Tight Lines

July is fluke tournament month, and some big ones are coming up.

The 35th annual Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament maintains the two-day format on July 13-14. The captains meeting is 7 p.m. July 12 in the Senior Citizen’s Building at Atlantic Highlands Harbor. For info visit sandyhookbayanglers.com –or call 732 787-4008.

The Raritan Bay Anglers hold their 29th annual Fluke Tournament on one day, July 13. The captains meeting is on July 11 at Perth Amboy Moose Lodge. For info visit raritanbayanglersclub.org.

The Staten Island Tuna Club has two fluke tournaments. The Richie Addeo is coming up July 6. Call 917 440-6959. The Grandapa Savino Memorial on July 20 includes a $25,000 prize for the heaviest fluke over 13 pounds. Call Walter Fisher at 917 375-7607. The e-mail site for both contests is situnaclub.com.

The big money event later in the month is the Point Pleasant Elks Fluke Tournament that ran into bad luck with weather warnings last year and had to be cancelled. They’re set for July 27, following the July 26 captains meeting at the lodge. Visit pointpleasantelks.org. A kayak division is included.

The first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament was contested today. I’ll have any results during a beautiful day in tomorrow’s blog.

I got to Shark River a bit late today, as Vinny D’Anton and Tommy Cox had already released several school stripers and 5-6-pound blues on poppers, but found the last of those blues on my Chug Bug to break a season-long drought in that river. Tommy later plugged a bigger blue, and Vinny added a bass on a Tsunami Sand Eel.

Bob Correll fished Bay Head at dawn, but reported a dead surf. Joe Melillo, at Castaway’s Tackle in Point Pleasant heard of only one small blue caught in the surf early this morning.

Jerry Lasko reports that Maren Toleno fished for sharks last night in the Bay Head surf and landed both a small sand tiger and a whiptail ray too big to get it up on the sand.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reports small blues up to 3 pounds are hitting bunker or mullet in the surf.  Voitek Moduszewski beached a 34-inch 13.45-pound striper on clam.

Betty & Nick’s noted that Gillikin’s is finally open for IBSP beach buggies.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle didn’t find any bluefish today, but they had some whiting on bottom along with sea bass and ling. The Big Mohawk had a tough fluking trip Wednesday due to lack of drift. They will be sailing at 6 a.m. Friday, and 5:30 over the weekend.

Though bluefish are hard to come by inshore, mid-range tuna trollers are having a hard time getting through them.  Not all of the blues are large, but they all love balao. The little tunny that had been interfering with tuna trolling earlier seem to have moved.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had slow fluking Wednesday, but a few larger fish that included a 4.7-pounder and a 5.15 that took the lead in the monthly pool — plus a 6-pound pool winner.

Friday’s marine forecast is for southeast winds at just 5-10 knots with patchy fog in the morning. That direction should keep flies off the beaches.

 

 

Early summer canyon trolling has generally been very good so far, and we can only hope there won’t be the usual mid-summer slump that often occurs during the tournaments.  Last week’s score for the Canyon Runner fleet from Point Pleasant was 119 yellowfins kept out of 219 trolled by the two boats — along with giant tuna releases of 300 and 400 pounds, nine bigeyes to 170 pounds, five white marlin and a swordfish. Though there are few charters left, they do have room on some open trips. Call 732 272-4445.

Capt. Dave De Gennaro has room on an open boat July 4 canyon trip aboard Hi Flier from Barnegat. The price is $350 for the 50-90-mile trip which departs at 2 a.m. and returns at 4 p.m. Last Thursday’s trip produced a 40+-pound yellowfin for Dave Flood of Mantua, NJ, plus another similar yellowfin and two dolphin caught casting at a buoy with light tackle. Call 732 330-5674.

On Friday, Hi Flier will run a scouting trip to Barnegat Ridge to seek school tuna, bonito, little tunny, Spanish mackerel  or whatever else may have moved in there. The cost is $175 per person.\

Most party boats will be making their usual trips on July 4, but afternoon trips may be affected by the fireworks viewing. Check before coming down.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar has moved the sailing time to 5 a.m. tomorrow. They had a 9 3/4-pound pool-winning fluke on Tuesday when there were some limits and several 4-5-pounders.

Also at Belmar, the Golden Eagle didn’t get the blues and chub mackerel up inn the slick, but did very well with sea bass and ling.

The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands had a 5-pound fluke to take today’s pool, but there was no drift when the tide reached the point when large fluke were encountered the last few trips.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reported lots of small blues biting mullet baits in the surf — and Joe Varrato caught a small cobia in the surf. Betty & Nick’s reports the bay is loaded with peanut bunkers. Blowfish are also plentiful, even at the docks.

The good Spanish mackerel bite at Bay Head wasn’t repeated today, though a few were picked eventually. I switched to Mantoloking, and soon had a double of small blues on a Tactical Anglers Crossover popper and a fly teaser — but never raised a thing after that. A move back to Bay Head only produced my first two hickory shads of the year on the teaser.

Joe Melillo at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant had a good Spanish mackerel bite in the surf Sunday evening, and recommends the 1.5-ounce Run-Off Swimming Sand Eel jig.

While casting at Bay Head Tuesday evening, I caught a Spanish mackerel, but the only other fish I caught was a spike weakfish that hit a Crippled Herring. Another one was reported there this morning. After my weak was released, Lou Morales asked me for identification of a fish he caught on metal. Being a lure fisherman, he didn’t recognize a kingfish. What that small king was going to do with a metal lure is a mystery as it was far larger than its mouth.

Vinny D’Anton stuck it out in Shark River and ended up releasing four school stripers on his Chug Bug and a Tsunami Sand Eel.

The July 4 forecast is for southeast winds at 5-10 knots.

The big NJ shark tournaments have completed their extended runs, and John Marotta’s Seaquester took both Mako Mania and Mako Fever without any controversy this year. It looked like it was all over but the shouting when he got started with a trophy mako that weighed 397 pounds in Mako Mania and 402 pounds in Mako Fever — and that was exactly the case.

Second place in Mako Mania went to a mako less than half the size — a 151-pounder on Chasin Tail. Third and fourth went to almost identical threshers since no other legal mako was caught. Hello Dolly had a 331-pound thresher to edge Tinknocker by just one pound.

 

Mako Fever has only posted a leaderboard, so those results aren’t official. Reel Shark weighed a 181-pound thresher for second, and third went to a 148-pound thresher by ACX-Cape II.

The Staten Island Tuna Club’s Monster Mako Shark Tournament was run in conjunction with Mako Fever, but they had no weigh-ins there. Chris Carlino said the Tuna Club decided to refund all the entries.

The first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament will be contested out of all ports on July 4. As noted in the recent release run in my blog, it costs $2,000 to enter the one day, winner take all contest which coincides with the worldwide  blue marlin contest. Weigh-ins can be made at Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, Hoffman’s Marina in Brielle, and Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Md. Entries can be filed electronically up to 5 p.m. July 3. Lines go in from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 4.  Call 609 884-0177 for info.

An angler casting metal in Manasquan Inlet yesterday afternoon caught a good-sized Spanish mackerel just before my son Mike was married on the beach there to his beautiful Ally whose long blonde hair was blowing in the south wind which offset the temperature and made for a perfect beach wedding under the sun. Her son Aiden (11) looks ready to carry on the Ristori fishing tradition.

 

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Ron Santee said he finally got perfect drifting conditions Monday, but shorts still dominated on his Fishermen though more bait was recorded. Capt. Rob Semkewyc didn’t have another foormat to talk about today, but fluke of 5.6 and 5 pounds plus a few threes were boated on his Sea Hunter.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported fishing for blues, chub mackerel and ling wasn’t as good today due to the wind — but sea bass fishing for the two presently allowed was excellent.

The Jamaica from Brielle will be fishing for fluke an bass at 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on July 4 before running a 5 p.m. fishing and fireworks trip at 5 p.m.

The marine forecast for tomorrow is northwest at 5-10 knots –becoming just 5 in the afternoon.

After the Bay Head surf went dead yesterday morning, Bob Correll of that town was surprised to catch 10 small blues and two Spanish mackerel this morning.

June turned out to be a memorable month in terms of semi-tropical species arriving in NY/NJ Bight waters very early. In addition to the Spanish mackerel, there were cobia caught even in the surf from South Jersey — and Kevin Kuriawa sent a report about a 38-inch cobia caught by Rich Bizarri on Rick Paglucco’s 25 Cobia boat while fluking Sunday off Sea Bright. To top it off, that was only one of the two cobia he caught! Both the 38-inch and the smaller one were released as the minimum length for cobia is 40 inches. They were caught on 6-inch Gulp. If cobia are spotted on the surface  they can be very aggressive. In Florida I’ve even caught them by casting very long Sekora striper tubes and reeling fast so they create a lot of surface commotion.

The adventure continued today for Aidan Moorby of Franklin, Tn. who’s up here for today’s Manasquan beach wedding of his mother Allie to my son Mike. The 11-year-old caught his first fish (school stripers and fluke) yesterday with Chuck Many on his Ty Man at Highlands, and this morning he got a taste of surf casting. Luis Gonzalez of Palm Beach Gardens, Fl., who’s engaged to my daughter Cyndi, coached Aidan and soon had him making respectable casts with my canal and river light tackle quickly enough to catch a very small bluefish at Bay Head where there had been good action up through yesterday. However, that seemed to be the only fish caught there this morning.

I decided to look for the fish to the south, but saw no signs before blind casting in Mantoloking. I was shocked to hook up on a Chug Bug even though the sun was up high, and landed a double with a blue on the popper and a Spanish mackerel on the fly teaser. Luis hooked up at the same time on metal, but that fish came right off — and there was no more action until Aidan caught a windowpane flounder on the smallest Run-Off Sand Eel jig.

The first party boat doormat fluke reported to me was boated today on the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands by Dan D’Antonio. That 10 3/8-pounder was among the few keepers in a day dominated by shorts. Word Press landed that photo above instead of where it was intended.

 

The Jamaica from Brielle will resume 3/4-day fluke and sea bass trips at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The forecast for tomorrow is southwest winds at 10-15 knots.

 

Aiden Moorby lives a long way from saltwater in Franklin, Tennessee, but he broke into fishing in a big way this morning as Chuck Many put him into both striped bass and fluke aboard Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands.

That was a big contrast from my first boat trip many decades ago in Freeport, Long Island when I was thrilled with a single blowfish. His mother, Ally, was aboard along with my son, Mike, who will be marrying her Monday afternoon on the Manasquan beach.

Chuck figured Shrewsbury River would be the ideal place for a young man’s first fish, and that was exactly the way it was. Aiden, who’s going into seventh grade, responded perfectly to instructions and was soon bent over the side by small, but hard fighting schoolies on sandworms. He then wanted to catch a fluke, and Chuck only had to shift the drift a few yards as Aiden quickly caught on to hooking fluke on a white 4-inch Gulp tipped with a sandworm. They were all shorts, though Aiden surprised us with an 18-19-incher that fell off as Chuck lifted it over. Before the short morning trip was over we had released 15 stripers up to 26 inches plus 10 fluke — and a new angler got his start in a sport which will fascinate him for many years to come. Fishing conditions were beautiful this morning, and tomorrow also looks fine with north winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 before switching to southwest at just 5-10 knots in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another fine day of variety fishing with all the chub mackerel desired along with blues and ling. Sea bass had to be released, but the summer by-catch limit of two at 12 1/2 inches starts July 1 and runs through Aug. 31.

Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reports lots of small blues in the wash, while small stripers are feeding in the trough on sand fleas. Fluke are also in close, and one angler caught 10 on brown Gulp. The inlet is producing small blues and bonito,

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina notes the appearance in the surf of Spanish mackerel, while triggerfish are in the inlet. Small bass are in the surf, but in calm weather he says they don’t seem to hit anything.

Mimi VI from Point Pleasant is sailing open for bottom fishing at 7 a.m. from July 1-3 plus 9 and 11. Call 732 370-8019.

 

Strange things happen frequently in fishing, but the run of Spanish mackerel occuring along beaches in northern Ocean County right now may be one of the oddest ever. Those tropical visitors often visit us in August and September when waters are at their warmest, but I’ve never heard of them in our surf so early in the summer. They’ve been mixed in with very small blues, but I haven’t seen any of the srching leaps out of the water that they normally make. It’s been blind casting for the most part, but some anglers have seen seen birds working on them at times. Those who have kept blues say they’re full of spearing.

I stuck with a popper this morning rather than the small metals that others have been using. A very small teaser fly was rigged ahead of the Chug Bug, and that fly must have touched the water enough because I landed a 16 1/2-inch Spanish mackerel — the first I’ve ever caught from the Jersey surf. Later I released another of 14 inches that was part of a double with a fat 15-inch blue. That chopper was far bigger than the very small cocktails — and I was later surprised when a “huge” 19-incher blasted the popper and put a real bend in the rod. Though I didn’t see any other larger blues caught, another angler caught a 22-inch striper on an SP Minnow. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, was showing off an 18 1/2-inch Spanish mackerel, a real filleting size, that a customer brought in. Those fish are excellent eating. Hopefully, this evening’s storms with south winds won’t lower the surf water temperature and chase our tropical visitors offshore.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a good day of variety fishing with blues, chub mackerel and ling.

Capt. Ron Santee saw the monthly pool leader change twice on Friday aboard his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands despite a lack of drift. It went from 4 7/16 to 4 5/8 pounds before a 6 5/16-pound fluke by Pat Kostka took the lead for $1500 that will be payed out after Sunday.  Today’s RFA charter was also hampered by a lack of drift and produced mostly shorts with a few keepers.

Vinny D’Anton got a late start in Shark River, but it turned out to be the right time for four small bass on his Chug Bug.

The forecast inshore for Sunday starts with west winds at 10 knots before going to 10-15 in the afternoon with gusts to 20 knots and a chance of showers or thunder storms.

Pictured below is the 22-inch fluke I jigged Friday with a Spro and Gulp Grub while fishing with Joe Massa on My Three Sons from Morgan Marina.

 

Though you have to work hard for them with live bunkers, striped bass remain available to NY/NJ Bight anglers. I fished today with Joe Massa on his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina, and found Hudson River stripers eager to hit the bunkers he cast-netted with a single throw. We caught 10 bass up to 38 inches, and lost a few others. At one point we caught a doubleheader.

 

When the tide changed, Joe headed for his favorite fluke spot on the NY side where we had lots of hits on Spro jigs with Gulp Grubs, though my 22-incher was the only keeper  where the limit is 19 inches. We also caught sea robins and dogfish, while Joe added a bonito that hit as he was reeling in.

Chuck Many worked both the Hudson and East rivers with his crew on Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands for 18 bass releases up to a 28-pounder.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a good day of mixed bag fishing with blues, bonito, chub mackerel, ling, and even cod. The Big Mohawk from that port had a problem with lack of drift, but still had some fluke limits. They’re sold out Saturday and Sunday.

 

Though the inshore forecast remains calm, Capt. Jim Freda showed me an offshore forecast that shows breezy conditions offshore where there’s been a hot bite of bluefin tuna.  Saturday’s inshore forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots increasing in the afternoon when evening thunderstorms are likely.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported an improvement Thursday in surf fluking on Gulp. They’ve also heard of bonito and houndfish.

There have been lots of very small bluefish in the northern Ocean County surf, but I also saw a very unseasonable Spanish mackerel caught there Thursday evening,

Vinny D’Anton didn’t find anything in the surf this morning, but went to Shark River and released a 23-inch striper on a Chug Bug.

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A most unusual marine weather forecast predicts winds of no more than 10 knots right through Monday, which is great news for those seeking tuna both at mid-range areas and in the canyons — and for the Jamaica’s Sunday night tilefish trip.

The Jamaica sails from Brielle at 10 p.m. Sunday for a tilefish trip that will return at 2-3 a.m. Tuesday. The fare is $360 plus $10 if you want to reserve a bunk. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

The June 24 trip was also sailed in good weather, though strong currents were a problem at times. Yet, a couple of anglers managed limits of both golden and blueline tiles — and a bluefin tuna was also caught. Jigging was the best method. Joe Tomaszewski (not pictured) won the pool again as he boated a 26-pound golden.

The Jamaica will be sailing for fluke at 7:30 a.m. on other days. They also start afternoon family fluking at 4:30 p.m. Friday, and have a half-night ling trip at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The forecast for Thursday is northwest winds at just 5 knots before shifting to southwest in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar didn’t find the big blues they sought offshore on Wednesday, and the few small blues and bonito they encountered wouldn’t cooperate. Today was much better with small blues plus bonito and chub mackerel in the slick while ling were caught on bottom along with sea bass that had to be released. A big hammerhead shark swam around the boat to provide some excitement.

Small blues and bonito have moved into the surf, but they are just as small as those we saw there last fall. Joe Melillo, at Castaway’s Tackle in Point Pleasant, said he heard from two sources that there were also Spanish mackerel in the mix. Those tropical visitors usually don’t show up until at least August.

Allen Riley, of South Plainfield, is vacationing on the Outer Banks in Corolla, N.C. with his family and enjoying clear waters with lots of life in the surf. He and his son have been catching many small blues casting any small shiny lure along with mostly 9-12-inch Spanish mackerel plus a 16-incher.

With water temperatures rising, it’s time to be looking out for species from the south to be moving into NJ/NY ocean waters.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park made mention of hearing about cownose rays, sand tiger sharks and bonito moving into the surf along with small bass and blues plus the expected fluke in very clear waters.

There were also bonito reports a bit further offshore, where Miss Belmar Princess anchored on rubble to pick at small blues plus a few bonito in the chum slick while anglers fishing bottom did well with ling.  The Golden Eagle from Belmar had great weather for their experimental chumming trip far offshore to locate big blues, but there was no report by 5 p.m.

Northern NJ fluking remains slow for keepers, but shorts are more abundant now. The action’s been in the ocean, and bay fishing remains tough. The Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands got into a good shot of ling in shallower waters on Monday, indicating that ocean bottom temperatures remain low.

Vinny D’Anton worked hard to catch a 21-inch striper on his Chug Bug at Manasquan, and lost an 18-incher in the surf — but nothing else was caught there this morning.

 

 

After not raising anything to a popper yesterday morning in the Manasquan surf, I switched to the Band of Anglers Dart Spin plastic (ith a metal blade at the rear) as it had produced fluke the last time I used it there. There were still no hits until it got stuck even though I was retrieving at a steady pace.

After pulling hard to either get off or break my 30-pound braid, there was some movement before I reeled in what I hoped was a fluke but didn’t feel like one. The culprit turned out to be a 19-inch, 6-pound stargazer.

I should have realized what I had hooked as they are common in the surf and typically feel like a snag when first hooked.

That was the largest I’ve caught, though they grow to at least twice that size. While potential problems in handling most fish are obvious, the stargazer’s mouth full of sharp teeth isn’t all you have to worry about as they can give you a shock if you touch the top of their head. The bigger the stargazer, the greater the shock. Yet, they can be handled by holding them under the body — or under the gill cover.

Releasing stargazers is an experience as they are likely to dig in rather than swimming away. Mine was completely covered with sand in a second, and you’d never know he was there. The same thing may happen when they’re being reeled in to shore. I’ve seen anglers who have fought a fish stare in amazement when they see nothing at the end of their line even though they can’t reel any further. Stargazers are edible, though I doubt if you’ll ever see such an ugly species in a fish store.  They will hit a wide variety of lures, especially jigs or metal bounced off bottom, but rarely put up much of a fight. Yet, with so little variety in our surf, I welcome those occasional surprises especially after getting shut out on them last year.

It was another great week in the canyons for the Canyon Runner fleet from Point Pleasant. They caught over 100 tuna which were mostly yellowfins and bluefins plus bigeyes and a 300-pound giant. In addition there were dolphin, a 92-inch 375-pound mako shark and 12 white marlin — including five one day. Capt. Deane Lambros has already accounted for 20 bigeyes out of the fleet’s 25.

Vinny D’AntoN tried Shark River after the early storms and rasised a couple of bass or blues, but went to the beach to release six small bass on his Chug Bug.

Wednesday looks like a beauty, with northwest winds at just 5 knots before they switch to southwest in the afternoon. The Golden Eagle from Belmar is planning a run far offshore to locate big blues which have been absent inshore lately.

The Big Mohawk from that port will be sailing early for fluke at 6 a.m. this week before taking reservations for Saturday and Sunday sailings at 5:30 a.m.