By Capt. Jim Freda
In the 40 years I have been targeting bluefin, if there is one thing that is predictable about them it’s that they are unpredictable. I thought that after all this time fishing for them and logging waypoints where I made my catches during various times of the year, that finding them would be a no-brainer each season, that it would be as simple as just going back to the same location at the same time of year and they would be there. Such is not the case and to be honest, some of the when, where, and why is still a mystery to me.
In my area, Central New Jersey, the summer fishery really stands out as being unpredictable, while the spring and fall are more predictable. The bluefin migration into our area typically begins in May when we start to see 30- to 125-pound bluefin show up 15 to 35 miles from shore. These bluefin are moving up the coast from North Carolina making their way north to the Cape. In the last five seasons these smaller tuna have been joined by legitimate giants coming in much closer to shore, 3 to 15 miles out. In the fall into early winter, we usually see this same migration route as these tuna pass by us as they do their return journey to the Carolinas.
When bluefin move into our area in the summer the patterns of where and when they set up are not predictable, unlike the spring and fall when we know where to look for them. There have been summers when they did not appear at all and there have been summers when they seem to appear out of nowhere.
For instance, during the summers of 2020 and 2021
