Healthy doses of vitamin B: Bass, bluefish, or … June bonito?

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I’ve been trekking out to Chappy for a few hours here and there over the past week. There have been bluefish, not in abundance, but certainly enough to be worth the ferry ride and airing down the tires. (Who am I kidding? Chappy is always worth the effort!) A week ago, I went out with my friend Kathy Eckert, and we arrived just after a few people had caught some rat blues. Rats are traditionally one or two pounds. Two-pound blues are great eating, on the grill or in bluefish cakes.

I thought we might have missed the bite, but kept casting. About 45 minutes later, birds started working down to my right. The guys further down hooked up first. Then I was on. As often happens with bluefish, they were eating everything. Most of the guys were using metal and reeling in fish. I caught some on a yellow-and-pink Hellfire X, and caught even more when I switched over to the pink-and-white Coltsniper. A couple to my left, here for a long weekend, were throwing plastics, and were very happy to catch two small bluefish for their vacation dinner.

Two more schools of rat blues swam by over the course of two hours. It was fun, but more important, it was reassuring to see schools of rat blues. Last year, we didn’t see many small bluefish. These smaller blues are normal this time of year, and needed to keep the bluefish population healthy.

On Sunday, as I was driving back to the Island after a family Father’s Day visit, I received a phone call and multiple texts about bonito on Chappy. Jonathan Herman and John Piekos had each landed the perfect Father’s Day present. 

A couple of weeks ago, the fishing community was abuzz with news that a bonito was caught from shore on May 28 in Menemsha, then more bones were caught. May is early for bones in Vineyard waters. Our water temperatures are still cool –– around 56°F. We normally expect bonito in August, when water temperatures are in the high 60s. The bones traditionally arrive early to mid-August, before the albies show up. 

I asked John Piekos if he knew he had a bonito on the line. “It was weird,” said Piekos about Jonathan Herman’s bonito. “His was funny. I was watching him land it, and it didn’t jump like a blue does.

“I had my big rod, and the tip was tap, tap, tapping. And it was taking line, zipping, unlike a blue,” said Piekos, “so I was thinking, ‘Just don’t lose it!’”

You know what all this means, right?

Vitamin B trifecta. 

You’ve probably seen the memes or souvenirs that say, “I need more vitamin sea.”

Well, I definitely want my daily vitamin sea, but I also want a daily dose of vitamin B – bass, bluefish, or bonito.

I looked at my schedule for Monday, wanting to get on the beach during the same tide when they caught the bonito on Sunday. I could do it with a little juggling. I texted Kathy and asked if she wanted to go. She did.

We got on the Chappy ferry and pulled onto the beach just as a fisherman we didn’t recognize hooked up. His rod bent, and we couldn’t park the truck fast enough to begin our casting. 

Kathy hooked a big blue, probably the biggest she’d ever caught. I say “probably” because her reel locked up, she couldn’t retrieve, and the line snapped. Heartbreaking!

Bluefish were there, though, from rats to eight-pounders. Ron McKee celebrated his birthday with a few blues, including a 7.32-pounder. It was a great afternoon.

We haven’t seen the nightly bass frenzy on Chappy this year that we did last year, but there’s still plenty of bass around the Island. I’ll be stopping by State Beach and the Big Bridge the next couple of nights before heading back to Chappy on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I hope to see you on the beach, and I hope we’ll be getting our daily doses of vitamin B.