Gear up for football bluefins

Because of all the lore about the giant bluefin tuna of decades past, the fish pushing weights of half a ton, inshore and coastal anglers sometimes exclude themselves from the fairly new excitement in our waters of schoolie ''football" bluefins, which often fall in the sub-hundred-pound range. No, your regular striper and bluefish gear is not quite enough to handle these powerful swimmers (picture an 80-pound striped bass on the gear you've got), but it's certainly not hard to gear up and get into the fun.

For example, you'll want at least 50-pound mono (or braid) and 100-pound shock leaders. Fast trolling lures and wet flies and even popping plugs work when you find footballs in a surface feeding frenzy.

Area A: In northern waters, the chase for footballs is going on from around Isle of Shoals out to Jeffrey's Ledge, Tantas and Platt's Ledges, and Cape Porpoise. The ledges have also been hanging in with the usual variety of groundfish -- cod, haddock, and pollock -- still going strong. Though there's not much bait around, the Piscataqua River has some decent striper catches lately. The bluefish concentration has been around Saco River to the islands of Casco Bay.

Area B: Stripers have picked up just a bit this week, though most local anglers are still heading offshore, across to Stellwagen. North of the city, around Point of Pines, the fluke fishing has been steady. Stripers found in the Mystic River responding to chunk bait. Stripers also at Faun Bar and taken mostly at night around the outer islands.

Area C: As reported in recent weeks, the bass and blue fishing has been tepid at best, with blues hitting intermittently and bass remaining deep and rather finicky. Yours truly did run into some decent fluke yesterday around Duxbury and Plymouth Bays. The channel in front of Saquish heading down the beach has some response of late, as does the east side of the channel leading past Clarks Island.

Area D: Not much action from the east end of the canal. The west end has some scup, with fluke out at Mashnee, and some small false albacore in the mix. Some action in Buzzards Bay, but anglers fishing nights and mornings are doing best.

Area E: Bonito have shown up in these waters, and, with false albacore, change the whole cast of fishing -- as usually happens from midsummer on. Use light gear and, of course, on leaders for bonito and just hope your lure doesn't get bagged by a stray bluefish.

Area F: A few bluefish blitz reported along the back beaches in the early morning calms. Marconi Beach and Newcomb's Hollow had a fair amount of fishing this midweek. P-town and Herring Cove are still the best bets in this region. [The Boston Globe, by Tony Chamberlain]