Though blue marlin have been cooperating at the 271-boat, $5.8 million Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City, N.C., that unusual contest hasn’t been able to give away the $739,500 prize for the first 500-pounder through the first two days. C-Student remains on top with its day one landing of a 470.2-pounder as 254 boats fished yesterday.

Grand Slam released three blues yesterday to take the lead in the release category as the fleet released 54 blues, two whites and five sailfish. Predator rushed in early today in hopes of breaking that 500-pound barrier, but their blue weighed 459 pounds to take over third place. Sea Toy holds onto second at 463 pounds, and Sea Wolfe was in early today with a 408-pounder for fourth.

High Yield entered the first tuna at 42.8 pounds, and Skip Hook boated a huge dolphin of 59.3 pounds which is in line for a payout of $539,750.

Capt. Frank Masseria switched to fluke for today’s charter on his Vitamin Sea from Keyport, and had his first good trip with that species.

The forecast is for south winds at 5-10 knots before going southeast in the afternoon. Showers are likely.

Vinny D’Anton hosted Art Nigro from Pa. in the Monmouth County surf this morning, and showed him how to catch fluke on Gulp while he waited out a striper on sand fleas. The water temperature which had killed fishing the day before was back up and Art caught 10 fluke, though none were keepers. Vinny managed a 28 1/2-inch striper before switching to fluke which were all shorts.

Following are the results from last Friday’s Manhattan Cup run out of Liberty Landing Marina, as supplied by Gary Caputi:

All fish released — weights by formula

Manhattan Cup Winner – Angler Jim Wartsky, Capt. Chris Landry 46.4 lbs.

Warrior Division

Bluefish fly – Angler – Adam Fly

                             Capt. Mike Century 2.9 lbs.

Bass Bait – Angler Doug Lewis

                        Capt. Brian Rice 43.7 lbs.

Bass artificial – Angler Val Henderson

                                Capt. George Yurcak 18.5 lbs.

Bass Fly –   Angler Matt Briatta

                        Capt. Arthur Cortes 2.8 lbs.

Celebrity Division

Bass Artificial – Astronaut Commander Bruce Melnick

                                 Capt. Frank Crescitelli 17.75 lbs.

Bass Fly – Angler- Author Monte Burke

                    Capt. Frank Crescitelli 21.3 lbs.

Bluefish Bait – Angler Jim Jensen

                               Capt. Chip Capasso 7.6 lbs.

Manhattan Cup  General Category

Bass Bait – Angler Keith Overlander

                        Capt. Adrian Moeller 43.9 lbs.

Bass Artificial – Angler- Anthony Davino

                                 Capt. Anthony Grassi 2.7 lbs.

Bass Fly – Angler Pat Moffit

                    Capt. Brendan Ross 3.3 lbs.

Bluefish Artificial – Angler Kevin Moffitt

                                        Capt. Brendan Ross 3.9 lbs.

Bluefish Fly – Angler Anthony Davino

                             Capt. Anthony Grassi 1.3 lbs.

Smallest fish – Angler Kevin, Capt. Brendan Ross – 12”

Captain Award Most Striped Bass caught Capt. Anthony Grassi – 10

The first day of the 271-boat. $5.8 million Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City, N.J. featured a pair of almost identical blues with C-Student’s 470.2-pounder edging a 463.7-pound blue on Sea Toy. C-Student missed out on the big money prize for the first blue over 500 pounds, so that $739,500 is still up for grabs.

There were 46 billfish releases the first day, all but four of which were blues. One blue was weighed at under the 400-pound minimum. Tuna Tango boated a 41.1-pound dolphin, and Weldor’s Ark had a 59.7-pound wahoo.

Vinny D’Anton got off to a good start yesterday morning in the Monmouth County surf as stripers of 28 and 29 inches took his sand fleas. There was one more hit before everything went dead. Vinny checked with other anglers there who also ran out of action. Yet, that was better than this morning when cold water moved in and there were no hits.

West winds at 10-15 knots are predicted for tomorrow.

June used to be prime time for sharking off the N.J. Shore, with several big tournaments being run at that time. However, with the protections recently applied to makos, interest in the poor man’s big game fishing has subsided.

Thus, I was surprised to find that Andreas Toy from Point Plesant had a charter out on Sunday that hooked up on a thresher which was lost when it landed on the line during a jump. They also fought a mako to boatside for the required release.

These days it’s often a better shot to fish around bunker schools inshore which are a big attraction for threshers which are frequently hooked by anglers fishing live bunkers for stripers — and even by fluke fishermen.

Sea bass remain abundant during the last days of the N.J. season. The Big Mohawk from Belmar reported a 32-man limit by 10 a.m., which gave them time to run inshore and pick through short fluke before coming up with 15 keepers.

The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20. Showers are possible in the morning, and thunderstorms in the late afternoon.

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is underway at Morehead City, N.C., with 271 boats and a purse of $5.8 million.

The weigh-ins listed yesterday for bluefin tuna weighed in the Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club’s Bluefin Open were actually from last year’s event but popped up as I searched for this year’s. The actual weigh-ins in the 80-boat, $162,192 contest were a lot less impressive. Teddi B won easily at 117.5 pounds over a 80.1-pounder on Better Attitude.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported sea bass fishing early today was a struggle at first due to the wind, but ended up well once again with many limits and a couple of 2 1/2-3-pound jumbos included. There were also a few ling. Only seven days are left in that N,J. season.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant has been starting off with bluefish. They had a good shot of 2-7-pound choppers Sunday before adding sea bass.

Tuesday’s forecast is for west winds at just 10-15 knots.

With the Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club’s Bluefin Open coming to a conclusion this evening, there have already been many large tuna weighed.

Deep Six leads the way with a 226-pounder, followed by Pipe Dreamer at 151 pounds, Touch of Grey with a 145-pounder and Playing Hookey with a 127,4 pound bluefin.

Hans Kaspersetz sent a photo of another great offshore tuna trip with Mark and Dru on Blue Runner from Point Pleasant.

Frank Manzi had the best surf catch reported from Monmouth County beaches this morning with three stripers up to a 34-incher on sand fleas. Vinnie D’Anton said he couldn’t raise anything on poppers, but was surprised to catch a blackfish of about 13 inches in the sand bars while fishing with sand fleas.

The Jamaica from Brielle reported reading sea bass up to 30 feet thick as Paula Nicholas won the pool with a 3.6-pounder. A couple of mackerel were also boated — though it wasn’t specified if they were Atlantics or chubs.

The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots before increasing to 15-20 in the afternoon. There’s also a chance of showers.

The offshore season is upon us already, with two of the traditional ones getting started.

The 65th Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament starts Monday in Morehead City, N.C., while the Manasquan River Marlin& Tuna Club Bluefin Tuna Open kicked off today.

The Manhattan Cup got favorable weather conditions yesterday, but no results have been reported.

Fine sea bass fishing continues off the Jersey Shore. The Golden Eagle from Belmar was able to make long drifts which produced many limits plus a showing of fluke.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park weighed in a surf fluke at 3.36 pounds after being taken on Gulp by customer Bob.

The Connecticut state record fluke may have been boated this week. Bill Proulx weighed the 32 5/8-incher in Hilyer’s Tackle at 15,30 pounds..

Sunday’s forecast is for south winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

Vinny D’Anton faced very low water conditions early in the morning but made long casts with a Super Strike popper to catch a couple of stripers in the 22-inch class before switching to sand fleas.

Mike Monte called from Nantucket to report the island is surrounded by stripers from 25 to 35 inches that are even being caught in the harbor. The action is on small swimming plugs.

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Who says you need big baits for big fish? Vinny D’Anton has been proving the opposite in the Monmouth County surf. This morning he started out witChug Bug and nailed a small bluefish before switching to sand fleas. It didn’t take long before he beached a 28 1/2-inch striper he then topped that with a 33-incher!

The Big Mohawk from Belmar had another great day of sea bass fishing with many limits as that fishery continues to hold up.

Saturday’s forecast is for northwest winds at 10 knots before shifting to southwest in the afternoon.

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Most fishing tournaments have a rain date, or may be postponed due to bad weather. However, in the case of the Manhattan Cup he venue has been paid for along with all the food — and the event must go on.

The first time I fished the Manhatten Cup, the conditions couldn’t have been much worse with rain, wind and even hail. As if that wasn’t bad enough, during the afternoon a tornado warning was issued. The Manhataen Cup was actually in Manhattan at that time, so the committee had skippers take shelter in Staten Island while everyone boarded a party boat there for transportation io the festivities in Manhattan.

There should be less drama ait Liberty Landing tomorrow as the forecast is for light west winds in the morning before a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another very good day of sea bass fishing with many limits plus some ling and fluke.

That’s a new one for this blog — and it’s in effect until 11 p.m. after a day of the worst toxic air the NYC area as ever endured due to natural causes. My internet has been out of whack all day, but I did see one marine weather forecast for tomorrow that calls for northeast 5-10 knots before going southeast in the afternoon.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar reported another boat limit of sea bass. It was a pick at anchor in the morning until they were able to drift in the afternoon for more and bigger fish by jigging.

Capt. John McMurray reported a great day of big NYC stripers that were right on the surface hitting lures.

There have been times when a sea bass opening resulted in a flurry of action before cooling rapidly, but there have been no complaints about the current N.J. run so far. Good reports keep coming in as party boats often limit out all patrons — including those whose skills may leave something to be desired. It appears there are plenty of keepers to carry the fishery through the June 18 finish.

Jon Falkowski of Linden reported a quick limit couple of days ago on the Golden Eagle from Belmar — just as the boat had reported. Jon used bait, but jiggers did as well.

Ben Green posted on Facebook that he had a fantastic sea bass trip today on the Capt. Cal 2 from Belmar as big ling were also mixed in.

The Jamaica from Brielle also reported some ling Monday as sea bass limits were filled.

As good as yesterday’s sand flea action was in the Monmouth County surf, Vinny D’Anton said it was even better today. He caught five from 28 1/2 to 30 inches. Tommy Cox is a lure casting pro, but was talked into fishing the fleas and caught six up to 27 inches,

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

Chuck Nany reported a short afternoon trip on his Tyman produced mayhem with big stripers.