The NY/NJ Bight summer run of bluefish appears to be shaping up. The Golden Eagle from Belmar had plenty of readings and made long jigging drifts on 2-pounders before getting into some up to 6 pounds later in the day.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands got out after three days n port and found good numbers of short fluke along with some keepers and “huge” but out of season sea bass. Big Joe caught five keepers and 20 shorts.

The weather looks fishable Sunday with south winds at 5-10 knots, though there may be some morning fog and showers.

Kil Song with a striper on eels aboard Ebb Tide at Montauk during the night trip — and then with a fluke during the morning trip

A bit further south – Bob Correll of Bay Head and Hutchinson Island, FL with a 50-pound, 52-inch cobia he jigged offshore of St. Lucie Inlet on his new 34-foot Sea Vee with triple 150 hp Mercs and a Seakeeper. My son-in-law, Luis Gonzalez, released a sailfish on a live bait while my nephew was fighting his cobia.

Jim Hutchinson Jr. reports that last week’s meeting of the N.J. Marine Fisheries Council approved a change in striped bass regulations to the 28-31-inch emergency limit by the required July 2. New Jersey had been the only jurisdiction that originally voted against the change in order to allow the state’s advisors to discuss it first.

The weather has been holding back ocean fluking, but Saturday looks good with south winds at 10-15 knots. Morning showers are possible.

Small bluefish have been building up in the ocean for party boats such as the Golden Eagle out of Belmar, and the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant. Jigs have been doing the job.

Chuck Many has been into variety fishing in Hilton Head, S.C. such as this big jack crevalle which can put a striper to shame.

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Paul Haertel provided the official results of last Saturday’s Statewide Fluke Tournament:

“

JCAA 27th ANNUAL FLUKE TOURNAMENT

PORT PRIZE WINNERS

Come to the Awards Ceremony at The Resorts Hotel/Casino in Atlantic City

Friday evening, June 23rd, 2023

Come early to register (3 PM to 7 PM)

Awards Presentation and Drawings start at 7:00 PM

The 27th Annual JCAA Fluke Tournament took place on Saturday June 17th. Last year we finally had a pretty nice day after several years of bad weather on our tournament days. During this year’s tournament, the weather started out sunny and remained that way most of the day except for an isolated storm or two. A brisk NW wind that got stronger towards the end of the tournament made drifting difficult but there were still plenty of weigh-ins.

This year we ended up with a total of 122 boats. There were at least three ladies who caught prize winning fish, Dawn Itjen placed 4th in the Shark River Region (Fisherman’s Den) with a 3.67 lb. fluke, Darlene Knott placed 2nd in the Barnegat Bay Region (South Harbor Marina) with a 4.05 lb. fluke and Barbara Hillman placed 7th in Long Beach Island Region (Fisherman’s Headquarters) with a 3.3lb. fluke.

In 2022, for the first time since having the doormat fluke category for just $25, Ted Gaydos from Spotswood, NJ caught and weighed in a 12.45 lbs. at Sandy Hook Region (Gateway Marina) which won him $50,000. Who said lightning doesn’t strike twice? Well, this year Edward W. Schaefer from Ridgefield, NJ came into the Jersey City Region (Liberty Landing Marina) on his boat Twilight with a fluke that weighed in at 12.415 lbs. Edward will be taking home over $50,000 because he too was in all the calcuttas. There will be a follow-up article with final totals in the Jersey Coast Anglers Newsletter.

The second largest fluke in the tournament weighed in at 9.40 lbs. and was caught by Mike Drumm of Fairfield, NJ who won 1st place in the Sandy Hook Region. Other regional winners included Everett Morgan of Neptune, NJ who won the Shark River Region with his 8.71 lbs. fluke, Manasquan River Region winner, Joseph Liotto of North Brunswick, NJ with a 7.44 lb. fluke, Barnegat Bay Region winner Paul Warshefski of Waretown, NJ with a 5.25 lb. fluke, Long Beach Island Region winner Ed Lippincott of Columbus, NJ with a 6.50 lb. fluke and Southern Region winner George Slobodjian of Aston, PA with a 6.14 lbs. fluke.

In the sea bass category, we had the winner of 2022 Dean Paolella repeat by weighing in a beautiful 3.5 lb. which was slightly smaller than last year’s 4.37 lbs. Dean will be taking home both sea bass calcuttas. All the winners from each region are listed below.

This annual tournament provides funds to help the Jersey Coast Anglers Association continue its fight for sound management of our fisheries and our marine environment while seeking to protect or enhance fishing opportunities for our recreational anglers. We are currently seeking more reasonable regulations for our recreational anglers.

The Resorts Hotel/Casino in Atlantic City is the host for the 27th Annual Jersey Coast Fluke Tournament Awards Ceremony. Resorts invite tournament entrants to come and enjoy their facilities both before and after the awards ceremony. Family and friends are also invited. All who attend are asked to sign up for a Resort card and will be given a choice of $10 in slot play or $25 in match play. Let’s have a nice turnout for our sponsors and host. You can meet JCAA Executive Board members and representatives from our sponsors.

By attending the awards ceremony this is your chance to win the drawing for the $31,000 Godfrey Pontoon Boat, 25 HP Yamaha outboard motor and Load Rite trailer Grand Prize which was donated by NJ Outboards and Yamaha. In fact, most of our Grand Prize winners did not weigh in a qualifying prize fish in the tournament. Someone from your boat must be present to win the Grand Prize and any of the forty or so great door prizes.

We want to thank all tournament participants and especially our sponsors for making the tournament a success. Our nationally known sponsors include Resorts Hotel/Casino, NJ Outboards, Yamaha Motors, Load Rite Trailers, Pure Fishing, and Engel Coolers. The $1,200 First Place Region Prizes were sponsored by Fisherman’s Headquarters, in Memory of Dr. Edward Cherry (for LBI), South Harbor Marine (for Barnegat Bay), and Liberty Landing Marina (for Jersey City) and the remaining ports by the JCAA. Jersey Coast Fluke Tournament T-shirts will be on sale as long as supplies last.

The JCAA Fluke Tournament GRAND PRIZE Registration will be at the Resorts Hotel/Casino on Friday evening, June 23th. Follow the signs to find the registration site. We will be in the Ballroom. Registration is between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. At least one person from your boat must attend at the time of the drawing in order to win a prize. We hope to have a large turnout so please come early. Please bring your identification and receipt from entering the tournament to save yourself time at the registration desk. A cash bar will be open throughout the event. All winning numbers will be announced in the ballroom. We will also be distributing the port prizes for those in attendance. The registration desk will issue one ticket which is good for both the Grand Prize and for the door prizes. Additionally, we will be holding a huge 50-50 raffle. We really appreciate both your participation and patience and are sure everyone will have a great time.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for your support.

JCAA is pleased to announce that we will be holding our Heavy Hitters Fluke Tournament from August 3th through August 6th. Complete details and applications will be available at the Awards Ceremony. Those who register during the night of the ceremony can enter for just $100 per boat, a savings of $50 from our regular entry fee.

HERE ARE THE WINNERS FOR 2023

* Denotes $50 Region Calcutta Winner

** Denotes $100 Region Calcutta Winner

** Denotes $100 Region Calcutta Winner

$ Denotes $50 Overall Tournament Calcutta Winner

$$ Denotes $100 Overall Tournament Calcutta Winner

# Denotes $50 Seabass Overall Calcutta

## Denotes $100 Seabass Overall Calcutta

1. Jersey City Region

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length

1st Edward Schaefer * ** $ $$ Ridgefield , NJ 38 12.42 30.63

2nd Ryan Nitschke Jersey City, NJ 106 4.14 22.63

3rd Thomas Fisher Staten Island, NY 99 2.61 19.00

4th None

5th None

6th None

7th None

Totals 19.17 72.25

2. Sandy Hook Region

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length

1st Mike Drumm * ** Fairfield, NJ 69 9.40 27.50

2nd Greg Ryback Hampton, NJ 85 3.99 22.00

3rd Marc Ahas South Amboy, NJ 82 3.98 22.50

4th Dale Swartz Pottstown, NJ 20 3.23 21.75

5th Nicholas Crosta Toms River, NJ 23 2.86 19.50

6th Ron Ninomaya Branchburg, NJ 30 2.74 20.50

7th Cliff C Hansen East Brunswick, NJ 33 2.56 18.50

Totals 28.76 152.25

3. Shark River Inlet Region

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length

1st Everett Morgan * ** Neptune, NJ 57 8.71 27.50

2nd Scott Nadolny Hamilton, NJ 6 5.77 25.00

3rd Al Fasano Brick, NJ 4 4.40 22.75

4th Dawn Itjen Barnegat, NJ 120 3.67 21.25

5th George Misak Hamilton, NJ 54 3.12 21.50

6th Sean Lynn Jr Wall, NJ 62 2.86 19.25

7th None

Totals 28.53 137.25

4. Manasquan River Region

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length

1st Joseph Liotto * North Brunswick, NJ 35 7.44 27.75

2nd Adam Niemiec ** Little Silver, NJ 43 5.67 23.50

3rd Nick Nowikow Millstone, NJ 70 5.65 25.00

4th James Hansen South Hampton, PA 74 4.95 23.00

5th Gary Cottrell Mt. Olive, NJ 14 4.30 22.50

6th Chris Brown Point Pleasant, NJ 103 4.10 22.000

7th Bob Angelini Hamilton, NJ 51 3.80 21.000

Totals 35.91 164.75

5. Barnegat Bay Region

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length Time

1st Paul Warshefski * ** Waretown, NJ 24 5.25 24.50

2nd Darlene Knott New Egypt, NJ 76 4.05 21.50

3rd Joseph Berardinelli Forked River, NJ 10 3.92 20.75

4th Mark Halpin Toms River, NJ 58 3.84 22.25

5th Peter Ehrenkranz Manahawkin, NJ 81 3.73 20.88

6th Andy Dubman Forked River, NJ 42 3.23 20.75 12:55PM

7th Mike DiTomaso Burlington, NJ 97 3.23 20.75 2:25 PM

Totals 27.25 151.38

6. Long Beach Island Region

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length

1st Ed Lippincott * ** Columbus, NJ 98 6.50 25.5

2nd John Barrett Beach Haven West, NJ 104 4.93 24.5

3rd Bob Misak Forked River, NJ 60 4.5 23

4th Troy Cook Summit, NJ 101 4.35 22

5th Tom Sheehan Manahawkin, NJ 52 3.84 21.5

6th Dean Paolella Springfield, NJ 83 3.52 21

7th Barbara Hillman Manahawkin, NJ 122 3.16 20.5

Totals 30.80 158.00

7. Southern Region)

Name Hometown Entry # Weight Length

1st George Slobodjian * ** Aston, PA 21 6.14 24.50

2nd Ray Trainor Gibbstown, NJ 108 5.91 25.00

3rd Richard Chadwick Little Egg Harbor, NJ 22 5.52 24.00

4th William Janiszewski Hammonton, NJ 105 4.53 22.50

5th Tim Nichols Pittstown, NJ 117 4.47 23.00

7th Robert Walton Northfield, NJ 34 4.16 22.50

Totals 34.91 164.00

Total Weight/Length-Ft 205.33 999.88

Seabass Category

Dean Paolella #, ## Springfield, NJ 83 3.5 19.5

A small craft warning is up his evening for northeast winds to 20 knots, but that changes to Southeast 5-10 by morning before becoming 10-15 with gusts to 20 in the afternoon. Fog and showers are possible in the morning.

Just as it should be at this time of year in NY/NJ Bight, bluefish seem to be building up for dependable summer sport.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar shifted over to blues Tuesday, and they were limited out by 10:30 with 2-6-pounders on jigs.

Golden Eagle blues

There wasn’t such good news when Capt. Ron Santee witched to fluke that day as rough weather made for tough drifting. There were some keepers among the shorts on the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, and Santee anticipates much better action when conditions are favorable.

The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus early showers.

The Big Mohawk had a similar fluking report when they got started running out of Belmar at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. The pool winner was about 5 pounds and a few anglers had multiple keepers.

Vinny D’Anton has been picking away at stripers on cand fleas at Monmouth County beaches, but coming up with only shorts when he switches to fluke. Yet, a couple of mornings ago he finally hooked up with a fighter on his Gulp — only to end up with a 13-14-inch blackfish. Not only are tog rarely found on sandy bottoms, but that one was also snagged. It’s hard to imagine how it would be possible to snag the leathery body of a blackfish with a circle hook! Vinny also got a shot of stripers up to 24 inches on his Chug Bug and a Redfin.

A small craft warning is up in NY/NJ Bight for the morning through afternoon. Due to drops used in an eye procedure this morning, I can barely read my computer, but hope to catch up tomorrow.

There was lots of excitement when the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament at Morehead City, N.C. concluded Saturday night as Sensation arrived after a 6-hour fight with a blue big enough to win at least $3.5 million between the first place award and $739,500 for being the first to weigh in a 500-pounder. Yet, all that disappeared as shark bites were spotted on the blue which still weighed 619.4 pounds. According to tournament and IGFA rules, mutilated fish are not eligible. That left the tournament with no choice but to disqualify the great catch. There was nothing the crew could have done to prevent the bites which didn’t seem to interfere with the great fight.

That was good news for Sushi, which was leading the contest with a 484.5 -pound blue — and collected $2,769,417.50.Chasin A was second at 479.8 pounds for $412,262.5, while early leader C-Student finished third for their 270.2-pounder worth $274,175. There were lots of big winners in other categories, and I’ll catch up with them when more info is provided.

The Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA) held its annual statewide fluke tournament on Saturday, and for the second year in a row had a doormat worth $50,000 entered. Anglers had to pay an additional fee to take a chance on catching a doormat over 12 pounds — which is what Edward Shaefer of Ridgewood did with a 12.4-pound, 30.63-inch fluke weighed at Liberty Landing in the Jersey City port. I’ll have much more about this contest in tomorrow’s blog.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar switches to fluke tomorrow, as does the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. The Golden Eagle from Belmar starts bluefishing Tuesday.

The forecast is for east winds at just 5-10 knots.

Though the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament ended up yesterday evening at Morehead City, N.C. with a lot of blues released on the final day, none were big enough to be brought to the scales — except possibly for one being fought into overtime on Sensation. As it turned out, that 2:15 hook-up turned into a Marathon battle carrying on for over six hours.

Yet, that wasn’t the end of the excitement. A crowd turned out to watch the weigh-in in the middle of the night, and that blue blew away the leaders at 619.4 pounds — which would not only win over $2 million, but also the big prize for the first blue over 500 pounds. Yet, there was one problem as two shark bites were spotted. According to both IGFA and tournament rules, mutilated fish are not eligible. A decision in this case was put off until today, and I haven’t been able to get any info on that so far.

Up to that point, the leaderboard was topped by Sushi at 484.5 pounds, followed by Chasin’ A at 479.8, C-Student with a 470.2-pounder, Sea Toy at 463.7 – and Predator with a 459-pounder.

There were also some changes in other species, including Skip Hook’s 59.3-pound dolphin that hadn’t been challenged all week falling to a 67.7-pounder on Offshore Outlaw. Waldor’s Ark led through the week with a 59.7-pound wahoo , but Double B took over at 70.5 pounds.

Tuna had been scarce all week, but High Yield’s 42.8 pound leader was pushed aside on the last day by 48.8 and 52.5 pounders on Odyssey — and a winning 52.8 on Reel Priority.

The awards haven’t been finalized as yet, but I’ll add info when received.

Monday’s forecast is for northeast winds at just 5-10 knots before switching to southeast in the afternoon.

The C-Witch crew with their winning fluke in the JCAA Fluke Tournament Waretown port

Sensation hooked up on a blue marlin at 2:15, and may still be fighting it as the Big Rock site closed down a long time ago. I’ll get back tomorrow with the results. The blue marlin standings didn’t change, but there were some movements among the smaller species.

The 263 out of 271 boats fishing the 65th Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament that had a day left are out in the canyons off Morehead City, N.C. trying for a chunk of the millions that will be awarded after the scales close at 7 p.m.

Skip Hook may not have much to worry about with their 59.3-pound dolphin, and the odds are in favor of Waldor’s Ark with their 59.7-pound wahoo. but the major category has been switching rapidy. The volume of blue marlin has been outstanding as Marlin Fever took a big lead in the release category with a tournament record five blues released yesterday..

The Big Rock has an unusual $739,500 prize for the boat with the first blue of at least 500 pounds, but none of the leaders were quite that big,

Sushi took over the lead yesterday at 484.5 pounds, and held on as Chasin’ A weighed a 479.8-pounder fought by 14-year-old Carson Moser. That dropped early leader C-Student back to third at 470.2. Sea Toy is fourth at 463.7 pounds. If Sushi’s lead holds up, they are in line for $2,769,438!

Most unusual is the lack of tuna being weighed in. High Yield leads at a mere 42.8 pounds. Among the entrants is MJs, a North Jersey bigeye pro which released a blue marlin this morning.

I’ll keep track of the landings and will post again after the scales close,

Sea bass fishing continues to be good even if N.J. anglers have to sort through lots of shorts. The Big Mohawk from Belmar reported a 32-man limit on Friday.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for northwest winds at 10-15 knots before going southwest at 5-10 in the afternoon. That calm weather wasn’t favorable for surfcasting this morning. As a result, Vinny D’Anton started with fluking which once again produced shorts on Gulp. When some whitewater developed on the change of the tide, Vinny switched to sand fles and caught a couple of large short bass

before having to leave his Monmouth County beach as swimmers arrived.

Ginger Tatum with a fine striper before release by Gary Caputi

Buying tackle for a fishing father is risky without knowing just what he may need, but you can’t go iwrong with fishing clothing. I virtually live in AFTCO shorts in Florida, and it wasn’t much different when I was fishing the Jersey surf into October before switching to waders. AFTCO shorts are built for the long haul, and some I’ve had for decades. With plenty of pocket space, I can carry the few lures or rigs I need along with pliers, a tape measure and small fish scale without being encumbered by a tackle box. AFTCO shorts are stain-resistant and dry quickly. In addition, AFTCO has a wide range of fishing and leisure shirts, including Guy Harvey models. They’re available at any fishing retailers, and can be checked out at AFTCO.com.

The sea bass season in N.J. is almost over, but the weather is perfect for a shot at them tomorrow morning with northwest winds at 10-15 knots. Showers are possible.

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Alex Katyan fished yesterday on Mimi VI from Point Pleasant and reported as follows: “Captain great Mate great bunch of guys. 11 man Seabass limit, Winter Flounder, Ling, couple of giant eels. My buddy Tony hooked a nice Thresher at the end of the trip that he got to fight for about 15min on a Seabass rig before the hook pulled. Plus I won the pool!!!

The Big Rock Blue marlin Tournament at Morehead City, N.C. is drawing to a close. No one has been able to win the big money for the first blue over 500 pounds, but Sushi came close this afternoon with a 484.5-pounder which bumped C-Student out of first with their 470.2-pounder from day 1. Two other boats were coming in with blues, and I’ll catch up with everything in tomorrow’s blog.

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