The Day Thousands of Bluefish Flooded the Flats

Every spring on Long Island, something amazing happens. Stretching over 100 miles into the Atlantic, the island sits perfectly positioned along the bluefish migration route. The flats come alive, big bluefish move in and give some of the best fishing of the season. But this spring brought us something I'll never forget, a spectacle that most anglers don't get to see.

As the water warms, bluefish migrate north up the East Coast from their southern wintering grounds. Our back bays warm faster than the ocean, drawing baitfish into the estuaries first. The bluefish aren't far behind.

I climbed back on the skiff and sent the drone up for a look. What I saw, I'll never forget.

What we were seeing didn't feel real. From the boat, it was hard to grasp the scale. But from above, it was clear: thousands of large bluefish spread across the flat. In all my years on the water, I've never seen anything like this.

When I first looked at the drone display, it took me a second to process what I was seeing. I'd never seen this many game fish on the controller screen before. Everywhere I turned my camera, there were fish.

We caught and released bluefish until the tide finally turned. Then, just like that, they were gone. Of the thousands, not one fish to be found, like someone had flipped a switch.

Moments like this remind you of how much is happening that we never see. This might happen every spring, but most anglers will never witness it. A rare, unforgettable moment here on Long Island, and one I won't forget anytime soon.

When it was my turn to fish, I decided to wade. Casting from the skiff didn't cut it—I wanted to be in the middle of it. Wading among this many fish was incredible. It almost made me forget just how cold the water was.

Being this close to the action, watching them track the fly and hit it with an explosive strike, was awesome. Pure raw energy, trying to rip the rod right out of your hands.

Sometimes nature gives a gift when you're in the right place at the right time. Some days on the water stay with you forever, this was one of them.

If you want to see this incredible aggregation for yourself, check out the video. The footage speaks for itself, thousands of bluefish moving through the shallows in a display I've never witnessed before and may never see again.

Tight lines!

Sergio

We've filmed bluefish many times before. But this spring, something amazing happened.

It started as another beautiful spring day. With a low tide keeping us off the flat, we headed to our usual backup spot that holds fish when the water is too shallow elsewhere. From the air, I started seeing lots of schools of big bluefish—way more than usual. I didn't think much of it at the time. Looking back, I should have known today would be a little different.

As the incoming tide pushed just enough water onto the flat, we headed in. Bluefish appeared on both sides of the skiff. Hundreds of them. We grabbed our phones and started recording. I knew it was unusual, but I had no idea about what was happening just beyond our line of sight.

I stepped out of the skiff to film my buddy, and that's when I spotted a massive school cruising through barely two feet of water. Wanting to see what it looked like from below, I dropped a camera underwater.

After a few seconds of staying still, everything changed. Bluefish flooded in from everywhere, surrounding me in the shallows

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They follow the bait right into the shallows, sometimes cruising in just a few feet of water. In these calm conditions, they fin at the surface with their backs and tails exposed, allowing us to spot them before we cast and place a fly right in front of a predator ready to strike.

A Note on Behavior:

While this aggregation was extraordinary, it’s important to clarify that Atlantic bluefish don’t spawn in shallow flats, their eggs are released offshore in the open ocean, as documented by scientific sources such as NOAA Fisheries. What we probably witnessed was an intense pre-spawn staging and migration behavior.

For more information on bluefish visit NOAA website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/bluefish