Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring Tournament out of Atlantic City got off to a slow start on Monday , but there was better action Tuesday even though the first legal weighed blue marlin and white marlin have yet to be boated. Dante Sorriente fought a 218.8-pound bigeye tuna on MJ’s to post the first leader that’s likely to still be on the leaderboard when the contest ends on Friday.

The first wahoo went on the board, but at 39.8 pounds, that Jersey Cape catch isn’t likely to stand up in a category that’s usually won by 50- to- 80- pounders. The dolphin leader remains a 29.1-pounder on Polarizer which is also well short of a winning norm. Fishaholic moved into third place at 10.6 pounds.

The two-day species count is up to 3 blue marlin, 10 white marlin, 1 bigeye tuna, 4 yellowfin tuna, 3 dolphin and 1 wahoo — just 22 fish for the 80-boat fleet. With everything wide open, there should be an exciting finish to the contest. I’ll have an update after the scales close tonight at 9.

Vinny D’Anton and Frank Manzi had a lot more action this morning in the Monmouth County surf where school stripers hit poppers and swimmers, despite some rain, after being drawn in by lots of 2-to-3-inch peanut bunkers. Fluke also remain abundant there, but almost all are shorts.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported another good day of chub mackerel chumming along with some sea bass and ling — plus a pollock.

The Big Mohawk had to deal with strong currents, but picked at fluke up to a few limits.

Light winds continue to prevail. The forecast is for northeast at just 5 knots, switching to southeast in the afternoon.

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