The Viking Fleet from Montauk had another productive multi-day trip as follows:

Mon June 16 to Fri June 20 – Jigaholic’s Charter

Capt Steven Sr. reports a great charter on the Viking Starship. The weather took us south again to where we fished on last weeks trip. We started out in horrible conditions with wind against tide. As it got nicer we picked away at Golden Tiles and lots of Rosies. Since the fishing was good we stayed there overnight and got back at it the next morning. It started out and continued as a slow pick, so we worked our way north and found a few everywhere we went. Overnight and into the next day we continued north and stopped where we had Blueline Tuna. It was absolute Epic Fishing! A mess of Golden Tiles 20 to 49 lbs. All in all a great trip. Honorable Mention goes to Duane “Jigaholic Master” with 6 Golden Tiles in the 30 to 49 lb Class and a bunch of Blueline Tiles. #offshore#goldentilefish#tilefish#vikingstarship#offshorefishing#jigging

Pool winners

Golden Tile Jig – Dwayne Sherard – 48.7 lb

Golden Tile BaitPeter Chu – 42.9 lb

Edible pool Nat Johnson – 12 lb Hake

Blueline Tile – Brad Bergen – 22.2 lb (1 lb shy of all time world record!)

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The marine forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20.

Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reports a good start to fluking after the N.J. sea bass closure. “Several guys had their three, a double limit and a couple guys with 4-5 nice keepers including, Bob Newsom, Steve Tauchman, Catskill John, Arnaldo, Fred Piklua, Pillip Pachiolo and Owen Werner.” That boat is chartered on Saturday.

Prowler 5 from that port had a slow start to fluking yesterday before conditions improved and multiple limits were posted.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar switched to bluefish, and found some plus a keeper striper. Changing over to fluke at midday produced action on every drift which included some keepers.

The marine forecast for NY/NJ Bight is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar ended up the NJ spring sea bass season with lots of those fish today. and will switch to bluefish on Friday. The Big Mohawk from that port will seek fluke — as will the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands– which is chartered on Saturday.

Great weather continues as west winds of 10-15 knots are forecast.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reports “IT WAS PHENOMENAL FISHING TODAY! IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER!!

There were plenty of SEA BASS stacked up on the bottom and

both jigs and bait worked excellent.

We had a BOAT LIMIT OF JUMBO SEA BASS with LING in the mix.

With this EXCELLENT FISHING and a GREAT WEATHER FORECAST FOR TOMORROW, don’t miss out—COME ON DOWN.

Tomorrow is your last chance for SEA BASS until October.

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The forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots until going south 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon. There will also be very high temperatures. Bring ice!

I’ve long contended that the little tunny is one of the great game fish on a pound for pound basis – and that was emphasized Saturday off St. Lucie Inlet Florida as a couple of them beat up this old fisherman as I was drifting live baits on the artificial reef complex along with Luis Gonzalez. Those tunny pulled me all over my nephew Bob Correlll’s 34-foot Sea Vee center console and pounded into the depths while fighting like fish twice their size. Perhaps my 89-year-old back had something to do with that, but I was very impressed. Little tunny get no respect due to their poor food quality, and have been tagged with such names as false albacore in the north and bonito in the south where they are regarded as bait rather than a great game fish. After those battles, I was happy to come out of them without a sore back, and I’m looking forward to my next shot at them.

Capt. Steven Sr. reported another great overnighter on the Viking Fleet from Montauk. I lost the report in trying to copy it, but it included lots of golden tilefish and a limit of bluelines plus a school bluefin tuna.

Capt. Ron Santee reported a very good sea bass catch on Father’s Day from his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands despite cranky conditions. That boat is chartered on Saturday,

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The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for west winds at 5-10 knots with a chance of showers and thunderstorms — which will dominate on Thursday.

Little tunny before release by beat-up old angler

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reports continued good sea bass fishing though the spring season for that species which will be over after Thursday. Jigs worked best on the last trip.

At Atlantic Highlands, Prowler 5 reports decent fluking Sunday despite tough conditions. Keepers up to a 3.9-pounder were caught along with a legal weakfish.

I haven’t been able to get any official results of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City, N.C. other than Big Trouble’s $2.3 million winning 517.1 pound blue. The only other official blue over the 400-pound minimum was the the 449.7-pound entry by the father-daughter team on Bankwalker. Southern Grace weighed a 653.7 after a Marathon battle only to be disqualified due to the mutilation rule.

Other leaders at the end included a 47.2-pound dolphin on Sea Wish which was estimated to win $548,250. There was almost a complete lack of tuna as Smoker ran away with that category with a 117.4-pound entry. MJ’S, the North Jersey bigeye specialist, took second on the last day with a 32-pounder. The top wahoo was a 60.7-pounder on Bull Pen.

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The forecast for NY/NJ Bight is for east winds at 5-10 knots.

Big Trouble boated a 517.1-pound blue marlin to run off with about $2.5 million’ I’m still trying to get official results. and will try to get them out tomorrow.

Weather imoroving

Though a small craft warning is up in NY/NJ Bight tonight, Sunday is looking better with northeast winds dropping back to 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 with a chance of light rain. I’ll have results of the Big Rock tomorrow.

As noted every year in this blog. a sure prized last minute Father’s Day gift for any angler is a selection of AFTCO fishing shorts plus shirts including the Guy Harvey styles. The fishing shorts wear like iron and are easy to clean. Now that I’m permanent in Florida, I wear them every day except for weddings and other such rare events.

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is heading toward another exciting conclusion. This morning’s tournament blog noted “After a red-hot day offshore yesterday with 122 billfish released on Day 4 alone — the tournament total has climbed to 259 releases and counting. For perspective, last year’s entire tournament tallied 268. With two full days of fishing left, the bite is on fire.”

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Saturday’s forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for northeast winds at 10-15 knots with showers being likely.

Other categories also started filling in as two large wahoo were boated — a 60.7-pounder by Bull Pen. and a 19.6-pounder on Motley Crew. Smoker weighed the first tuna at an impressive 117.4 pounds.

A 47.2-pound dolphin on Sea Wish took a big lead, but there was also a 19.6-pound entry by Motley Crew.

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The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for east winds at 5-10 knots.