches, especially at Ocracoke Island, during October and November during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Anglers once stacked onto the sand like cordwood these ravenous, toothy critters that would chase any type of lure, even pieces of flannel shirt on a naked hook.
But then those fish, which sometimes weighed 20 pounds or more, disappeared. It’s been years since the big bluefish blitzes have excited N.C. coastal anglers. Biologists with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries said they believed the fish followed bait to deeper water in later years because anglers sometimes would catch them while fishing offshore for other species.
But now the big blues appear to have returned, not in the fall but in the spring.
Bogue Inlet Pier, the last remaining pier at Emerald Isle, has been experiencing a chopper blues run the last four weeks, with anglers landing fish weighing from 7 to 14 pounds.
“We just had a guy bring in a 7-pound, 11-ounce bluefish,” said Kevin Stanley, son of pier owner Mike Stanley on May 19. “We’re not catching them as well as the last few days, when it was crazy, but you never know when they’re gonna start biting.”
Stanley said the bluefish blitz usually occurs each year near the end of April and lasts a month to 1 1/2 months.
“The water temperature gets to 68 degrees, and they show up,” he said. “When it gets too warm for them, they disappear.”
These Hatteras blues have mostly been hitting king mackerel live-bait (menhaden and bluefish) trolley rigs fished off the ends of the piers.
“Some smaller ones are hitting Gotcha plugs,” Stanley said. “People also are catching Spanish mackerel up to 2 1/2 pounds with Gotcha rigs.”
This largest chopper blue from 2011 weighed 13 pounds, 2 ounces and was caught by Emerald Isle resident Nate Ludwick on May 2.
A few gray trout and puppy drum also are showing up in the catch.
“The best Spanish fishing is early in the morning and late in the afternoons,” Stanley said. “Sometimes they’ll hit king rigs, too.”
The puppy drum bite has been sporadic.
“Sometimes they bite good, and sometimes it’s slow,” Stanley said.
Anglers are using shrimp fished on standard bottom rigs to catch drum.
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