That’s what Capt. Ron Santee found today while seeking fluke with his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands. He was able to scratch out some fluke up to the 5 9/16-pound pool winner even though it was necessary to use heavy sinkers. Some sea bass were also caught.
The small craft warning remains up into Wednesday as the north wind drops to10-15 knots by morning before diminishing to 5-10 in the afternoon.
Veteran angler Butch Pawson with a fluke at Island Beach State Park
Jeff Merrill sent along this notice for the MidAtlantic:
“The 2022 MidAtlantic is just a few days away with Tournament Week set for August 21-26. Tournament registration continues at a steady pace for both venues and online registration at the tournament’s official web site http://www.themidatlantic.com is the quickest and easiest way to secure your spot in the line-up. The event gets underway on Sunday, August 21 with Late Registration and Calcutta Entry accepted from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May and Sunset Marina in Ocean City with a captain’s meeting immediately following. The MidAtlantic follows a “captain’s choice” format where crews will select three days to fish out of five available beginning Monday, August 22 and concluding on Friday, August 26. When registering participants must choose a port to sail from, Cape May or Ocean City, and regardless of the port selected, cannot pass their inlet’s sea buoy prior to 3 a.m. on fishing days and must fish within 125 miles of the Cape May Sea Buoy.
Fishing hours are from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day and white marlin, blue marlin, tuna, dolphin and wahoo are the target species. For any white marlin to make the leaderboard it must weigh at least 65 pounds and measure 69 inches. Blue marlin must measure 102 inches and weigh at least 400 pounds. In the tuna category, big eye, yellowfin and true albacore are the only eligible species and must weigh at least 50 pounds while wahoo and dolphin each have a 20-pound minimum weight. Any fish to be weighed must be at either Canyon Club Resort Marina or Sunset Marina by 9 p.m. to be eligible. Tournament participants and other interested parties can follow each night’s weigh-in session live on the tournament web site. Entry fee to the tournament is $3000 and covers the crew’s dockside dining and hospitality each night. Prize money is tallied from 11 calcuttas which have various fees and are separate from the tournament entry fee. One particular calcutta has a benefit to not only the winner but also all anglers. The 31st Annual Mega Marlin Calcutta, which celebrates the tournament’s 31st anniversary, has a separate fee of $31,000 to enter and a percentage of the total pot collected will be once again divided equally between the International Game Fish Association, Recreational Fishing Alliance and The Billfish Foundation. Last year’s Mega Marlin Calcutta saw just over $50 thousand split between these three organizations. Additionally, representatives of The Billfish Foundation will be in Cape May conducting a fund-raising raffle with numerous valuable prizes available.
It’s getting real and if you’ve already made your plans to be part of sportfishing’s “Main Event” welcome aboard. If not, time is running short and you don’t want to be left at the dock! Act now and join the roster of the best sportfishing boats and crews who travel from as far as Florida and New England to battle for braggin’ rights and earn the right to be called a MidAtlantic tournament champion. Bring your family and friends as part of your crew for what will be another exciting week of competition, opportunity and camaraderie!
For further information contact Tournament Director Aaron Hoffman at 609-884-0177 or visit the tournament’s web site at http://www.themidatlantic.com where you’ll find all the facts, figures and information about this year’s event including a complete rundown of calcutta payouts, rules, points, and an event schedule. On social media follow the MidAtlantic on Facebook at The MidAtlantic Tournament; on Twitter @midatl and on Instagram @themidatlantictournament.”
As previously noted, the 53rd annual White Marlin Invitational of the Beach Haven Marlin & Tuna Club is being contested from Aug, 17-20. Entrants fish just two of four days. For details visit http://www.thewmit.com.
Capt. Ron Santee said he was back on the meat today with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands as several fares had limits. The pool fluke weighed 5 7/16 pounds — and there was also a 3 1/2-pound, 20 1/2-inch sea bass. That boat is chartered on Saturday.
Miss Belmar Princess reported a shot of blues right away before they turned off and a switch was made to chub mackerel.
The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant has an opening on the limited Aug. 18 fluke trip departing Point Pleasant at 6:30. The fare is $110. Call 732 370-8019 for the required reservation.
A small craft warning is up from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning. Northeast winds of 10-15 knots will gust to 25 tomorrow.
The official wrap-up of the White Marlin Open follows:
DAY 5
World Record Payout for Single FishThe 2022 White Marlin Open concluded at 9:15 on Friday with a flourish with $6,000,000 changing hands in the final few hours. Though the fishing was slow for most of the 408 registered boats, a few of the teams prospered. The bigeye tuna were the tournament rock stars until Thursday when the marlin finally posted. On day four, “C- Student” out of Southside Place, TX, weighed a 71.5-pound white marlin good for first place and a temporary grasp of $2,800,000 for angler Keeley Megarity from Houston, TX. Just before Megarity’s fish was weighed, the “Cabana,” out of Fenwick Island, DE, arrive at the scales with a 511-pound blue marlin. The blue was taken by Bill Britt from Sandy Spring, MD, to take first place as the only qualifier in that division and Britt claimed a temporary hold on $960,000 for his efforts.However, on Friday at 6:20 PM, the “Billfisher” out of Ocean City, MD pulled up at the scale flying a white marlin-boated flag. Jeremy Duffie from Bethesda, MD turned the leaderboard upside down by weighing a 77.5-pound white marlin and moving into first place. The “Billfisher” was across the board with all the added entry skill levels and will be the recipient of a world record award for catching a fish: a staggering $4,400,000. When the dust settles and the final tallies are made Duffie’s fish will be worth closer to $4,500,000 as the fish will also pick up some money from unwon categories.We will have a summary with the final figures for all category winners on our website tomorrow. We want to thank all our anglers and staff for running a very smooth event. We also want to give special thanks to our diehard fans who help make this the most unique tournament in the world. Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Headquarters in Belmar Marina is pumped about the 13-pound fluke he weighed last week from the Big Mohawk for Dan Mancini. He further notes “This has been a good Fluke season in the Shark River and lately in the Surf.The Snappers are showing as are kingfish,triggerfish,porgys and blackfish.The Bass are feeding at night in the backwaters on mullet, spearing and peanut bunker.The small blues and spanish mackerel are in the inlet at times if your there you can have some fast action.This has been a good year for sharks in the surf, ocean county to Cape May has been particularly good. The offshore Tuna fishing has been hot along with the Mahi Mahi action and some large cobia.We are looking forward to a good Fall run of Bass and Blues, can’t wait . BOB ”
Vinny D’Anton has been picking at school stripers in the Monmouth County surf. though he’s had to switch lures to keep them interested. When his usual Chug Bug wasn’t working early this morning, he dug out a Redfin swimmer not used in years — and ended up releasing 9 schoolies.
The weather holds tomorrow, with northeast winds at 5-10 knots — but there will be gusts to 25 on Tuesday.
Miss Belmar Princess and the Jamaica fron Brielle reported great chub mackerel fishing on Saturday,
The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a similar report and did the same today along with a bonito, some sea bass, fluke and blues as anglers watched sharks cruising in the chum line. The Inshore Exotics trip scheduled to sail Monday night has been cancelled, so they will be fishing for blues again on Tuesday.
Though I watched the White Marlin Open Marlin Cam virtually from beginning to end on Friday, I missed the only big money catch of that generally disappointing final day when I switched to get my blog out. There were no tournament leaders listed all night, and I never heard a mention of the 77.5-pound white marlin which took over first for Billfisher and won a record 4.4 million payoff.
C-Student, which had been first with a 71 1/2-pounder, dropped to a “mere” $120.000. The big fish of the contest also did well as Cabana’s 511-pound blue marlin was all alone in that division and was worth $960,000.
The hotly contested tuna division was topped by Southern C’s with a 247.5-pound bigeye which moved them ahead of Big Stick by just one pound. That resulted in $940,000 while Big Stick received just $100,000. The payouts depend on how many Calcuttas are entered — and Billfisher was in all of them. Komotose was third in tuna for $320,000.
I’ll have more about the WMO winners tomorrow.
At Belmar, The Golden Eagle’s canyon trip produced “some” yellowfin tuna and many others were lost as they were 60-80-pounders. There were also some dolphin, including one that was about 20 pounds. There’s room on Monday night’s inshore exotics trip by reservation.
The Jamaica from Brielle reported customers on Friday caught all the chub mackerel they wanted plus a few sea bass.
At Point Pleasant, the Queen Mary had shots of larger blues on Friday, though the fishing wasn’t up to Tuesday’s hot bite on poppers.
The Mimi VI has an opening on a Aug. 17 canyon trip limited to 10 at a cost of $320. Call 732 370-8019 for reservations. Sunday’s forecast is for west winds at 5 knots before going south in the afternoon.
Oliver McMurry with his first yellowfin tuna caught on a popper after his father had a cancellation and took his son out instead. Oliver had a broken foot, but fought the tuna unaided.
Big changes seemed like almost a sure thing with most of the 408-boat fleet at sea. Yet, the results were very poor unless I missed something on the Marlin cam. There were some 50-60-pound yellowfins, but the only catches of note were bigeye tuna weighing 194.5 pounds for Komotose and 241 pounds by Sushi. I haven’t been able to access the leaderboard since early in the week, and can’t swear by the results I’ve posted, but will check everything out and do another blog in the morning.
Every boat with a fishing day left is trying to boat a marlin or tuna worth over a million dollars during the conclusion of the 49th White Marlin Open at Ocean City, Md. and Cape May, N.J. as 408 entrants have been competing for a purse of $8.6 million. As noted in yesterday’s late blog, there was finally an entry of the highest value species — a white marlin. The 71 1/2-pounder taken on C-Student was well over the minimum length at 72 inches, but hadn’t been listed as a tournament leader by the end of weigh-ins, and I thought there might be a protest involved. However, that fish could be wort $2.8 million if no other whites are entered. There was no question in the case of blue marlin when Cabana weighed a 511-pounder to start the parade to the scales which consisted mostly of yellowfin tuna.
There was also a new third place bigeye tuna entered that didn’t make last night’s list. Komotose from Manteo, N.C. weighed a 242.5-pound bigeye. The dolphin category got a lot tougher when Irene from Stuart, Florida weighed 58 1/2-pounder – -as did wahoo when Water Marlin came in with a 54-pounder. I’ll have results on the late blog after the scales close
There should be a new leader in the Fisherman magazine’s Dream Boat fluke category after Akira at True World Tackle weighed a 33 1/2-inch, 15.8-pounder for Marc Blazek, who caught it on Aug. 7 from Jeff Onzepowski’s Verao just south of Ambrose Channel.
Saturday’s forecast is for north winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 before dropping to northeast 5-10 in the afternoon.
The Miss Belmar Princess reported very good chub mackerel fishing today. Some fares also fought sand tiger sharks.
Capt. Ron Santee had very tough conditions for fluking from his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands due to a screaming current and nasty roll. A couple of guys had three keepers, and the pool fluke was over 6 pounds.
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Each type of billfish was finally entered at the White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Md. and Cape May, N.J. but bigeye tuna continued to dominate as 352 of the 408 boats fished in good conditions. There’s no question about the 511-pound blue marlin caught by Bill Britt on his Cabana. That blue is in line for a payoff of $960,000.
I watched on the Marlin Cam as the white marlin was measured above the “70-70” standard of 70 inches and a minimum of 70 pounds as C-Student’s white was 72 inches and weighed 71 1/2 pounds. Yet, that prospective million dollar white hasn’t shown up on the WMO Tournament Leader list.
Southern C’s one pound lead in tuna yesterday may be worth $940,000 while that single pound could drop Big Stick to $100,000. Big Stick came in with a 193-pound bigeye today which may be the daily tuna winner. Knot Again had two bigeyes of 180 and 189 1/2 pounds.
Water Marlin took over first in wahoo with a 54-pounder. A huge 59 1/2-pound dolphin was weighed, but I got a phone call at the time and never saw the boat name. The WMO site didn’t list tournament leaders for dolphin and wahoo at all. I’ll try to get everything cleared up tomorrow as every boat with a day left will be taking aim at these leaders before tomorrow evening’s awards party.
Millions are on the line during the last two days as both the white marlin and blue marlin categories are wide open — and tuna leaders are hoping that none big enough to qualify will be caught since those funds will then be added to the tuna winners.
After Big Stick took the lead yesterday with a 246.5-pound bigeye tuna (photo below), Southern C’s weighed another just one pound heavier that could be worth several million dollars. I’ll do an update blog after the scales close tonight. There were 352 of the 408 boats entered fishing today.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported reading lots of bluefish though they only jigged a few’ During the afternoon they were milling on the surface. Since the boat is leaving on a canyon trip tonight, the next bluefish trip will be on Saturday.
Capt. Ron Santee had sad news this week about Capt. Marty Haines having died last weekend while running a boat. Marty had been out of the party boat business for some time, but his Sea Pigeon IV at Perth Amboy was one of the best known at the Shore. I made a successful ling trip with him many years ago when mall bergalls were feasting on my clam baits until Marty suggested I switch to strips of bergalls — which solved the problem. I haven’t been able to find any information about services so far.
Santee noted that the rain ended early this morning, and fluke fishing on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands was decent. It was great for Louise Lauria as she boa ted a 6.5-pound pool winner that’s also the monthly leader. The Fishermen is chartered on Sunday.
The forecast for Friday is for north winds at 10-15 knots which decrease to 5-10 in the afternoon.
The bigeye tuna blast during the first day of the White Marlin Open was duplicated today, but the only two white marlin brought in didn’t meet the double standard of at least 70 inches in length and 70 pounds.
The bigeye blast started with Big Stick taking over first and a potential payout of $1,200,000 while First day hero Dante Soriento on MJ’s from Beach Haven moved up again with a 230.5-pounder that could be worth $100,000 before being pushed back to third when Big Stick weighed a 246.5-pounder Yet, Southern C’s arrived with a 247.5-pounder to lead for the big money.
There were also changes in dolphin as Jeb took over second at 28 pounds, while Jenny Poo jumped into first in wahoo at 71 pounds.
There will be lots of boats out the next two days to seek out the biggest money for white and blue marlin before the Friday evening conclusion.
With just two more days to fish, the White Marlin Open 208-boat field competing for $8.4 million will be pulling out all stops before the Friday evening awards party.
As noted in yesterday’s blog, not much was expected as only 15 boaters fished in rough seas and the leaderboard was unchanged. However, 279 sailed today and the last of each boat’s three fishing days will be used Thursday and Friday. I’ll do a late blog after the scales close at 9:15 to update the standings.
Monday produced enough large bigeye tuna to make that category a success even if another isn’t caught, but there hasn’t been a single billfish entry for the biggest payoffs in the contest. Even the volume of billfish releases has been far below par — though I suspect that will change in the last few days.
The tuna category is led so far by Reel Tight with a 213.5-pounder that would be worth $1.3 million. MJ’s is second at 198.5 pounds, followed by Right Bite with a 189.5-pound bigeye. Other than that, there are only two dolphin entries that may not stand up (29 pounds on 10-4 Joker, and 26.5 pounds by C-Student ) — plus a 51.5-pound wahoo on Irish Twin.
The long-awaited party boat doormat fluke was boated yesterday on the Big Mohawk from Belmar, and it was well over the 10-pound mark for that designation at 13 pounds. Dan Mancini was the fortunate angler who’s now leading the Big Mohawk monthly pool.
Capt. Alan Shinn reported a fine Tuesday trip on Miss Belmar Princess as 5-8-pound bluefish were jigged early. When that slowed, they moved offshore for “tremendous chub mackerel action along with some bonito, blues, sea bass, and even blacktip and sand tiger sharks.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar marked plenty of blues on the bottom today, but they didn’t want to bite. They ended up picking a few to 6 pounds plus some sea bass and fluke.
Capt. Ron Santee found better fluking today from his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands as the swell diminished and there was no southerly wind. The high hook caught six keepers and 25 shorts. The pool went to a 6.9-pounder.
The inshore forecast is for northeast winds at just 5 knots with possible morning showers.
Tight Lines 