Capt. Jim Peters had to make a long trip south yesterday from Morgan Marina, but it paid off with a giant tuna that hit a trolled horse balao on a Joe Shute rig off Manasquan. The crew fought it commercial-style out of a rod holder on 80-pound tackle , and weighed it in at 754 pounds, gutted. Unfortunately. that doesn’t count as a sportfishing catch, which involves just one angler from start to finish– the way all the great tuna fishermen from the Jersey Shore learned to catch giants decades ago. In those relatively shallow waters and on the troll, that’s an ideal situation for a sportfishing catch — and 80-pound tackle is preferable as good anglers can apply pressure without the weight of a 130-outfit to wear them out. The crew on Reel Time spent today steaking out their catch. Will have photo tomorrow.

Capt. Ron Santee expected a slow start to striper fishing from his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands, as that was the case before the change of tide started a hot striper bite. However, that never happened today.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into bunkers near the beach yesterday morning that they could snag, but there were no bass in them. Stripers did turn on later, but were overs except for two keepers,

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported on Saturday’s bottom fishing as follows : “

ell there was no lack of bites today,,the dogfish gave us a run for our money..Not sure what caused them to ne so aggressive but they were….We did pick some fish but not as good as precious trips. Teddy was high hook with a limit of blackfish,we had some ling and winter flounder so hopefully tomorrow we see less dogs..Weather looks good so come on down !”

The forecast is for northwest winds at 5-10 knots before going southwest in the afternoon.

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