Tight Lines

Capt. Monty Hawkins continues to enjoy a winter fishery he never thought of before on his Morning Star out of Ocean City, Maryland, even though the bluefin tuna were too small on this week’s trip. Check out his report as follows:”

Thursday, January 22, 2025: had the best day of tuna fishing in my 45 years out of OC, MD..

(Keep in mind I’m JV with BFT! The Sea Bass/Tog/Fluke fisheries are, and will remain, my livelihood – but this fishing is perfect for a hard winter’s blues..)

Trolling today reminded me of bluefishing at Jackspot in the early 1980s at times..

The report..

Two-thirty AM; a quarter moon shone brightly on lightly ruffled seas as we cleared the inlet. Though just enough cloud cover to prevent seeing the planetary alignment; today’s forecast–the first offering a chance for me to slide far offshore in search of bluefin tuna in long weeks, was looking spot on.

An early AM reading showed 16 degree air and 36 degree water temps about 7 miles offshore.

Ocean’s a powerful force though. As we worked our way offshore, air & seawater temps climbed appreciably. By just 18 miles out air temp was 28 and water 42.5 – at 25 miles off air was 32 and water 45..

A convenient wreck lay perfectly on my course offshore. In an attempt to make bait we tried it for bluefish.

Ehh, that didn’t work.

Found plentiful sea bass, but they’re off limits because NOAA’s official recreational catch guesstimates from MRIP show, for instance, how Shore anglers (you know, jetty & bridge anglers) will sometimes catch more and larger cbass than their state’s offshore Party/Charter fleet.

Yup.

OK sure.

NOAA/Council/Commission: “Ah! You greedy recreational scoundrels! You’re over your sea bass quota again!”

..seasons get cut, bag limits shrink, size limits increase because of data no one believes. In many states sea bass are now almost entirely off limits because of MRIP’s cooked-up catch data.

Going to work on that again soon. Always do with a new administration. Always make progress too – and then it gets squashed, either at the top of NOAA or by the Secretary of Commerce (NOAA is under Commerce.) Not that it would ever sail into presidential orbit, but in the Biden administration NOAA announced rec catch estimates were going to be reduced 20 to 40% two years ago(ish) ..and then nothing happened.

In the previous Trump administration a genius, Admiral Gallaudet, (seriously – a genius!) was at the helm for NOAA. He saw my argument for rotten catch inputs at once. But when he kicked it upstairs the Sec of Commerce killed it straight away. “Have to use something. These will do.”

And that was that.

If rec catch estimates were repaired – if fisheries science was fed accurate catch information – fishery management would work incredibly well. So well, in fact, simple things like temperate coral reef’s value and spawning production’s incredible might could well spring to the fore.

One day they shall

..but not with pure baloney decorating catch columns on fishery managers’ computers.

Kept steaming off. When ten miles from the edge, air temps had climbed to a toasty 35 degrees – but sea water was 52 for quite some while. Once into the canyon, however, air temps climbed to 39 and sea water rose to 53.5 degrees.

Warmer air than much of the south, no?

Well, Shelly herself had told Joey: run a shelly lure long right and all would be well. No surprise – as we crossed the 100 fathom line, fish on!

Bit the shelly of course.

Though only 37inches, a tuna in hand beat thousands in the sea – we boxed it. We were now only allowed to keep one more; a giant over 73 inches.

Didn’t happen. Dern sure a lot of fun hunting it. Caught 12 altogether. The other 11 were netted and released. Lot of fun for my two anglers. They even let Joey & Jeff reel some in.

About noon I was right there – right where Sea Bass Bob had caught his pool winning golden tile years ago.

They’re open. Why not make a drop?

Eight hundred fifty feet down (no electrics allowed!) we found hungry

..sand sharks.

Devil.

Back to tuna fishing!

School bluefin seemed everywhere we went. Our last was in 80 fathoms and 51 degree water – at 25 inches it was the only sub-legal bft I’ve caught or even heard of this winter season.

Was hoping to see unusual life off there today.

Did.

A northern fulmar (thanks Zach!) – a puffin – scads of little auk/dovekie weren’t too unusual..

Then, while tile fishing a small white whale surfaced close abeam and didn’t go away for over an hour – followed us trolling!

Thankfully it didn’t have a Moby Dick complex. No ramming the boat TYVM.

Wasn’t all white. Mostly though. My first thought was beluga – and wouldn’t THAT be amazing.

A quick check of NOAA’s whale reference showed belugas have no dorsal to speak of though. This fellow’s was pronounced – much larger than any dolphin I’m familiar with.

Right now, before it gets in the hands of experts, I’m calling this mostly white marine mammal a Risso’s dolphin.

Only saw one once before. It was not white.

A mystery….

(Zach at Hillstar Nature confirms – Risso’s dolphin.)

I’ll be looking for another flat calm day, believe that. Still want to come tight on el grande.

Mate Vic is working in NC this season. Had a 111 inch/800+ pound bft take 8 hours to reel in and boat a few days ago.

Ouch.. �Well, hope we’re up to the task if given opportunity!

Cheers!”

The NY/NJ Bight forecast is a fine one for Saturday with northwest winds at just 10 knots before gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

While most anglers are looking a place to get warm or taking advantage of ice fishing conditions, Capt. Monty Hawkins steered his Morning Star from Ocean City, Maryland offshore again the search for bluefin tunas as noted this morning — “3:15am on 1/23/25 – a bit chilly – forecast is glorious – headed to Poorman’s Canyon where giant bluefin were sighted as recenly as last Sunday..

Time will tell!”

Hopefully there will be good news.

The forecast for NY/NJ Bight is also good for Friday at 10-15 knots northwest.

Bill Boyce reports the great marlin bite continues at Tropic Star Lodge in Panama with more billfish grand slams (a black and a blue marlin plus a sailfish released on a single trip) added to a record season.

Famed fly tier Bob Popovics will be honored once more on Saturday at the Edison Fly Fishing Show after recently losing is life in a Jersey Shore hit-and-run accident. The American Museum of Fly Fishing will present that award at 5 p.m.

***

The Vitamin Sea has switched marinas. Capt. Frank Masseria will be running out of Leonardo State Marina. rather than Keyport. He says that will put closer to the ocean where he expects striper fishing will be best under the present circumstances.

He notes” Keyport has been our home for so so many years, but it seems like the complexion of Fishing may very well change in the upcoming years. This move puts us about 8 miles closer to the ocean, saving a lot of running time and allowing more fishing time, especially for fluke, sea bass and tog.

This Marina is extremely clean with easy parking and very clean bathrooms, which are always available. Additionally, there’s no mud to deal with and no more high tide flooding.

Our rates for the upcoming 2025 season will remain the same as the past. No increase!!!

This may very well be the last spring Stiped Bass run and fall Striped Bass run that we will be able to participate in. I’m hoping our fisheries managers will realize the impact of complete closure on this industry when final decisions are made. 

The 2025 book is open. Those who are looking to rebook dates similar to last year should do so in the near future. Remember, this may be the last spring and fall bass run that we will be able to participate in. 

Stay warm! Spring is about two months away!!

917-439-644″

Thursday’s forecast is for southwest winds at just 5-10 knots.

Bill Boyce reports marlin fishing is even better than normal at Tropic Star Lodge in Panama. “Celebrities have fished side by side in pursuit of the dinosaurs of the ocean. Black marlin…Blue marlin.. A Lodge that owns more IGFA World Records than any other location on this planet has just crushed its prestigious record set almost 2 decades ago of having 104 blue and black marlin caught in a week.

The new record was eclipsed as of Thursday and piled on even more yesterday with a weekly total of 179. Not to mention the 113 sailfish released, and a bevy of big dorado to 50 lbs and yellowfin tuna from 150 – 200 lbs

Fridays effort was INSANE.. 47 marlin caught and flags flying all over the dock.. Captains, Mates, and the anglers that made history will never forget this week.”

Let me know if you want to book a trip and I’ll make it happen for you… !!

#tropicstarlodge#papaspilarrum#bluefinusa

See photos below.

Anthony Gillespie reports the weather outlook is good for a Saturday golden tilefish trip on Capt. Lou from Freeport. Call him at 516 623-5823.

*******

0:10 / 1:57

+10

Sho-Nuf, the Cape Charles, Va. charter boat best known for giant winter stripers, mixed it up recently by boating the one giant bluefin allowed each year. year. “A beautiful 93” stud of a fish that took about 2 1/2 hrs to get in boat. Great crew with a slick calm day. Even handed out a bunch of tuna to people on the dock. We can’t eat all of that. Shout out to spankyslures.com for some awesome Joe chute heads”.

A small craft advisory is up through Tuesday in NY/NJ Bight. The forecast is for 10-15-knot west winds plus gusts to 20 — and very cold!

Capt. Monty Hawkins long ago became proactive in building up ocean structure in his fishing areas off Ocean City, Maryland — and added more on his most recent trip this week as follows:”Sunrise is often found with beauty, it didn’t last. A classic winter sky of low gray cloud-cover followed and stayed all day. Winds were a light southerly at dawn; and, though increased to 16 knots by 11am, it was still plenty nice.

I hadn’t done a reef block tally since early December; looking to cross the 5K mark at Capt. Bobby’s, was surprised to discover yesterday that my old friend’s reef was at 4,998(!) & that I’d crossed the 43,000 mark too (..meaning I have deployed 43,096 reef blocks since I began the project many years ago.)

That’s a lot of truckloads.. After Spencer & Steven deployed today’s twenty block reef unit at Capt Bob Gowar’s Memorial Reef, it ran the tally up to 5,018 – my first spot with over 5,000 reef blocks deployed.

More on that in another post.

The tog bite today was much more robust than yesterday. Our first stop offered a light bite with some decent fish and lasted quite a while – if slowly.

After lines up in preparation for a move to another spot I discovered a deckhand’s nightmare: my hydraulic anchor winch had gone toes-up.

We checked everything we could – found nothing easily repaired at sea. Good thing we had a bunch of strong young men aboard today. Half a dozen of em made short work of pulling anchors by hand.

Anchors? Like two anchors? Yes, I almost always make a two anchor set while toggin. Did catch a 20lb fish on a single anchor once though..

Ah well, southerly winds, so very calm in the AM, had climbed to 15 kts by 11am–still nice, then shifted SW and came 20 kts at 2pm.

That wind shift, of course, came after I’d made my second double anchor set ..with no winch.

Thank goodness for the exuberance of youth. With Big Bill, Spencer, Steven, Gordy and Alex hauling in unison? There were no issues getting anchors up.

Pretty sure Joey is not upset we only had one guy sign up for tomorrow’s ‘calm before the storm’ tog trip. Calling for heavy snow up north where most of my tog clients come from. With no winch and only one client? I cancelled it for repairs..

Al won today’s pool with a nice male. Shelly’s (Brand New) Uncle JoJo had a dern close female contender. The big male had a ‘third fin rip’ where someone on my boat had released it previously – a year ago at least. With both fish obviously of fine genetic stock, Al & Joe released them both to take care of spawning business come spring.

I had feared it might come plenty saucy in that robust SW breeze. Instead? By 3:30 it had piped down to less than 10 knots again..

Take your luck where you find it – was a nice ride home with a stunning sunset and rainbow too!

Might do a seriously crazy trip in a coming 15 degree calm. If nothing else we’ll dern sure have to do some ice breaking later in the week to keep the cut open.

Now to tend my hydraulics..

Cheers”

A small craft advisory is posted for NY/NJ Bight from 8 p.m. to Tuesday morning. The Tuesday forecast is for west winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 25,

Correction: The ling report from the Ocean Explorer out of Belmar in yesterday’s blog was actually from Friday.

The Ocean Explorer from Belbar reported as follows on Thursday’s bottom fishing “

“Very nice day and great people,,,Good conditions again,we didnt have the blackfish chewing good but we did catch some Stanley had 2 keepers and we had a few others,,Ling were chewing though,Jimmy had 24 ling by the end of the day,,others had some as well…So not a bad day out for a cold January.Ss miss belmar 3pm ling and whiting trip is on as well.’

Sunday’s forecast is for west winds 15-20 knots with a chance of rain and snow in the morning.

Though blackfishing remains picky, the Ocean Explorer from Belmar had a good ling bite Thursday as anglers fishing for them went home with tasty dinners.

Vinny D’Anton got into a blitz of ladyfish on MirrOlures while wading beaches near his winter home in Sarasota. Ladyfish aren’t good for eating, but are lots of fun to catch on lures. A few small spotted sea trout were mixed in.

The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for south winds at 15-20 knots before dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon.

Ralph Votta, “The Tin Man’, has passed away according to posts on Facebook, though I haven’t been able to get any other information on the subject. In the early days of surf striper fishing. tin lures were a not ticket specially on the west end of Long Island. They not only resembled many bait fish, but could also be cast a mile — even into the wind. They are expensive and have gone out of fashio,. but the last time I used tin in the N.J. surf they were still effective.

The forecast for NY/NJ Bight looks good with northwest winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 before dropping to west 5-10 in the afternoon.

Bill Boyce reports from Tropic Star Lodge in Panama as follows:

I met a truly inspirational angler at Tropic Star Lodge last week. Wade Hoag, a disabled charter captain from St. Augustine, FL showed us all that his condition wasn’t a disability after all. He hopped out of the charter flight, and into a Bertram 31 to do battle with a bevy of offshore predators. From his favorite position in the port corner, Wade tenaciously battled, and won the fights he picked with blue marlin, sailfish, dorado, and tuna.

A feat that proves a wheelchair can be a great fighing chair..!! Hats off to this young lad who has paved the way for other such disabled fisherman to come to Tropic Star and give it their best shot to catch a fish of a lifetime.

#tr

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported good blackfish action on Monday as the high hook caught 30 between keepers and shorts. There was also a good showing of ling with a high hook of 30. They are planning n fishing Thursday.

A small craft advisory is up in NY/NJ Bight, but the morning forecast is for just 10-15 knot west winds.

#tro