by White marlin action was never better as the MidAtlantic finished up its battle with a hurricane in order to get fishing days in. Yet, the featured white marlin category didn’t change Saturday as large bigeyes were finally encountered.
Capt. Cookie Murray, whose father Ed was a mentor of mine and one of the all-time great Long Island big game skippers, was at the wheel of Torta as it arrived with a 185-pound bigeye to blow past the 103-pounder that had Lit Up in first during the week. Even then, MJ’S recovered from a “horrible” summer of bigeye trolling due to favorite areas being beyond tournament limits, as Nichael Yocco weighed a 173-pound bigeye.
A second blue marlin large enough to be weighed was boated by Bar South. though that 617-pounder was still short of the 804-pounder which Reel Toy had been leading with.
Luna Sea didn’t have much to worry about during the last day as their 94-pound wahoo stood up, and Sushi’s 35-pound dolphin was also a clear winner.
Canyon Lady had the biggest win with their 75-pound white marlin at $975,363. Tail Chaser’s second place white of 71 pounds was still worth $394,144. Reel Toy received $ 76,219 for its 804-poundblue — and Torta won $329,751 for their tuna.
Catch records were set for white marlin with 761 released while seven were weighed. Blue marlin releases were 24 plus the two weighed.
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The forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for north winds at 10 knots before shifting to west in the afternoon.
Tight Lines 
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