Catching a fish species where it doesn’t “belong” is always a memorable experience, but doing it twice is really a long shot.

I was casting for weakfish with Capt. Joe Massa from his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina on Sept. 9, 2013 when we were running out of sand worms and I decided to try a Gulp Jerk Shad on my jig head — soon hooking up with a much tougher fish. When I first saw it, I thought it might be a juvenile black drum, but a Florida angler was with us and immediately identified it as a sheepshead. That 20-inch fish weighed 7 pounds on my scale before being released. I thought that would be my sheepshead personal record for a long time, but got lucky again in 2018 when I hooked a 23-inch 9 1/4-pounder while drifting sandworms for weakfish at the Verrazano Bridge with Chuck Many.

Massa was releasing blackfish yesterday on rough bottom in the bay when an 18-inch sheepshead hit his jig tipped with crab. He released that beautiful surprise catch, though sheepshead are a very good eating fish.

Gerardo Ciriello with big sheepshead from Cape Fear

Most anglers consider sheepshead to be a Florida fish, but they are actually common in N.J. from the south jetty of Barnegat Inlet to Cape May.

The forecast is for northeast winds at just 5-10 knots — changing to southeast in the afternoon.

Capt. Ron Santee said a 6 a.m. downpour kept many anglers away, but those who got aboard the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands were happy with catches of fluke up to 5 1/2 pounds.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had jigging limits of small blues plus some larger bonito up to an estimated 8-pounder by Ron Bara. Most fares also had their single sea bass allowed at this time.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported several bonito yesterday, but today there was a real bite as their anglers caught up to 10 of the 3-5-pounders along with limits of small blues and the one sea bass a man presently allowed.

Adam La Rosa of the Canyon Runner advises anglers who would like to experience the thrill of tournament fishing may be able to do so at a reasonable cost by joining a party on the Restless Lady 2. Call them for details at 302 382-8422. Adam says the Canyon Runner has an unusual opening for the MRMTC Offshore Open from Aug. 29-Sept. 2. Call him at 732 272-4445.

The forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots. Showers are likely.

Chuck Many has been off the radar lately, but before heading back down to Hilton Head he fished a local pond to release a nice bass.

Fisher PriceIV sent this after winning the tournament.

The captains meeting for the 46th annual Ocean City Marlin & Tuna Club is today as fishing runs from Monday to Saturday.

The Beach Haven Marlin & Tuna Club runs its 54th annual White Marlin Invitational from Aug. 16-19. Visit thewmit.com for details.

The BIG ONE, The MidAtlantic, runs out of Cape May from Aug. 20-25. Contact South Jersey Tournaments at 609 884-0177 or visit southjerseytournaments.com for info.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into small blues off the beaches this morning, and also drifted some fluke and sea bass — but had some additional good news as several 4-pound bonito were caught.

The forecast is for northwest winds at a mere 5 knots before turning south in the afternoon.

After the 400-boat field failed to hook a marlin big enough to weigh all week, Floor Reel came through with a worthy winner on the last day as John Ols won $ 6.2 million for a 640.5-pound blue marlin. There was some confusion at first as Skirt Chaser brought in a white marlin of the proper length only to watch it weighed at 67.5 pounds — below the additional 70-pound minimum. Then a blue marlin was submitted by another boat, but was two inches short of the minimum.

As the WMO notes “The blue marlin from the Floor Real left no doubt when it was measured at 118” in the boat before electrifying the crowd while tipping the scales at 640.5 pounds. It proved to be the only qualifying billfish and wins most of the money for both white and blue marlin. The $6.2 million won sets a new world record for the catch of a fish, breaking the previous world record of $4.45 million won in last year’s Open by Jeremy Duffie for his 77.5-pound white marlin.

Two new millionaires were minted in the tuna categories. Ro Sham Bo out of Ocean City, MD weighed a 215 bigeye tuna caught by Rusty Shriver of Leonardtown, MD. The fish won all $1,700,000 in the $50K winner take all level because no white marlin or blue marlin were caught in that division and all prize money was diverted to the top tuna.”

I’ll have more info after official results are posted.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported plenty of small blues this morning right outside the inlet. When that jigging slowed, they drifted for sea bass and fluke.

Capt. Ron Santee found no wind or drift with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, but managed to put together a fluke catch topped by a new monthly leader as Mr. Kim boated a 7 3/4-pounder. The Fishermen is chartered tomorrow.

The forecast is for southwest winds at just 5-10 knots with possible showers.

Though the White Marlin Open hasn’t put out any official results as yet. I’ll summerize the highlightd.

The long-awaited white marlin finally came to the scales, but Skirt Chasher missed out on over a million dollars when it failed to also meet the minimum weight. Then a blue marlin was brought in, it turned out to be just short of the minimum length.

However, the latter problem was taken care of when Floor Reel brought in a 640.5-pounder fought by John Ols.

The tuna lead changed right away as Reel Tight weighed a 265-pound bigeye tuna.boated by Brian Stewart.

I’ll have all the final results tomorrow,

The 50th anniversary White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Md. has never before been devoid of a billfish winner, though from 1984 to 1986 there were no qualifying whites. Yet, unless 357 boats fishing their final day come through history will be changed.

It’s not that billfish have been scarce. The release count for the first four days was 431 whites, 34 blues, five sailfish and one spearfish.

The cash allocated to billfish will be moved to the tuna division if there are no qualifying marlin. At present, that would be a bonanza for Fishlik with a projected $1.2 million for a 247.5-pound bigeye. John Zimmerman moved into second yesterday on Game Over with a 221 1/2-pound bigeye. Ro Sham Bo then added a 215-pound bigeye to take over third.

I’ll have an update on today’s results after the scales close tonight.

NY/NJ Bight fluke fishing continues to be very good. Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands reports “

Had perfect conditions right from the start and the bite was on. Eric had his 3 on the first drift…by days end there were several customers with their 3 and then some.

Ken Peters had his three and took the daily pool and is the new Monthly pool lead with a beauty at 5 pounds 7 ounces. Lots of Great pics tonight as they always tell the story! Get here early in the AM, get your spot 1 Rod only at the rail, when we have our customers, we sail!” That boat is chartered Sunday.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into 1-pound blues and then flurries of 2-3-pounders today. Lots of blue were marked, but they were fussy. Some fluke and sea bass were added.

Capt. John McMurray reported lots of yellowfins on poppers and jigs

The forecast is for south winds at 5-10 knots before increasing in the afternoon to 10-15 knots with gusts to 20.

Vinny D’Anton reported small bass and blues have been hitting lures every morning in the Monmouth County surf. He even had a 34-inch bass on a Red Fin this week, but this morning was no good. Fluke remain steady on white Gulp.

Bigeyes were featured again at Day 4 of the White Marlin Open leaving a lot to be determined during Friday’s final day.

The boat name was appropriate as Game Over took over second in tuna with a 221.5-pound bigeye. Ro Sham Bo then added a 215-pound bigeye for third in tuna. Later on, Reel Chaos got in the mix with a 128.5-pound bigeye. Quite a few yellowfin tuna were also weighed.

Everything is up for grabs in what should be a wild finish tomorrow.

Pending the results of today’s weigh-ins, which I’ll be reporting on after the scales close, the 50th Anniversary White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Md. has had no entries in the two big money categories for white marlin and blue marlin. If that continues, the million- dollar winner will come from the tuna category. At present, that would be Chris Mentlik, who caught a 247.5-pound bigeye tuna yesterday from his Fishlik.

If all this seems familiar, it’s much like what happened at the end last year before Billfisher broke the ice on white marlin with a 77.5-pounder for $4.4 million- and Cabana added a 511-pound blue for $960,000.

The standards are high, as blues have to be 114 inches in order to be weighed. Whites have a double standard, with 70 inches in length plus a 70-pound minimum. There’s also a swordfish category with a 60-inch minimum for which there have been no entries.

The dolphin leader is up to a 31-pounder by Maverick, and wahoo is led by Shooting Star at 57 pounds.

Fortunately, the weather looks fishable on Friday as practically the entire 400-boat fleet will be fishing. The present southwest blow will switch to a light northwest by morning.

Kil Song was testing rods on Montauk fluke aboard the Ebb Tide yesterday.

Sorry for the delay, but X-Finity lost the internet again today,

I didn’t get on again before weigh-ins at the White Marlin Open were well underway. The scales are still open as this is submitted.

Instigator lost its million dollar payout for a 1991/2-ound bigeye when Fish Lik weighed a 203 1/2-pounder. MJ’S came through again as Dante Sorriente boated a 178-pound bigeye, but was pushed to fourth when Full Service weighed a 203 1/2-pound bigeye.

There still no billfish weigh-ins, but Shooting Star took over first in wahoo during rough Tuesday with a 57-pounder. Sea Fix added a 40-pounder today.

Maverick took over first in dolphin with a 31-pounder, while also releasing a blue marlin and two whites.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had abother very good day of fluking with the high hook catching seven of keeper size while the pool fluke was 5 7/16 pounds.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar had a charter which caught many limits.

The forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

When 378 boats out of 400 entered in the White Marlin Open opted to fish the first day, I expected to see long lines waiting to weigh-in that evening on the Marlin Cam — but that wasn’t the case at all as fishing results were generally poor.

It was a good time for Instigator as their 199 1/2-pound is currently winning over a million dollars. though that’s only because there hasn’t been a white or blue marlin big enough to be weighed in so far. Fishing was so poor that only one dolphin of at least the 20-pound minimum was weighed — and it was barely big enough at 21 pounds.

There were some white marlin releases, but I haven’t been able to find any details about that so far. There also hasn’t been any species count, which should be easy considering how tough the canyon fishing has been.

Angelo Ponte holds second place in tuna with this 118-pounder caught on Bow Down

Only 22 boats are fishing during a marginal forecast on the second day as there are substantial pay-offs for dailey winners.

Chris Lido reports this doormat was aught during a bachelor’s party trip aboard the Gambler from Point Pleasant by a first-time angler using rental tackle and boat bait.

Also at that port. the Queen Mary had a Sunday morning squid trip with big catches — and that afternoon got into 3-5-pound blues for the first time in weeks.