Well the time is gonna be here sooner then later and why not be ready for it? I for one cant wait! I have been fishing Bluefin for quite a long time and feel that I have meet some of the big players in the game and learned from my own experiences and have been schooled by some of the best as well. Now what they have taught me over the years will never show up here on the internet as I will take that stuff to the grave with me but the ones that fish with me will learn some of the techniques for sure. In this little post I will go over trolling chunking and jigging basics to help out the new guys that are just getting into the fun.

Trolling:
Very basic and simple. we seem to have two schools of fish of the jersey coast, the bigger ones down south and the smaller ones to the north with some sharpies getting the bigger ones. If you want the bigger ones loose all the daisy chains, plastics, spreader bars etc. what you want is a four rod spread with HORSE BALLYHOO rigged the way you like to rig your baits, with your favorite heads on them. Good colors are blue/white pink, pink/white, purple/black. Set them up 2 long on the riggers and if your boat is big enough 2 long but deep on the downrigger or planer rod set up. when I say long start at 350 yards and adjust till you get a bite. your gonna have to outfit with spectra if your using 50's, if your using 80's then all mono will be fine. Now once your spread is out troll no faster then 5.5 knots adjust your speed till you get bites this will take some time as every boat trolls different. Thats the basic spread for the bigger fish, if you can only get one deep rod out then troll three rods. two high one deep.
Now for the smaller fish what you want to do is small feathers (6 inch) and some plastics. spreader bars and rigged ballys on trackers (small islanders) troll 5.5 to 6 knots and you should be good. Run the spreader bars off the middle rigger, run your trackers off the long riggers and trackers off the tip of your rod by the spreader bars. Flat lines run some feathers or plastics like a grean machine but dark colors.
Chunking:
Set up on a hill only if you marked bait, and or fish, if there is no bait there chances are neither are fish, cant catch whats not there. Chunk your butter fish but not heavy as your baits will be deep, basically the chunk is there to entice fish to move into your slick so if you chunk heavy then you will keep them away from your boat, keep it light and they will move in. There are times to chunk heavy but as you get experience you will figure that out on your own. Get your baits down deep or where you were marking fish, get them in the zone. have at-least three baits deep and two working lines for the surface. Anykind of bait works for these fish so come prepared with anykind of bait you can get your hands on. Sardines are the go to bait for us but butterfish work as well. Stealth is what you want to be, hide the hook as well as you can, as time goes by you will figure out how to best hide the hook. Leader size, well that will depend on how good you are at rigging your baits, the more natural it looks the heavier you can go with leader. If you took a butterfish and put the hook through his eyes and sent it out chances are you wouldnt get hit unless you had 30 pound leader. I start at 90 or 130 and seldom go to 60 or below. Not much point going to 40 if all you do is break them of or they chew through it, yeah you get the hook up but not the fish unless your a very skilled angler. If the bite falls of pull anchor and go look around what you may find will surprise you.

Jigging
LEARN THE PR KNOT Have the right gear for the fish you intend to target. Do you need to have a 1500.00 dollar set up for 150 pound Bluefin.... no! but dont go out with a penn 320 gt on a Shimano Travella rod either. There are plenty of Rod Builders out there that have a very good clue of what and how to outfit you for the proper fish. Aside from that really it pretty simple look for marks once on the grounds drop and jig, everyday is different with jigging style so mix it up and dont just try one way of jigging.

These are just some of the basics to get you going and at leaast catcha fish or two. As you gain more experience you will up the game.
I cant wait for these fish to show up but when the water looks right you can bet your ass I will be out there hunting for these fish. Trolling, chunking, or jigging what ever it takes to put a fish in the boat!!!

Here are a few shots to get the blood pumping.