Last week was another great one in the canyons for the Canyon Runner fleet from Point Pleasant. Adam La Rosa reports the totals for the two boats were over 100 tuna, including a 400-pound giant, 12 bigeyes and lots of smaller bluefins and yellowfins plus dolphin, a 96-inch,400-pound mako, a swordfish and four white marlin. Many of the smaller tuna were released since there was so much meat in he box. Canyon Runner coaching members were also in on the bite as one boat caught eight bigeyes on a day trip. For info on the coaching service and $899 last minute open boat seats call 732 272-4445- or e-mail adam@canyonrunner.com.

The 25th JCAA Fluke Tournament will be contested Saturday from ports throughout N. J. with identical prize packages at each ranging up to $1200 for first. Many Calcuttas will also be available plus a Doormat Fluke Prize of $50,000 for the largest fluke weighing over 12 pounds. The latter requires a  $25 fee in addition to the $180 entrance fee. For lack of adding that $25. an angler last year with a fluke over 12 pounds was unable to bank that $50,000.  This contest is a great deal, as even if you don’t catch a fish you’re still eligible for the June 20 drawing for the grand prize of a 14-foot StarCraft with a 9 HP Yamaha and Yacht Club trailer — plus many other prizes.  To enter visit jcaa.org, or call the office at 732 506-6975.

Today’s rain is long gone, and the clearing west winds are knocking down the ocean swell. The Big Mohawk didn’t sail from Belmar due to the weather, but will be back at it in the morning along with most of the fleet as the forecast is for northeast winds at just 5-10 knots before switching to southeast at 10-15 in the afternoon.

Shark River wasn’t very productive this morning for shore casters, but Jason did plug two short stripers. Tommy Cox waded way out to cast poppers to 4-pound blues. Though Bill Hoblitsell did nothing on the fly there, he moved to the surf for a 24-inch bass. Vinny D’Anton ended up switching to sand fleas in the surf and quickly released bass of 25 and 24 inches before that bite shut off.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported weekend surf fishing was tough, and there were few anglers in Monday’s weather, but a keeper-size striper was caught on bunker in the surf this morning. Blues are still being hooked in the bay.

 

 

The weather wasn’t favorable for the first big money shark contest of the season, but there was lots of action for anglers fishing in the South Jersey Shark Tournament. Aaron Hoffman of South Jersey Marina in Cape May reported as follows:

The weather wasn’t in favor of the 39th Annual South Jersey Shark Tournament as the Captains Meeting started off with a front coming through. While the forecast over the fish days seemed to put a damper on this year’s attendance the smaller, but enthusiastic fleet were rewarded with plenty of bites.
At first, Day One looked to be the less favorable of the three fish days. With only 6 boats deciding to utilize the breeze to their advantage, they found that the seas turned out to be one of the better options. Those 6 boats had plenty of action throughout the day releasing makos, blue sharks, hammerheads, tiger and dusky sharks. Kyle Denny and the anglers of the 38 Special took an early lead on mako release points with a total of 3 fought throughout the day, while the reels on the Saltlick were cranking all day with a total of 9 released sharks including two smaller makos. While they did manage to boat a possible contending blue shark, it ultimately would not make qualifying weight which left them itching to get back out on the water the following day.
Day Two was the big day when all 47 boats broke the inlet for the fishing grounds. Once again the fleet found the fishy water and within 18 minutes of lines in Garrett Foster on the Jiggle had the first hook up of the day — and after that it was game on. We saw plenty of releases throughout the day. Saltlick was busy once again with 9 releases including a mako,  but Warden Pass took the lead with 10 releases, 5 of which were makos. Francesca Rose, Castaway, and Saltick all came to the scales in hopes to make it to the scoreboard, but unfortunately none would meet the tournament minimums, leaving the board wide open for the final day of the tournament. While the crowds continued to wait anxiously for another day at the weigh stations, the nightly dockside atmosphere was filled with fish stories from the action packed day on the water.
With 6 boats fished out, it left 41 teams to make some magic happen on the scoreboard. Saturday’s forecast turned out to be the windiest of the 3 available fish days, which added to the anticipation at the weigh station. While the conditions were sporty, the remaining fleet found more makos than the prior days. Yet, it was the appearance of the Relentless crew to the weigh station that made the impact to the scoreboard. Halfway into afternoon of weigh-ins their 435 pound thresher set the bar for the heaviest shark across the board. While the
majority of the boats reported hook ups and releases, the tournament concluded with the Relentless as the payout
winner of the tournament.
As the event turned out to be busy with over 100 releases, the points categories were all filled. 3rd Most Points
Mako went to Rob Kurian and his crew on the Saltlick with 800 points total. 2nd Most Points Mako, which was
a tie broken by time, was awarded to Kyle Denny and the team of the 38 Special with 800 points. Most Points
Mako was taken by Val Fichera of the Warden Pass as he and his crew accumulated 1000 release point in total.
The big winners of the night went to Frank Gripp, Captain Joe Cunningham, and the team of the Relentless as
they cleaned out the purses in the Overall, Daily Double, and Under 35’ Calcuttas for heaviest shark with a total
payout of $88,642!

Sharkers can move on this weekend to the June 14-15 B Cityrett T. Baily Mako Rodeo out of Hoffman’s Marina in Brielle. For info contact Art Della Salla at 212 945-8704.

Inshore anglers will be fishing the 25th annual JCAA Fluke Toutnament out of ports Jersey to Cape May on Saturday, For entry info visit jcaa.org. I’ll have more about this and other tournaments tomorrow.

I doubt if many boats fished today, but there was some shore fishing. I was never around anyone fighting a small striper in Shark River this morning, but Tommy Cox had one plus a 5-pound blue plugging before I arrived, and Vinny D’Anton caught four on a popper.

Though most of the surf stripers hitting sand fleas have been in the 20-22-inch class so far. Maran Toleno pulled hooks on bass over keeper size both Sunday morning and evening at a Monmouth County beach.

Yesterday was a pretty day inshore, but tuna trollers were frustrated by the lack of visibility for spotting birds, dolphins and whales that could lead them to bluefin tuna.

Bob Correll sailed with Mike Heaney on his Sea Vee from Clarks Landing in Point Pleasant, and the crew headed to Little Italy where we quickly boated a 48-incher last Sunday. The tuna didn’t seem to be there. and they ended up at Monster Ledge, where little tunny provided some action, An unusual catch was made on a chain of feathers. Bob said it was about an 18-incher shaped like a tropical mackerel — but wasn’t a Spanish. From his description, I suspect it was an early-arriving king mackerel which lacks any spots such as on the Spanish and cero. Kings have become occasional visitors off the Jersey Shore in the summer, but almost all in smaller sizes caught hooked by school tuna trollers.

Lots of tournaments are coming up, and I’ll try to get that info together tomorrow.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported looking everywhere for the jumbo blues which have been up-and-down this week. Some up to 12 pounds were jigged today, but the volume wasn’t there. The Big Mohawk from that port did well with sea bass today before adding ling and even some whiting. They’re keeping an eye on Monday’s weather, so check with them before coming down. The marine forecast is for southeast winds of 15-20 knots with gusts to 25.

Capt. Rob Semkewyz continues to pick away at fluke with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands — but is encouraged by rising water temps and increasing bait.

Tank Matraxia and his Lyndhurst crew did well jigging sea bass last week on Tagged Fish from Highlands, but they were surprised to find an empty hook rigged above the jig and found that over half of the sea bass hit that empty hook.

Sand flea (mole crab) fishing is producing summer school stripers in many surf areas. Most of the bass are small, but it’s a good way to catch stripers for those who aren’t proficient with lures — and keepers aren’t unusual. Here’s Jim Louro’s daughter Sophia with a typical sand flea bass released this morning.

Former Rutgers star tight end Clark Harris, who went on to an NFL career and is presently the long snapper for the Cincinnati Bengals, ran away with big striper honors at Friday’s Manhattan Cup out of Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City.

Harris was fishing with his half-brother, Jim Hutchinson of the Fisherman magazine, aboard Jersey Devil when two big bass hit live bunkers down the beach. They were quickly measured, tagged and released. Clark’s bass was the largest at 48 inches and gained all the glory while Jim’s didn’t earn any awards despite being by far the second largest of the contest.

Wounded veteran Elfain Diaz was supposed to fish with a boat that broke down on the way to Jersey City, and was welcomed aboard My Three Sons from Morgan Marina by Joe Massa to fish along with Guy Talarico and me. That turned out well for him even though we had a tough bite in the back of the bay. Diaz released a 34-inch striper that was the largest by a vet, and earned the new Chris Raguso Memorial award in honor of that hero who died in the course of saving others. Talarico caught the only other eligible fish in the boat, and his blue of about 7 pounds won a private boat award. I lost a big blue that bit through the 40-pound leader.

I haven’t received the full list of winners yet, and will fill in when they become available. The most interesting catches weren’t involved in the contest as Manhattan Cup founder Capt. Frank Crescitelli found a school of big black drum in the bay. One over 50 pounds was released on a bucktail, and another on a fly!

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had to make a very long run today, but located a school of jumbo blues up to 15 pounds on jigs.

The first good party boat fluke report came in from Capt. Stan Zagleski of Elaine B II from Bahrs in Highlands. He reported more keepers today including a few limits — and also more shorts. As has been the case lately, many fluke are spotting up small porgies. The pool went to Mike Scher of Long Branch with a 5-pounder.

Vinny D’Anton of Wall fished his local beach yesterday with sand fleas to release bigger stripers of 28 and 26 inches. However, it was back to smaller bass this morning as Vinny picked a 21-incher and I released a 22 1/2-incher — though we had a few other hits.

 

Not everyone caught blues or stripers, but all involved had a great time fishing in today’s Manhattan Cup held out of Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City. Capt. Brian Rice of Jersey Devil made the best move of all by running down the beach with live bunkers to hook a doubleheader of the two biggest stripers in the contest where all fish are measured and released. Jim Hutchinson of the Fisherman magazine boated one of about 39 pounds, but his stepbrother, Clark Harris, took the Manhattan Cup trophy with a 43-pounder.

I’ll have more about this tomorrow.

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Saying the latest trip on the Canyon Runner from Point Pleasant was the best in 37 years may be hard to believe, but a long trip in the Ritchie 60 to an area where yellowfins had been reported produced a released 90-inch giant tuna, seven bigeyes from 90 to 130 pounds, 30 yellowfins, and 30 smaller bluefins . Most of the smaller tunas were released by Capt. Deane Lambros and the KieronTraynor party.  I’ve been having a tough time writing on Word Press tonight, and am making this short in hopes of getting something out. The Shore bluefish fleet hasn’t been able to find the jumbo blues since Tuesday, but are catching sea bass. I’m fishing the Manhattan Cup on Friday, son the blog will be late — if I can overcome this problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 39th annual South Jersey Shark Tournament out of South Jersey Marina in Cape May gets the shark tournament season going for big money contests. It runs through June 8, with boaters fishing two out of three days.

At Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina, Bob Matthews reports tuna, sea bass and striped bass are the best bets. He’s weighed stripers up to 42 pounds recently, with early morning bunker spoon trolling providing a  pick of trophy bass.

There was some improvement in the river fluking as a rental boat returned yesterday with eight keeper fluke. More normally they catch two to four keepers with three times as many shorts.  Small stripers are being caught in the surf at night, and bluefish during the day.

Nick Honachefsky of Saltwater Underground joined Chris Driscoll, Christian Palmisano and Brian Keating as they ran 30 miles offshore on Fortunate Son to troll two 45-inch bluefin tuna yesterday on Chatter black and purple side trackers among dolphins and a whale.

There was no word as of 5 p.m. from the Golden  Eagle and Miss Belmar Princess as to whether they were able to find the jumbo blues encountered yesterday.

I cast a jig in Point Pleasant Canal with ideal conditions on the outgoing tide after daylight, but never had a bump. Jerry Lasko said he missed a few hits in another area of the canal before daylight, while Maren Toleno caught a small striper on a Bomber.

Thursday’s forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 before diminishing to 5-10 in the afternoon. There may be some morning showers.

The Manhattan Cup will be contested Friday at its new site in Liberty Landing Marina at Jersey City. Last minute entries are possible by calling Gary Caputi at 732 740-9982.

The first year I fished that event (when it was in May) the weather was horrible, with a cold rain, hail, thunderstorms — and a tornado warning for Raritan  Bay to top it off. The weather the next year wasn’t much better, but it’s been a lot better since then —  looks perfect for Friday. Refer to the press releases from recent blogs for details about this event which primarily benefits disabled vets — including many who will be fishing for stripers and blues Friday.

There was good news today from the Golden Eagle out of Belmar as they started out catching sea bass before jumbo blues up to about 15 pounds showed up again. Anglers were able to jig as many as they wanted only a half-hour from the inlet.

Dave Lilly of Hazlet is probably the best fluke pro in N.J., with a string of tournament wins to prove it. Yet, he’s also found fluking to be terrible so far this year. He was all over today with no action until a rough bottom area off Sandy Hook produced the best ling bite he’s had in 30 years. The ling were big, and hit Gulp as well as squid on the drift. He left them biting to search for fluke again, and finally found a keeper plus a few shorts near West Bank.

At Atlantic Highlands, both the Sea Hunter and the Fishermen reported slightly better fluking today with some shorts and a few keepers. The Fishermen started out bottom fishing on rough bottom to put meat in the bags with sea bass up to 3 pounds plus a few ling and a couple of winter flounder.

Ray Soriente ran his outboard from Barnegat Bay to the north and found loads of bunkers from Shark River north. Working live bunkers didn’t produce, nor did hours of trolling.  Ray noted that fluking has been poor in Barnegat Bay so far.

Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno fished both the bay and surf sides of IBSP without a hit. Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park once again is getting reports of small sand tiger sharks hitting bunker baits intended for stripers and blues.

Vinny D’Anton of Wall came up with his first bigger striper on sand fleas this morning with a 27 1/2-incher from his local surf after being shut out in Shark River.

The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant will be sailing open for sea bass and ling at 7 a.m.  on Thursday. Call 732 370-8019 for reservations on the $75 trip.

Chris Mc Ginn was trolling a bunker spoon off Long Branch on Saturday from Hammer & Tails when he reached the summit of striped bass fishing success by hooking a 50-pounder. After trolling his trophy, he measured the 50-incher and weighed her at 52.10 pounds before releasing her to pass on those big bass genes to future generations.

While there hasn’t been much volume from the current run of big stripers, several in the fifties have been recorded along with many more 40-pounders. It’s been primarily a trolling bite, and lots of patience is usually required to get the right bite. There have also been reports of hits that just keep going before breaking off or dumping wire line reels — though those strikes are almost surely from bluefin tuna.

The 48-inch bluefin I caught Sunday while trolling with Mike Heaney on his Sea Vee from Point Pleasant in Little Italy wasn’t weighed, but I looked up a table of bluefin weights to length and that fish was listed at 65 pounds. It should have been on the heavy side of that average as it was stuffed with small sand eels  — many of which hadn’t even been swallowed when it hit a Chatter side tracker trolling bar just minutes after we started trolling. Al with Bob Correll in photo.

 

For the first time I was more worried about getting the $125 lure back than catching the fish, which was on the lightest tackle aboard — a Shimano TLD25 reel more suitable for small school tuna rather than an “over”.

 

This year’s regulations allow boats permitted in the Angling category to boat two small bluefins from 27 to 47 inches plus one large school/small medium of greater than 47 inches to less than 73 inches.  Charter boats are allowed three school tuna plus one large — and there’s also a quota for head boats of six schoolies and two large.

Boaters must be sure to obtain that permit by visiting http://www.nmfspermits.com or calling 888 872-tuna.

The surprise jigging catch of jumbo blues yesterday on the Golden Eagle from Belmar wasn’t repeated as blues they encountered were skittish and wouldn’t hit. They settled for a pick of sea bass.

The same applied to the big bluefish surf run at IBSP. Jerry Lasko said they never showed up this morning, though Maren Toleno caught a medium blue on a popper cast on the bay side.

I tried Shark River along with Vinny D’Anton as we failed to get a hit in good conditions. I moved to Point Pleasant Canal and did the same thing where other anglers said there hadn’t been a hit.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park had an unusual report of sand tiger sharks hitting bunker baits being fished for bass and blues . Those being sighted have been in the 3-4-foot class. Some anglers fish for them at night during the summer. They are protected and must be released.

At Atlantic Highlands, I haven’t been getting reports because Capt. Ron Santee frankly said fluking has been terrible. The only bright spot has been the occasional blast of big stripers that came up a couple of times early last week around Santee’s Fishermen and the Sea Hunter. Santee had a charter on Sunday and didn’t hesitate to switch to bottom fishing for sea bass, ling and some winter flounder which resulted in fillets for all. The Sea Hunter got lucky with a Saturday afternoon charter when big blues and stripers butted into the fluke fishing.

The forecast for Tuesday is northwest winds at 10 knots early, but switching to southwest with gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

Mike Heeny of Allendale ran through Little Italy with his See Vee from Clarks Landing in Point Pleasant on the way offshore for tuna, and liked the looks of the bird action. Bob Correll ran out the $125 Chatter side running bar he’d bought the day before, and we were only trolling a few minutes before the Shimano TLD 25 reel started screaming. We had to run up on the fish to regain line, and I was tied up for awhile on that light reel before we were shocked to see a 48-inch “over” bluefin tuna just 14 miles from shore. I’ll have more about this tomorrow.

Jerry Lasko was into a big blue blitz in the IBSP surf this morning. The fish were moving fast, but he got four on poppers while Maren Toleno landed seven.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into a hot jigging bite of blues up to 14-15 pounds, and will be looking for them again tomorrow in clearing northwest winds at 7:30.

 

The Surf Kings competition yesterday evening at the Sea Girt National Guard facility only produced two small blues on bait. American Anglers took the lead with a 22 3/4-incher. but 45 minutes later Ray Lewis landed a 23 /4-incher to win the award for Surf Kings in an event that’s been contested for about 30 years. I made a few casts without result before dusk and a great cookout to conclude the friendly competition.