As noted in my last blog, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament ended in exciting fashion. as contenders had to swat it out as Pipe Down didn’t get back with the last blue until about 7 p.m.
That blue weighed 425.1 pounds and ended up fourth in blue marlin. That left Game Time from West Palm Beach at the top with an opening day 516-pounder — and a pay-out of over $1.8 million.
The tournament was supposed have all results available today, but I haven’t fund them so far. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Capt. Ron Santee Jr.of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands reported that of all days it had to be Father’s Day for the sea bass fishing to take a big drop in poor conditions.
The forecast is for west winds at 10 knots before going south in the afternoon.
It’s all over but the shouting at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City.
After a rough Friday with poor fishing, there were three blues brought in during the afternoon that all fell short of the minimum requirements and were disqualified. However, Builders Choice still had to wait for Pipe Dream to weigh-in around 7 p.m. before being assured of a big payout for third. Pipe Dream’s blue weighed 425.1 pounds.
Game Time retained first at 536 pounds. Release held on to second with a 504-pounder that had already paid-out over a million by winning the Fabulous Fisherman category for the first blue over 500 pounds. Builder’s Choice got rich with a fourth place 431.8-pounder in fourth.
Seas were a lot better than on Friday, and the fishing was much improved. I’ll do a blog on the results and pay-offs in the morning.
N.J. fluke pro Dave Lilly was celebrating his 19th fluke tournament win well before noon today and with hours left in the Frank Thomas Memorial Tournament at Baker’s Marina in Highlands. He figured he was in pretty good shape with an 11.1-pound doormat to be matched with a 5.9-pounder to cover the various Calcutters. The four-man team on a 25-foot Release all limited and released other keepers while drifting offshore.. Dave’s son Jeremy was aboard along with Bryne Farmer, and Tony Olewynski ho hooked the doormat.
The Viking Fleet at Montauk reports on the Mon. June 10- 4 Day Offshore Jigaholic trip:
Capt. Steven Sr. reports an outstanding 4 Day Offshore Jigging trip. What we call our “Jigaholics” trip he called “Tileholics” with an impressive showing of beautiful large Golden Tile Fish. We saw the largest Tile fish coming up on the jigs on this trip, but we were lock and load from start to finish, with fishing half-days everyday. Dwayne Sherard took home the pool winning Tile fish with a 42.6 pounder. Nathenial Johnson took home the second prize Tile pool with a 37.5 lb fish and won the pool for the largest edible with a 14 lb. hake.
Capt. Ron Santee Jr. reported “Had a nice group of early Fathers day folks out with us on this beautiful day today.
Slugged away on every drop we fished with action on shorts & keeper Sea Bass along with several fluke.
Anthony had 4 Fluke and lost a beauty at the boat trying to lift it!! Another 3 pound Sea Bass took the pool beating out a 18 1/2 inch Fluke. Weather looks great for Fathers day, we will be bottom fishing.
The forecast is for northeast winds at 10-15 knots before dropping to southeast 5-10 in the afternoon.
The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is finishing up today. I’ll have a report after the scales close.
Though 115 boats fished the Big Rock on Friday, there was very little caught. Even the releases amounted to only 14 blue marlin and 3 white marlin. One day to go!
The NY Dept. of Environmental Protection passed along the following information about a change in cod regulations:
The Atlantic Cod fishing regulations have been updated to match federal fishing regulations. Starting today, June 12, 2024, the minimum size length has been updated from 21 inches to 23 inches, the possession limit has been decreased from 10 fish per day to 5 fish per day, and the open season has been shortened from all year to September 1 – May 31.
Capt. Ron Santee Jr. ended up well with today’s sea bass fishing, but it wasn’t easy as the southerly wind dropped the water temperature and slowed the bite everywhere he went.
The forecast is for north winds at 10-15 knots before dropping to 5-10in the afternoon –which should change that problem.
As noted in this morning’s blog, there’s actually one more day left in the Big Rock, I’ll do a blog on today’s results after the scales close tonight.
There are 116 boats fishing today in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City, N.C. while 186 took a lay day.
I mistakenly thought Friday was the last day as is the case with the upcoming white marlin tournaments, but it turns out that Big Rock has a sixth day on Saturday. Therefore, everything is still in play. Yesterday’s seas were reported as being “sporty”, and fishing was poor. However, the multitude of Calcuttas provides good shots every day at thousands of dollars in daily awards.
The 66th Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament at Morehead City concludes Friday as entrants with a fishing day left in the week-long contest vie for million-dollar pay-outs.
At this point Game Time is sitting pretty with their 516-pound blue marlin that could be worth $1.876,725.
Day 4 was a poor one as 56 boats managed only 12 billfish releases consisting of 8 blues, 3 whites and 1 sail. The scales were still open as this was written, and I’ll add a blog tonight if anything changes.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar reports “We picked SEA BASS today on all drifts and drops and some were better than others. There was PLENTY OF ACTION along with NICE KEEPER SEA BASS and some anglers had their limit. We also had a few small BLUEFISH on board and a showing of LING and WHITING. “
Capt. Ron Santee Jr. of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands reported “Good fishing right off the bat once again today……
Nice Big Sea Bass and a couple dozen ling on the first drop. Made a few drops in the area catching until the South wind came up. Bite slowed so we looked else-where and found another good bite to finish out the day.
Pete took the pool with a 3 1/2-lb. sea bass.”
The forecast remains good with 10-15 knot southwest winds, before going south at 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon.
If you are still looking for a last minute gift for your favorite angler, a membership to the International Game Fish Association would be a perfect choice that can be made with just a phone call or e-mail.
That will bring the latest issue of World Record Fishes, which weighs more than most of the fish I catch, plus newsletters and special ublications while also allowing the angler to check out records in a vast array of species and line classes that may provide an opportunity to seek the prestige of joining the greats of the sport with a world record fish.
N.Y.C, skipper John McMurry has found the early bluefin tuna concentration “First things first… Yeah, the tuna are here, and Captain Darren is running an open boat tomorrow and needs heads ($600pp). Hit me or Darren up ASAP if ya wanna go. Second, I ran my first tuna trip of the year yesterday. Man, there was a crazy amount of life (whales, dolphin, birds etc.) pretty much everywhere we looked. HUGE aggregations of sandeels. We had to run kinda far before we found any tuna on’em tho. Once we got on’em, broke off one giant (on a @RonZ)… Damn near spooled us before I could light the boat off and chaser her down. One of those fish you know pretty quickly you’d have little chance of landing. Then another on a popper before we put it together and landed one about 65”. T’was an EPIC strike. Fish absolutely destroyed the old reliable Madd Mantis Cherry Pop, coming damn near outta the water to grab it. We left’em biting, as we know it was pretty unlikely we’d find an under, and we had a LONG ride home. Purdy good start I gotta say, and it should just get better. Got a lotta availability for the rest of June. Hit us up of ya wanna go! ONE MORE CAST CHARTERS/ NYCTUNA.COM“
{‘ll do a blog tonight with updates on the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament after the scales close.
The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for southwest winds at just 5-10 knots before increasing to 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon.
Though there was no change in the blue marlin standings since my earlier blog, there was a big change in the dolphin category which was slow to fill in. SECOTEN had looked secure with a 45.6 pounder, but Ava A boated a 46.2 pound dolphin.
Tuna have also been scarce, but Dugga Boy caught a a 171.1-pounder that was a yellowfin, rather than the usual bigeye. Yellowfins that size are scarce in the Atlantic though common in the Pacific.
The wahoo category remains wide open, though Reel E Bugging pulled ahead of Wolverine with a 28.8-pound entry.
The Day 1billfish totals for 171 boats were 35 blue marlin, 10 sailfish, and 6 white marlin.
Tight Lines 