Topwater Lures for Bluefish

“We want the sun a little higher so we can see them better,” Daniel Griffee said about the bluefish we would fling our topwater lures to when we got the legendary shoals at Cape Lookout. In the meantime, we were having a big time catching fast-slashing Spanish mackerel, which were terrorizing baitfish just off the beach.

Griffee, who operates On Deck Fishing Charters and works out of Chasin Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle in Atlantic Beach, N.C., spends a lot of days targeting topwater bluefish at Cape Lookout and other congregation points in the area. Therefore, he possesses a high level of understanding of when to go, what to look for upon arrival and how to call up the best action and get fish in the boat.

The bluefish on the shoals, which mostly range from a few pounds to around 10 pounds, feed savagely in the rough water created by tidal and wind currents sweeping the shallow water. Topwater lures prompt violent strikes, which, when combined with the speed and brutal strength of a hooked bluefish, makes for exceptionally fun fishing.

Griffee looks carefully at wind and wave forecasts when planning bluefish outings. Local wind speed and direction, offshore wind and tide timing are all factors, and conditions differ on opposite sides of the shoals. It’s a complex equation that defies simple explanation and truly can only be learned through experience. In short, though, he wants minimal extra wind and waves because the shoals are always rough, and it’s necessary to get among the waves to be within casting range of feeding bluefish.

Clear skies and the sun positioned well above the horizon are best because most days begin with searching. Griffee might begin looking where the fish were most recently under similar conditions, but the shoals extend several miles, and the fish move frequently, both because wave patterns change with tides and conditions and because the baitfish move. He looks for dark spots or silver flashes in the breaking waves and for fish swimming near the boat. Even in the turbulent water, large schools of silver and blue fish stand out against a sandy bottom backdrop in clear water!

The dream scenario has gulls and other birds present and feeding on baitfish the blues push to the surface. Birds actively diving often have breaking fish beneath them, and in those cases Griffee has clients cast to or just past breaking fish.

The birds weren’t at the shoals the day we fished, and there wasn’t much visible surface feeding by the blues, but Griffee found fish stacked up in two areas.

In the area he had found them the previous day, he spotted just enough fish in the waves to know they were still there. We cast across breaking waves to call up the fish.

In another area, on the far side of the shoals, big blues were plentiful, and we could see schools swimming past. In that area, any cast in any direction was likely to prompt multiple blow-ups! In fact, I tried playing keep-away so Griffee could get video of multiple strikes. I failed miserably – repeatedly – unable to avoid immediately hooking up with another bluefish!

Of course, the failed keep-away attempt lines up with Griffee’s default presentation. “It’s almost like you’re trying to keep the lure away from them,” he said. Even with traditional walking lures, he typically doesn’t walk them. As soon as the lure lands, he gets its nose up out of the water and reels quickly, so it skims the surface.

Fast and steady typically is the way to go, but if the fish don’t respond the way Griffee expects, he experiments with quick repeated snaps to make the bait chug or surge in quick repeated movements and experiments with speed. The only time he significantly slows a retrieve is when the bluefish are blowing up on the lure but missing. Pausing the retrieve for just a moment at that point usually allows for a more accurate strike that results in a hookup.

Bluefish feed in big, voracious schools, so when a fish get hooked, other blues often will chase it, trying to steal the meal. This can result in the other fish cutting the line in front of the hooked fish, so Griffee coaches anglers to reel hard and fast with the rod high to get the fish out of the crowd!

Griffee’s go-to topwater lures for this approach include a Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow, Bomber Badonk-A-Donk, and Cotton Cordell C64 Pencil Popper, which the smallest Pencil Popper at 4 1/2 inches. A Heddon Spin’N Image, which is a churning tailspin lure, provides a different sound when the fish want extra commotion. For any of the lures, Griffee sticks with simple baitfish-imitating colors, such as Chrome/Blue, Chrome/Black and Bone, or a chartreuse-dominant color pattern.

Griffee always makes one modification to his bluefish topwater lures. He removes the front treble hook (or front and middle on a three-hook model) leaving only the rear treble in place. Bluefish are all muscle, and they never stop thrashing in the boat. That makes a free-swinging treble hook dangerous, and with the aggressiveness of their strikes, Griffee has zero issues with clients failing to hook and land plenty of fish with only one treble on each lure.

The modified plug also serves as a handle for controlling the fish. Griffee grabs the hookless lure body firmly and then uses pliers to unhook the fish.

Both because fishing the shoals is timing-specific and for the sake of fun variety, Griffee commonly mixes bluefish and Spanish mackerel fishing in a trip. The morning he and I fished, catching Spanish provided a perfect warm-up and fun action to start the day.

Unlike the blues, which are highly structure oriented, Spanish mackerel cruise with big schools of baitfish, so they move frequently and won’t necessarily be over a specific depth or type of feature. They might be right on the beach, a hundred yards out, or in more open water.

They feed the most actively with good water flow, so the best bite occurs early and late in each tidal cycle, when the water moves the most. Griffee especially likes the beginning and end of an outgoing tide.

Finding mackerel begins with finding birds that are circling and, more importantly, diving. If the birds are diving, something is driving baitfish to the top, and often that’s a school of Spanish mackerel. Once Griffee finds good bird activity, he watches the water beneath the birds for splashes of feeding fish. Spanish mackerel also roll and jump, almost like mullet, but those fish aren’t feeding. The key is to find fish slashing the surface and running baitfish.

When Griffee finds that, he gets within casting range and targets the fish with flashy jigs, small spoons and blade baits like Cotton Cordell Gay Blades and Heddon Sonars. Best retrieves are fast, so the lure skims the surface. If fish seem to be using an area but aren’t schooling hard enough to target specific groups of feeding fish, Griffee will drift through the area, having clients blind cast with the same types of lures. Sometimes he’ll troll the same lures to find the feeding fish and then switch to casting.

Whatever the approach, the Spanish mackerel are hit hard and run fast, creating major fun!

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