The bluefin tuna bite on the mid-range grounds off New Jersey’s northern Shore has been productive for private and charter boats, but party boats are also getting into the act since NMFS has made it possible for them to keep a few tuna.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had a trip last week during which they were hooking tuna up to 100 pounds on jigs by 8:30 a.m. They boated their limit of two over 47 inches and released four after fights of over 30 minutes. A move to another area with smaller tuna also proved to be productive.   All the action was on jigs. The next trips are coming up on July 23 and 30. Lots of bonito and small blues are being caught on other days.

As previously noted, the Jamaica from Brielle has added a tuna trip on Monday — and the Golden Eagle from Belmar has added one on July 30 from midnight to 4 p.m. The cost for the latter is $260 with a limit of 30. Though there wasn’t a report from the Golden Eagle at the time this was written, they had good action yesterday with blues and chub mackerel though not as many bonito as before since the drift was too fast and they had to anchor.

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Ron Santee reported a new monthly fluke leader during Friday’s trip of the Fishermen as Bill Venezia boated a 6 11/16-pounder. He also limited and caught about 30 shorts.  A 4-pound sea bass was also boated. The Fishermen is chartered tomorrow.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter saw more quality fluke Friday when his fares also were treated to a whale show.

The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant will be sailing open for $75 at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and July 31. Call 732 370-8019 for reservations.

The Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Club Fluke Tournament winds up its two-day run on Sunday. At this writing I haven’t had any calls from excited anglers in that contest or the one-day Raritan Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament which featured so many Calcuttas that the winner, if all-in, may need a body guard to get home.

The marine forecast for Sunday is for west winds at a mere 5-10 knots.

The Gambler from Point Pleasant had a season-leading fluke last weekend when Curtis Mc Nary boated an 8.14-pounder. However, they had something much more unusual Friday when two small cobia were released. Blog reader Frank Jones sent a shot of his son Kyle, a mate on that boat, with one of them. The minimum size for cobia in N.J. is 40 inches with a limit of one per angler — but only two per boat.

With fine weather predicted, anglers can pick from among many alternatives this weekend.

As noted in last night’s blog and illustrated with a photo, Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch out of Manasquan Inlet had great bluefin tuna fishing on the mid-range grounds Wednesday when the fish were marking from 30 to 50 feet down and being caught both jigging with St. Croix Mojo spinning rods and trolling with ChatterLure spreader bars as everyone in the Mike Kelly party caught their first tuna among 23 hooked.  Freda has openings in August when yellowfins should also be available nearby. Call him at 732 762-0870.

At Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina, Bob Matthews reports ocean fluking has improved with many keepers being boated. MacKenzie Lose boated a fluke over 8 pounds in Shark River Inlet while fishing with her grandfather Fran Mullin. Snappers are getting up to decent size for kids to catch — and for fluke bait.

Joe Mellilo reports from Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant that fluke have been hitting in the local surf on Gulp. One angler told him they were hitting like blues in the wash.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park was enthused about an abundance of kingfish in the surf on clam, squid or Fishbites. There are also cocktail blues in the surf for those fishing bunker or mullet.

The topwater bite wasn’t there in Shark River when I arrived this morning, but blues hit as soon as I switched to the ZMan Swimmerez paddletail — and school stripers followed as I released three blues up to about 5 pounds plus four stripers to 23 inches. Another angler broke a rod on what was probably a larger blue. Vinny D’Anton checked the beaches again but found no life.

Friday’s forecast is for southwest winds at just 5 knots before increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon.

There was no report from the Golden Eagle out of Belmar, but they had a continuation of fine bonito fishing again yesterday along with small blues and chub mackerel.

The Jamaica from Brielle has changed their schedule to fish for bonito and blues from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p. m. this weekend. They’ve also added a Monday July 22 40-70-mile tuna trip leaving at 12:30 a.m. and returning at 5 p.m. The cost is $285, and it’s limited to 25.  Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

My daughter Cyndi figured out why readers had to scroll through old blogs in order to get to the new one. Hopefully, that problem is over.

Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association that Capt. Bob Gerkens fished the Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Cup on July 4 with his Hot Tuna and Mike Yocco with his MJ’s crew in one of the Northern canyons.  During the 9 hours of the tournament only one marlin was raised, but it did not take any of the boat’s offerings.  However, in the several hours of non-tournament fishing, 8 yellowfin tuna were boated, 3 of which were 40 to 60-pounds and a gaffer mahi of 20-pounds. This weekend the “Hot Tuna” will be fishing the Ocean City, Maryland, Tuna Tournament. Following that event Captain Bob will be open for offshore charters.

Chris Buchta with a 33-pound striper about to be released Tuesday night from Chuck Many’s Ty Man after hitting a live eel. Shawn De Vincenzo gives the thumb’s up.

This weekend is a big one for fluke tournaments in the Raritan Bay area. Most have captains meetings Friday evening, but those wishing to fish Saturday’s Raritan Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament must check in at 8 tonight at the Moose Lodge in Perth Amboy. Visit raritanbayanglersclub.org for details.

The two-day Sandy Hook Bay Anglers contest over the weekend has a captains meeting at 7 p.m. Friday in the Senior Citizens Building at Atlantic Highlands Marina, which is the site for weigh-ins. Call 732-787-4008 — or visit sandyhookbayanglers.com

An active or retired military member, or a first responder, can fish a free canyon tuna trip ton the 60-foot Ritchie with Canyon Runner Charters tomorrow.  It’s last minute, but a great opportunity for a qualified person who can leave tomorrow afternoon for an overnighter. The Canyon Runner also has three open boat spots for Friday to Saturday. Call 732 272-4445.

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter reports Wednesday was his poorest trip for keepers in over a week though there were lots of shorts. It was quite different today as the third drift produced at least 150 fluke, with one in 30 being legal. The south wind then came up to create too fast a drift which didn’t stop the shorts but killed the keeper bite.

Harry Vogt of the Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County won Wednesday’s pool on the Fishermen with a 4.15-pound fluke.

Phil Fischer says the Shrewsbury and Naversink rivers are loaded with small peanut bunkers and snappers which are attracting fluke. Tank Matraxia and his Lyndhurst crew fished with their friend Carmine there a couple of days ago for lots of short fluke action but also four keepers. Tank also caught a couple of sea robins when they made a drift just outside in the bay.

The Forked River Tuna Club will run their 26th annual Ladies Tournament for both fluke and “junk fish” on Saturday.  The anglers meeting will be held Friday in the club at 7 p.m. Call 609 618-2925  or visit forkedrivertunaclub.com for info.

I got into a good bite when I started casting a Chug Bug in Shark River this morning, and caught a blue of about 5 pounds on my third cast. I added two more blues before the topwater bite turned off. A switch to a “bluefish proof” Z Man Swimmerz jig then instead produced two school stripers before everything went dead in beautiful waters but with no sign of bait. Vinny D’Anton tried the beaches with no success.

Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch at Point Pleasant reports an “epic” mid-range bluefin trip on Wednesday that produced 23 bluefins up to a jigged 51-incher.

It’s nothing like the hot spring bite, but striped bass can be caught even in the middle of summer in NY/NJ Bight by those with the patience and expertise to hunt them out.

Chuck Many specializes in that fishing with his Ty Man out of Gateway Marina in Highlands, and he demonstrated his expertise late yesterday afternoon with Chris Buchta, Shawn De Vincenzo and I handling the rods. Many releases all his bass with the rare exception of one that can’t be revived. That’s a good thing for the local resource as these are pretty surely Hudson River stock stripers whose reproduction is essential to maintaining that stock which has been providing us with a first class fishery even as the migratory stocks coming up from the south have been declining to the extent that ASMFC will be placing additional restrictions om an overfished population for 2020.

Our count was up to 19 in the mid to upper teens before Many ran to the mouth of the bay to try for a bigger bass after dark. Chris got the only hit on a live eel and released a 33-pounder to bring  the count up to 20 plus a small dogfish that ate a bunker.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar ran offshore yesterday to look for big bluefish, but instead hit a hot bite of bonito that provided doubleheaders and tripleheaders along with 1-4-pound blues. They did the same thing with similar results today — and will continue doing so at 7:30 a.m. Tomorrow’s forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots. There’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Vinny D’Anton took a shot at the Manasquan surf this morning without success. A move to Shark River was little better with just a 15-inch striper on his Chug Bug.

Joe Melillo reports from Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant that bait is back in the local surf. Some stripers have been caught by anglers casting metal at first light. However, there’s been no sign of the return of Spanish mackerel.

Though the unofficial results of the July 4 Mid-Atlantic Nlue Marlin Cup were posted on my blog that day, there is now a press release from Jeff Merrill with the official information as follows:

Wish You Were Here Takes MidAtlantic Cup Blue Marlin Tournament!

The inaugural MidAtlantic Cup Blue Marlin Tournament attracted boats from Manasquan, New Jersey to Virginia Beach and was held on July 4th. This one-day, winner-take-all event allowed the 14 boats to fish from their home port with weigh stations selected to accommodate participants near their sailing port. Weather and sea conditions were ideal and reports of numerous blue marlin catches were already confirmed for a few weeks prior to the event while the days before the tournament saw an increase in catch numbers of both white and blue marlin. There were no boundaries for the tournament so participants could select where they wanted to fish and leave at any time prior to “Lines In” which was set for 8:30 a.m. There was no minimum weight set for the tournament though any blue marlin weighed needed to measure 106” to qualify. When the dust settled at day’s end Ed Katzianer’s Wish You Were Here, a 61’ Viking based out of Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, New Jersey with Captain Rickey Wheeler on the bridge, stood alone atop the leaderboard.
Wheeler noted several factors played into their decision to run to the 600 fathom line between the Wilmington and Baltimore canyons. “I’d been following the water (offshore) for over a week and liked what I saw,” he noted, adding he had confirmed reports of white marlin and blue marlin caught in the same area the day before. “The water temperature was 74.5 to 75 degrees and it was simply beautiful, flat calm.” Other than a dolphin bite the day was pretty much uneventful for the crew until they hooked-up the blue marlin. “When you’re pulling big plugs on heavy tackle you’re just hoping for a bite from a big fish,” he added. That one bite came at about 2:10 p.m. when the blue marlin came up on the left teaser. Seeing the fish, the crew dropped a pitch bait back but it didn’t get bit. “She didn’t take the pitch bait but we saw her pile on the plug we were pulling from the right short ‘rigger. It was an awesome bite!” Angler Brett Katzianer, Ed’s son, immediately hopped in the fighting chair and the battle was on. “She took a lot of line initially off the 130 and made a lot of jumps,” added Wheeler noting he knew it was a qualifying fish as soon as he saw it. After a battle that lasted well over an hour the fish was brought to leader, gaffed and boated. The crew raced back to Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May where word had gotten out a blue marlin was being brought to the scale. It was early evening and a crowd had already gathered to view the weigh-in when Wheeler backed the Wish You Were Here to the weigh station. The blue marlin measured 108” and was placed on the scale and Chris Booth, weighmaster for the event, allowed the fish to settle before yelling out the weight at 489 pounds.

For their efforts the Wish You Were Here received the tournament purse of $22,400! They also won an
“Admirals Package” fishing vacation in Nosara, Costa Rica courtesy of Fishing Nosara (FishingNosara.com)
which includes seven nights at the luxurious Casa Capitan at Nosara Paradise Rentals is provided along with
four full days fishing the gamefish-rich waters of the Pacific Ocean for up to six anglers. The value of this trip
alone is well over $6800! Congratulations to Ed and Brett Katzianer, Rickey Wheeler and the crew of the Wish
You Were Here!

Allen Riley of South Plainfield just a few weeks ago was surfcasting into loads of Bait in North Carolina and catching many small blues and Spanish mackerel. Unfortunately, he hasn’t found similar conditions at Sandy Hook since returning. Conditions were ideal this morning, but fishing was poor with only one short fluke caught and no bait inshore though a bunker boat under a spotter plane was making a big haul offshore. Riley noted that Frank Huza and David Levitt from Aberdeen fished Sandy Hook hard yesterday to come up with almost a dozen short fluke plus two sea robins.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reports lots of bait in the wash and bait anglers catching them on mullet and bunker.  Fluke are also feeding in the surf. Sharkers are catching sand tigers at night. Betty & Nick’s notes that anglers have also reported Spanish mackerel, bonito and houndfish from IBSP.

Conditions have been fine in Shark River, but results have been sparse. I released a 22-inch striper yesterday morning on a Band of Anglers Dart Spin. and added two 3-pound blues ad a 21-inch striper this morning on a Z Man 6-inch white Awimmerz paddletail.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots until the afternoon when they go south at 10-15 with gusts to 20.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar will be making a trip far offshore on Wednesday to seek big bluefish  at 7:30 a.m. in good conditions with a northwest wind of 5 knots. However, it was Joe Massa, of My Three Sons at Morgan Marina who  had the best fish reports today both here and overseas. He returned Saturday night from a cruise to St. Martin in the Caribbean Sea where he caught tarpon — and was right back out Sunday to seek fluke with a couple of friends.

The tarpon were hooked at a fish cleaning station with scraps. The Sunday  trip also worked out well as he jigged a 27-inch, 8-pound fluke over on the NY side as they also added a few other large fluke.

Capt Capt. John Contello’s father asked his son to take him out for fluke on July 5, and ended up netting the fluke of a lifetime for that young skipper who lured a 14–pound doormat to eat his bucktail worked from his charter boat Just Sayin’ out of Keyport.

There wasn’t anything like that on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands today, but Capt. Rob Semkewyc left short action to seek out keepers and was pleased to find a 7.1-pounder for Pat Lasson of Cranbury. There was also a 4.89-pounder boated.

There wasn’t much action on surface lures in Shark River this morning, but I cast the Band of Anglers Dart Spin to release five blues of 3 and 4 pounds plus two stripers to 23 inches. Vinny D’Anton did get one bass on a Chug Bug plus two blues — and Tommy Cox plugged a bass. Frank Manzi didn’t have any luck casting, but rescued a horseshoe crab that was stranded in the rocks. A couple of years ago he found a tagged horseshoe crab in the river which turned out to have come all the way from Delaware Bay.

Bob Correll reported another dead morning in the Bay Head surf, but today’s northeast wind may have stirred things up for the better in the ocean. The forecast for Monday is east winds at 5-10 knots.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a hot bite of sea bass today for the two per man presently allowed. Bluefish didn’t show, but there are lots of them bothering tuna trollers offshore.

In the photo below, Tommy Freda, son of Capt. Jim Freda and his mate on Shore Catch from Point Pleasant, bills the estimated 400-pound blue marlin recently released by young anglers from a center console while they were trolling a Chatter lure for yellowfin tuna.

It took a long time to find a fish today. but persistence finally paid off while shore fishing.

I started at the Manasquan surf which was as shallow as I’ve ever seen it. When I took a look at Bay Head, I ran into the regulars coming off after catching nothing. Then, Vinny D’Anton called to say he went to Shark River late and had plugged two school stripers. Though I was sure I’d be too late for that flurry, I made the run and waded out just in time to see Vinny’s Chug Bug get hit by a 5 1/2-pound blue after he’d added two more bass. . That was it for the surface plugging under the sun, but Jim Louro arrived and caught two bass on the Band of Anglers Dart Spin before that also stopped working.

I headed in to make a few casts, as I always do, on the way off the river. To my surprise, I got a hit on the glow Dart Spin  — and on the next cast caught a 5-6-pound blue. Vinny then released two stripers, and so did I. Those were my first bass of the year in Shark River where I’d never been at the right place at the right time. There must have been a lot of unseen fish there when I arrived as there were hits on every cast until it just as suddenly went to “not a bump”.

Persistence also paid off Friday night in Point Pleasant Canan for John Westerdale as he cast swimshads for a 20-inch striper at 6 p.m., a big bluefish at night, and two more 20-inch bass at 1:30 a.m. He had also caught a houndfish in the Bay Head surf the previous morning.

Louro was fishing backwaters from his boat earlier in the week and catching lots of stripers up to a 32-incher on the Band of Anglers Flying Pencil popper.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano was into a good trolling bite of “football” yellowfins from Frank Criscola’s Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club during the week, but he heard that the hot bite in South Toms had died out Friday.

Don Marantz fished today on the Barb-Gail from Point Pleasant as they had limits of sea bass and winter flounder plus 162 ling.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported good fishing for sea bass plus ling and bluefish.

Capt. Ron Santee said the weather forecast scared off many anglers, but they had no rain on the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands while drifting conditions were good for a pick of shorts and keeper fluke up to a 5-pounder.

The forecast for Sunday is north winds at just 5-10 knots becoming east at 10-15 with gusts to 20 and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon. Many surfcasters are hoping for northeast winds to shake up the ocean a bit.

Some blog followers have not been receiving the blogs I’ve done every night — while others report no trouble. I’ll try to check that out.

It only took one fish to make the first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Cup a success and one was boated in that July 4 event.

There’s been no press release so far, but I got some info over the phone from South Jersey Marina in Cape May that should be taken as preliminary.

The winner-take-all event drew 14 boats fishing out of ports from Brielle to Virginia, and Wish You Were Here from Canyon Club Marina in Cape May  won $22,400 for a 108-inch, 489-pound blue marlin. Ed Ketzinnor had his son in the chair. Seven of the boats in the contest were also entered in the World Cup being fished the same day. It appears that was won by a boat fishing at Madeira with a 541.2-pounder.

Ironically, there was another blue marlin caught that day — but by some young guys looking for yellowfin tuna from a center console. Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch Charters in Point Pleasant said his son and mate Tommy, was among that group which had started trolling relatively small yellowfins when the marlin hit the Chatter side-tracking bar. They all fought it for two hours before Tommy got the bill for the release of an extimated 400-pounder.

Bob Correll reported another dead morning in the Bay Head surf, but there had been some excitement on the Fourth when John Westerdale snagged something he couldn’t identify. That turned out to be an easy one when I got the shot this morning — a houndfish. Those long, needle-nosed fish have become a regular visitor to Barnegat Bay and usually do a lot of jumping when hooked though they don’t get as large as the Pacific version.

I tried Shark River this morning, and that river still doesn’t like me. Conditions were perfect, but I didn’t raise a thing. Tommy Cox raised one fish, but had to move to the surf to catch a schoolie on an SP Minnow. Vinnie D’Anton went right to the surf for a small bass on his Chug Bug. He also saw another angler casting that lure and holding the rod as his son turned the hanle. The lure was just being dragged in instead of being popped — but a 26-inch bass hit it.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had primarily sea bass and ling during today’s trip.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to south at 10-15 with gusts to 20 in the afternoon — plus a possibility of showers and thunderstorms.

I WASN’T ABLE TO GET PHOTOS IN, BUT WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW

July is fluke tournament month, and some big ones are coming up.

The 35th annual Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament maintains the two-day format on July 13-14. The captains meeting is 7 p.m. July 12 in the Senior Citizen’s Building at Atlantic Highlands Harbor. For info visit sandyhookbayanglers.com –or call 732 787-4008.

The Raritan Bay Anglers hold their 29th annual Fluke Tournament on one day, July 13. The captains meeting is on July 11 at Perth Amboy Moose Lodge. For info visit raritanbayanglersclub.org.

The Staten Island Tuna Club has two fluke tournaments. The Richie Addeo is coming up July 6. Call 917 440-6959. The Grandapa Savino Memorial on July 20 includes a $25,000 prize for the heaviest fluke over 13 pounds. Call Walter Fisher at 917 375-7607. The e-mail site for both contests is situnaclub.com.

The big money event later in the month is the Point Pleasant Elks Fluke Tournament that ran into bad luck with weather warnings last year and had to be cancelled. They’re set for July 27, following the July 26 captains meeting at the lodge. Visit pointpleasantelks.org. A kayak division is included.

The first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament was contested today. I’ll have any results during a beautiful day in tomorrow’s blog.

I got to Shark River a bit late today, as Vinny D’Anton and Tommy Cox had already released several school stripers and 5-6-pound blues on poppers, but found the last of those blues on my Chug Bug to break a season-long drought in that river. Tommy later plugged a bigger blue, and Vinny added a bass on a Tsunami Sand Eel.

Bob Correll fished Bay Head at dawn, but reported a dead surf. Joe Melillo, at Castaway’s Tackle in Point Pleasant heard of only one small blue caught in the surf early this morning.

Jerry Lasko reports that Maren Toleno fished for sharks last night in the Bay Head surf and landed both a small sand tiger and a whiptail ray too big to get it up on the sand.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reports small blues up to 3 pounds are hitting bunker or mullet in the surf.  Voitek Moduszewski beached a 34-inch 13.45-pound striper on clam.

Betty & Nick’s noted that Gillikin’s is finally open for IBSP beach buggies.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle didn’t find any bluefish today, but they had some whiting on bottom along with sea bass and ling. The Big Mohawk had a tough fluking trip Wednesday due to lack of drift. They will be sailing at 6 a.m. Friday, and 5:30 over the weekend.

Though bluefish are hard to come by inshore, mid-range tuna trollers are having a hard time getting through them.  Not all of the blues are large, but they all love balao. The little tunny that had been interfering with tuna trolling earlier seem to have moved.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had slow fluking Wednesday, but a few larger fish that included a 4.7-pounder and a 5.15 that took the lead in the monthly pool — plus a 6-pound pool winner.

Friday’s marine forecast is for southeast winds at just 5-10 knots with patchy fog in the morning. That direction should keep flies off the beaches.