There are two very different memorable catches Ill be writing about today — but for different reasons.

Some e-mails from Nick Honachefsky of Saltwater Underworld never showed up on my AOL mail, which happens at times when multiple photos are included. That’s how I missed a very impressive bluefin tuna catch that Nick made last month when he was fishing with Capt. Brien Keating on Defiance and a 180-pound bluefin hit a Savage lure cast on a Shimano Sragrossa 10000.

The battle lasted well over an hour, but I assured him that it could have been a lot worse. About a decade ago I hoked what turned out to be a 170-pound yellowfin tuna off Panama on a Yo-Zuri Bull popper — and that tuna soon sounded in the “bottomless” depths of the Pacific. That resulted in a backbreaking 5 1/2-hour battle that I thought was never going to end because there’s no resting with spinning tackle as is the case with conventional and a harness. There was plenty of braid on the big Shimano Stella, but I could hardly gain any for hours while the tuna was in its comfort zone. When I finally bot it up, she didn’t move a fin when gaffed.

Fighting a tuna that size in our area is a better deal for the angler, as it will surely stay down, but the deepest water during the Nick’s epic battle was “only” 250 feet. Nick is a lot younger, but I can assure you that I never want to battle another tuna that large on spinning!

Kenneth Abeles was fishing for sea bass on the Farms yesterday when he was surprised by a 10-12-pound monkfish. He said that was the first he’s seen in fishing off the N.J. coast for 50 years. The proper name of that ugly fish is angler, but they’re also referred to as goosefish, headfish, and all mouth. They’re actually not rare. Commercial fishermen catch large numbers on bottom longlines and nets. However, angling catches are all random — but therefore memorable. I can remember every one of the few I’ve caught from the first on a N.Y. party boat while fishing for whiting at Ambrose to my personal record 42-pounder that hit an umbrella rig being trolled for pollock off Block Island. Though different sizes, they’ve also been on different lures or bait. Ken released his monkfish, which is a name made up by the market to tempt people to try one of the best eating fish of all. You’ll never see one in a fish store as they’re cleaned at sea into a large hunk of boneless meat.

So much for the northeast 5-10 knot forecast this morning. I was faced with nothing but white waters when I cast into breaking waves at Sea Girt. It turned out to be a typical dry northeaster that dies out later in the morning, but it felt like Oct. 4 on the beach,

Tomorrow’s forecast is for northwest at 5-10 knots before going to south at 10-15 in the afternoon.

Mid-range school tuna fishing today was more a matter of avoiding sharks than of finding bluefins willing to bite.

It was a beautiful day at sea after a 90-mile run offshore with Capt. Derik Bielitz and mate Jimmy on his 31 Contender Fisher Price from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands. It turned out to be a day of negative firsts in my northern fishing career as I watched big sharks strike poppers and witnessed carnage by them on hooked tuna that I only previously saw in tropical areas.

Shortly after first light we saw lots of dolphins jumping along with a good showing of big whales. At our first stop, Lou Grazioso jigged an under bluefin, and I lost one after a few secnds, while Chuck Many had a blast on his popper that turned out to be a big dusky or brown shark after a tough fight on spinning tackle. Many kept raising sharks to the popper and broke off another before we went on the troll.

It took some trolling through breezing schools of bluefins before five rods went off. Yet, only one under was boated out of all that as the other tuna plus the sidetracker spreader bars were lost to sharks. After getting everything replaced there was a blast of four tuna with only one boated as sharks decimated the lures. We then switched to casting again, and Chuck managed to hook a bluefin of about 40 inches that was released since we had the charter boat limit of three under bluefins. Chuck also hooked a much bigger tuna that got cut off, and Lou lost his popper to a huge hammerhead shark after a short battle.

The sea basssumason opened today, and the Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a boat limit of them at two per angler at a 12 1/2-inch minimum. They started chasing small blues which were skittish. The variety included the first mention of Spanish mackerel as well as bonito, chub mackerel, ling and fluke.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported slow bluefishing, but added sea bass, ling and chub mackerel.

The calm weather is predicted to continue tomorrow with northwest winds at 5 knots switching to southwest in the afternoon.

Spanish mackerel are a tropical species which often put in a brief appearance in NY/NJ Bight late in the summer when our waters are at their warmest. While boaters troll quite a few some summers, they are a real challenge to catch from the surf when they make a rare visit. Getting a small netal and sparse teaser to them at just the right time and at high speed isn’t easy to do.

I missed out on a decent showing during the summer of 2018, but never expected to get another shot at them last June — two months earlier than expected. I could hardly believe that the typical arching leaps of Spanish mackerel were being spotted. Yet on June 29 last year I caught two in the Bay Head surf, along with eight small blues, to finally broke the ice with them in the N.J. surf at an unprecedented time of year. Quite a few Spanish were caught around that time before it became a pick into early fall.

I wouldn’t bet that it will happen again, but look for those distinctive leaps and take advantage of a rare opportunity if it occurs.

Both the Fishermen and the Sea Hunter reported picky fluke fishing out of Atlantic Highlands today, but with more keepers in the mix. The Sea Hunter won’t be sailing tomorrow due to a lack of customers expected.

The Jamaica from Brielle is sticking with ling fishing before switching to the normal bluefishing. In addition to the daily 7:30 a.m. trip, they have 7:30 p,m. Friday and Saturday ling trips — and a Sunday afternoon sailing from 4:30 to 8:30. Lyle Murdock from Atlanta won yesterday’s pool with a 15-inch winter flounder and added a cooler of ling.

Allen Riley made his first surf trip in some time, and tried a bit south of Sandy Hook yesterday morning. Using only lures, he managed to release five short fluke though there was no sign of bait. Mike the Tin Man tried the Sea Bright surf that morning and released four small fluke on his lures plus Gulp — before being surprised by a 20-inch striper which he was unhooking in the wash when a swell inundated him.

The Wednesday forecast is for south winds at 5 knots, with a chance of showers and thunder storms in the afternoon.