Other than for fishing for them for fun, why bother?!?!?!?!?!
Other than snappers, blues in the 1# - 3# range, and the "cheeks" from fish over 8#s, they're a pretty awful fish to eat.
All of the methods above are good, but make sure you use a strong steel leader (for bait and lures) for the big ones, otherwise your gonna be tying on rigs every other cast.
I like using the Ava chrome plated lures with a single hook tipped with a strip of Uncle Josh's Pork Rind 4- 6" strip. Try the A17 and A27 from shore or river bank...Move up to the A27 and up for casting from the jetty. Also, the Snapper Poppers with gold or silver lures with mylar "bucktails" attached are great for catching snappers for the table or for bait.
Pretty much anything you throw in the water will get a hit when the blues are feeding.
I've used aluminum foil on a single hook when the bait ran out!!! Also, blues love to eat other blues, so cut up a few of the catch for bait, also.
Notice I keep mentioning a "single" hook. Treble hooks can be quite a nuisance with a flopping bluefish attached!!!! If you choose a lure pattern with treble hooks, change it to one single hook and save yourself a lot of aggravation and potential pain.
Try this recipe, it's my favorite:
GRILLED BLUEFISH
(1) Take a 8 - 14# bluefish, scaled and gutted, and nail head and tail to a cedar plank.
(2) Place planked fish in a cooler.
(3) Cover with Wishbone Italian dressing.
(4) Put a brick on top of the fish so that is remains emersed in the marinade. Marinate overnight.
(5) The next day, turn the grill on to Med-High heat setting and cook planked fish for 1 - 2 hours. (6) Remove planked fish from grill, discard fish in trash can, and eat plank!!!! ENJOY!!! LMAO
