Bluefish Charter

[TLoomis]

This is going to sound ridiculous but has anyone ever brought a fly rod onto a charter boat?

I'm headed out on a 125" charter boat tomorrow morning, and plan to get the back of the boat. If I can get the back left corner, I should be able to get a few casts in with the fly rod if its isn't packed. I'm going to bring it along with the spinning gear and scope things out, but I don't want to **** anyone off. I just need to put my 10wt to use and what better way then to sling a few flies into a feeding frenzy of blues.

Anybody have any experience with this?

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear TL,

You'd better be a good swimmer

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[TLoomis]

Hahah my thoughts exactly. You never know what kind of people you'll meet on those boats...

 

[sandfly]

most captains wont allow it either. if ya blues with the fly rod hit the beach.

 

[TLoomis]

That's what I was curious about. Tried giving them a call to ask but the lady who answered the phone had "never heard of the fly rods". I'll bring it with me and ask him before we leave the marina.

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah...If it's a nice day, it's gonna be packed at the rail. They stuff people onto those boats. On a nice day you can figure to have about 3-4 feet of "personal rail space," if you're lucky. There's no way you could fly fish effectively, and more importantly safely in that situation. I don't think the crew would even let you try, and if they did, they probably shouldn't have IMO. I'd be pissed if I was a fellow angler (and paying customer) on the boat and a dude was slinging a 10 wt (and the flies one typically throws with a 10 wt) around.

The usual deal on those types of trips is you just drop bait straight down from the rail and the boat just drifts over a likely target area. They instruct you not to even cast really. Even if you were just roll casting with the fly rod it would merely be an exercise of you getting tangled up in everyone else's lines constantly.

I've been on those kind of boats before, and it's not my cup of tea, fishing wise anyway. Was always part of a bachelor party or a guys weekend where fishing wasn't the main course. Take the spin gear, some cold beers, and have a good time that way.

 

[TLoomis]

Yea im gonna leave it. Hope its as good as last year!

 

[springer1]

Yeah...If it's a nice day, it's gonna be packed at the rail. They stuff people onto those boats. On a nice day you can figure to have about 3-4 feet of "personal rail space," if you're lucky. There's no way you could fly fish effectively, and more importantly safely in that situation. I don't think the crew would even let you try

Yes, this is what it's like on a weekend headboat for sure.

On a weekday, it's a lot nicer, and actually the chaos of trying to hang on to big blues going "over and under" people up the side of the boat is really a zany hoot. People don't get upset, its all part of the fun, a big blue feels like it want to snap you rod at the handle.

If you haven't ever done it, it's a lot of fun - best to go on a Friday weekday, check the weather & sea conditions.

IM me if you need a suggestion for a good head-boat. No guarantees, but I know one that's relatively easy to get to, has a 3rd generation skipper that puts us on fish year after year & a crew that doesn't tolerate the "tough crowd" that some boats do.

But even on a weekday, no way would a fly rod be a good idea.

 

[pcray1231]

Just to be clear, I gather it's a headboat, NOT a charter boat?

Then, no, don't do it.

 

[marcq]

Give it alittle more then a month big blues crushing mullet in the jetty pockets.

 

[sandfly]

Yeah then you get em like this on the fly

 

[TLoomis]

Had a great time out on the boat drinking beers and catching blues. Everyone caught their limit but they were all pretty small. VERY tasty though. Some of the best bluefish I've ever had.

Captain said if it were a weekday he would've glady let me fly fish, but it was mobbed. There was another guy who brought a flyrod too and was asking to bring it on. The captain said he hadn't had anyone ask that before, let alone two in one day hahah

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Back in the early 2000s I did some charter boat blues fishing. I thought that they should have had a size limit then. One person caught about 6-8 blues and just left them on the deck.

Also, I did some Rockbass charter fishing and they (boat Captain and crew) never checked peoples catches to see if their fish were in the size limit. It more or less turned my stomach and I never went since.

Did not think to bring my flyrod on any of those trips.

 

[sandfly]

I think head/charter boats are as bad as the commercial boats at times, sometimes even more so.

 

[TLoomis]

The boat I went on (The Big Jamaica) is really adamant about stuff like that. Some guy caught a rock bass that was just about 3/4" off of the size limit and they made him toss it back. I've been going on that boat since I was a little kid, and my dad even longer, and it's always been a great experience.

I will say, I can only handle that crowd of people once a year. I have to get a nice buzz going before I can get used to "Bob" and his entire family casting across me, then getting pissed off because he's all tangled up.

 

[marcq]

I truly hate the big boats. More then 5 guy on a boat is to much IMO. Blues are the one fish I will go after on them that being said I've had a few bad experiences with them. One where I lost what I thought was a 50 pound striper. Mate hit the fish will the gaff an missed and hit my line and snap. Fun time with buddies and a case of beer.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

We had one of the mates hit a client in the head with the gaff. Couldn't stop the bleeding so we had to pull in early. Did not get any discounts for returning ahead of time.