Tight Lines

IGFA Press release:

Leading up to the 25th Annual IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame Induction this Saturday, September 14th, we’re highlighting the incredible accomplishments of this year’s inductees. Today we’re proud to feature Nick Smith, whose billfishing prowess and conservation efforts have set global standards.

Nick Smith’s angling journey began off the Palm Beaches in1955, igniting a lifelong passion for billfishing that continues to burn brightly. Evolving from conventional dead and live bait sailfish fishing, Smith has honed his focus to fly fishing for billfish, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of the sport. With a storied career marked by tournament victories, accolades, and remarkable angling feats, Smith has unquestionably set the standard for billfishing excellence. As a three-time recipient of the esteemed West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s Donald S. Leas International Angling Award, his dedication to angling mastery is unmistakable. Since embracing fly fishing for billfish in November 1999, Smith has achieved extraordinary success, releasing over 6,000 billfish in accordance with IGFA Flyfishing Rules, a testament to his skill and conservation ethos. Beyond his impressive catch statistics and tournament triumphs, Smith’s influence extends to pioneering fishing techniques, tackle innovations, boat designs, and shaping the landscape of modern angling. His profound impact on the sport, coupled with his unparalleled contributions, unequivocally position him as a deserving candidate for induction into the prestigious IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame.

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The weather is looking good in NY/NJ Bight with a Sunday forecast of east winds at just 10 knots with possible patchy fog in the morning.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reports a 9.3-pound fluke caught this week by Kasper.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. saw a big improvement in fluking during Thursday’s trip with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands;”Got to our first area this morning to find absolutely no current, no drift.

Caught a couple fish power drifting but I wasn’t planning on doing that all day! Took a ride looking for some current, found it and it was game on for the rest of the day.

Derrick lead the way with a double limit followed by several customers with their three by days end, Lou, Derrick, Super Dave and Kevin

Some beauties in the mix once again with Gary landing the first 6-pound 4-ounce keeper. A short while later JTP landed his largest of the season at 6-pounds 13- ounces.”

The forecast is for west winds at 5 knots before going southeast in the afternoon. Patchey fog is possible in the morning.

Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported lots of blues being caught from local beaches this morning on metal and epoxy lures. Some stripers have been reported, but the fall run won’t start until mullet appear in quantity.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant has been into limits of blues plus plenty of bonito and a few Spanish mackerel every fishable day.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had good fluking Wednesday with several limits and lots of shorts. Americo took the pool with a 6 3/8-pounder.

Fine weather continues with a forecast of northeast 5-10 knots before switching to southeast in the afternoon.

Nick Honachefsky reports “I will be holding a FREE SURF FISHING SEMINAR Saturday, September 21st at Fishermen’s Supply Co. in Point Pleasant at 5 PM priming how to fish the Fall Run! I’ll cover all sorts of tips and tactics to maximize your successes and try and answer all your Fall Run surf questions. Just show up!

All reactions:

The Ebb Tide from Montauk posted the following from a recent Block Island trip:

“Here’s the full Block report, it was phenomenal Sea Bass and absolute Nuclear porgy fishing and as far as the Fluke bite goes it wasn’t phenomenal, but we did have some bigguns besides Christine’s 11lber. Ronnie had a 7.5, Terri had a 6 and Dante had a 5plus. Once Jeff got his 5 he started flipping jigs and was crushing the biscuits. That’s Block this time of year in a nutshell, you never know but you’ll always go home with plenty of meat, and you’ll always have a good time on the Tide. Thanks to all for a great day — will never forget this day!”

+The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for southeast winds at 5-10 knots,

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. reported much better fluking Tuesday on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands despite poor conditions.

Chuck Many is noted for his dedication to catching big stripers, but when conditions aren’t right he can be just as happy catching a variety of smaller species on his Tyman from Highlands.

“Goal on Saturday was 14 different species. With the ocean a mess, that didn’t seem likely, but the river was alive and gave us a great start! Kept chipping away and ended with 15 species including a great Black Drum bite at the end of the trip. We even got Chris in on time, so he could go Catfishing, .”

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Small black drum aren’t normally encountered as far north as NY/NJ Bight. See photos below

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had jigging for bluefish up to 12 pounds on Sunday along with the usual small choppers. To top it off, bonito turned on later.

Queen Mary bonito

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The forecast is for northeast winds at 5-10 knots before going southeast in the afternoon.

it’s hard to think about it every year, but what happened to the United States on 9/11 will never go away. Some fellow charter skippers were fishing in Raritan Bay that day. and able to participate in the evacuation of people to N.J. and Staten Island after the attacks.

I had joined the late, great Capt. Bob Pisano on a trip to a wreck where giant tuna had been spotted. We had to fight our way offshore in a stiff northwest wind, but were anchored up and chunking when some strange reports started coming from the ship-to-shore radio about a plane hitting one of the twin towers. I was able to get some scratchy audio from the TV which indicated that this might be an attack rather than an accident. On a calm day we would have seen smoke rising from the direction of the city, but the wind was so strong that it kept the smoke very low.

Though Pisano was noted for sticking it out, he felt something was very wrong and pulled the anchor. We never saw the smoke until getting pretty close to Shark River Inlet. Some of the Sheepshead Bay party boat fleet was able to help out in the evacuations that day.

Austin Perilli reports that weakfish are feeding on peanut bunkers at the west end of Long Island. providing a great light tackle opportunity.

The forecast is for west winds at just 5 knots.

Fluke pro Dave Lilly and his crew avoided the big swell that’s screwed up fluking amd turned their attention to stripers which were ready and waiting in New York Harbor. Most were in the twenties, but they did find a 30-incher among them.

Live eels did the job, but it wasn’t easy as it took 12-ounce sinkers to stay near bottom in roaring currents. Dave said other boaters didn’t seem to be catching, and he suspects they weren’t using enough lead. Maria. a young lady, did a fine job fighting one of the big bass while refusing any help.

Bluefish also cooperated in NY/NJ Bight today as the Golden Eagle from Belmar reported limits for all as blues up to 6 pounds were marked on rocky bottoms where they hit Run-Off 6-8-ounce jigs.

The forecast is for west winds at 10-15 knots.

Jada Holt, while fishing with a Kona-based crew at Ascension Island in the equatorial South Atlantic, boated a 1,305-pound Atlantic blue marlin last Saturday after only a 15-minute fight.

There was no further info about that catch on Facebook, but anglers can get lucky at times when a fish swallows the bait and bleeds out or jumps itself to death.

The big swell in NY/NJ Bight has hurt fluke fishing. Capt. Ron Santee Jr. reports very few during yesterday’s trip with the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. He’s chartered on Sunday.

Mike Monte left Nantucket surrounded by 3-5-pound bonito this week to do some surfcasting in N.J. On the other hand, Mike noted that little tunny have been very late arriving in Nantucket.

A small craft advisory is up through Sunday night. The forecast for the Bight is for northwest winds at 15-20 knots which may reduce the swell somewhat before dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon.

All reactions:

227227Jada Holt, while fishing with a Kona-based crew at Ascension Island in the equatorial South Atlantic, boated a 1,305-pound Atlantic blue marlin on Saturday after only a 15-minute fight.

All reactions:

227227Jada Holt, while fishing with a Kona-based crew at Ascension Island in the equatorial South Atlantic, boated a 1,305-pound Atlantic blue marlin on Saturday after only a 15-minute fight.

All reactions:

227227Jada Holt, while fishing with a Kona-based crew at Ascension Island in the equatorial South Atlantic, boated a 1,305-pound Atlantic blue marlin on Saturday after only a 15-minute fight.

All reactions:

227227

On June 8, Bill Proulx of Ashford, CT, set the new state record for summer flounder, more commonly known as fluke. The 15.3-pound, 32.6-inch fish surpassed the previous state record set in 2019—a 14-pound, 13-ounce fluke measuring 31.5 inches—by mere ounces and inches.”

Double-digit fluke, referred to as “doormats” by envious bottom fishermen, are considered trophy fish. With a girth of 26.4 inches, this doormat wasn’t all that flat. Its girth measured only 6 inches less than the entire length of the fish, which was caught in Niantic Bay.”

Windy weather is often a big problem for late summer fluke fishermen, and seas have been building — with a small craft advisory in effect through Saturday afternoon in NY/NJ Bight.

The forecast only calls for northeast at 10-15 knots in the morning before increasing to south 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon. Most of the fluke are being at present in deep waters that require heavy sinkers and rods with enough backbone to handle them.

Capt. Rob Santee Jr. did well before it got too rough Thursday as Scott Scuderi boated a 27-inch, 8 3/16-pound fluke on the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. Ron also reported a couple of 5-pounders and some threes as some limits were taken. His boat is chartered on Sunday.

Fluke fishing seems to be building up, while mostly small blues have been pretty consistent along with bonito — while tuna skippers don’t usually have to run very far in order to encounter big yellowfins.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. is still talking about this season’s largest fluke aboard his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, a 9 1/8-pounder which was boated this week by Chief Kelly (see photo)

There were several limits up to 6 pounds during Wednesday’s trip, but that boat is chartered on Sunday.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar has been doing best jigging bonito early before blues turn on to jigs later when some up to 8 pounds were included this week.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant has been doing the same thing most days down the beach where some little tunny and Spanish mackerel are also included.

A small craft advisory is up from 2 p.m. through Friday afternoon. The Friday forecast is for northeast winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 and seas up to 6 feet.