Tight Lines

After a day featuring billfish, it was back to bigeye blasts yesterday at the White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Maryland.

The Blue Runner from Point Pleasant was already sitting pretty with a 220.5-pound bigeye that is projected to be worth over a million dollars, but they were out again and added a couple more. Talking Trash had five bigeyes, and The Right Place added a 191.5 for Mac Hugin, but the only major change was a 193.5-pounder by Warden Pass for second.

There was a white marln long enough to weigh. but it didn’t make the 70-pound minimum for scoring. That leaves Waste Knot leading at 77.5 pounds for over $4 million.

There were 196 boats out today as the weather is looking bad for a contest that’s been extended to Saturday. The inshore forecast is for a gale watch on Friday.

That’s also not going to help the NY/NJ Bight fluke fishing which has been suffering from a big swell. Fluke pro Dave Lilly said Tuesday’s fluking was really tough even though he managed a two-man limit which all came out of one very small piece of rough bottom. There were lots of boats out, but Lilly never saw a net move on any of them.

After bigeyes featured the first day of the 51st White Marlin Open at Ocean City, Md., very big blue marlin were featured yesterday.

Stone Cutter was involved in a 2 1/2-hour battle before boating an 897.5-pounder — and Ho Bo Jo followed with a 789.5-pounder!

All of the previous day’s bigeyes had to stand aside when Capt. Mark DeBlasio’s Blue Runner from Point Pleasant weighed a 220.5-pounder that could be worth over a million dollars. No Limit added a 183-pound bigeye. The biggest money is in white marlin, and the first weigh-in was of a 77.5-pounder on Waste Knot.

A couple of dolphin over 20 pounds finally came to the scales, as Double Nickel had a 31-pounder before Catch 25 weighed a 32.5-pounder.

With most entrants scrambling to get in days before Debbie creates problems, he catch count for the first day was 111 released whites, 15 releases blues plus a spearfish and a sail –as 10 tuna were weighed. Yesterday it was 96 released whites and one weighed along with the two big blues and four released plus 4 sails — while 7 tuna and two dolphin were weighed. The contest continues through Saturday.

A big ground swell has been tough on NY/NJ Bight fluke fishing.

With the threat of Debbie hanging over the event, 199 boats entered in the White Marlin Open got their first of three days in yesterday when bigeye tuna blasts created most of the action. Not surprisingly, bigeye specialist MJ’S Sportfishing got into a school that hooked up on five rods — of which they managed to boat four up to 164 1/2 pounds to pull just behind a 166-pounder by ex-Senate candidate Bob Hugin on his The Right Place. However, before the weigh-ins at Ocean City, Md. ended, the boat CTRL ALT DEL arrived with a 178.5-pound bigeye as well as a 154.5.

MJ’S also released a blue marlin that may have barely been big enough to be weighed in.

The rush to get in a fishable day continued today as 210 of the 318 boats fishing for a purse of $8.5 million are on the water. I’ll try to add a blog tonight if there’s a substantial change and Word Press stands up.

The 51st White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Maryland has been extended by one day through Saturday in order to compensate for the effects of Tropical Storm Debbie, That contest has a field of 318 boats fishing for a purse of $8.5 million. Boaters can select any three days to fish from today through Saturday.

Paul Haertel of the JCAA reports the results of the JCAA Heavy Hitters Fluke Tournament as follows:

“2024 JCAA Heavy Hitter Fluke Tournament – Final Standings

The Jersey Coast Anglers Association’s Heavy Hitters Fluke Tournament began on 8/1 and concluded on 8/4. The weather was not as good as many would have liked and the ocean temperatures were very cold. That resulted in generally poor fluke fishing though there were a few good catches. Kevin Cole of Newton, NJ was the big winner with a 5.82 lb fluke that he weighed in at Atlantic Bait and Tackle. Kevin won a YAMAHA 9.9 HP 4 stroke engine and cash for his first place fish. He also swept the 1 fluke and 3 fluke Calcuttas. Congrats to Kevin and the other winners listed below. Thanks to all those who participated along with our sponsors and weigh-in stations.

Fluke

1^st – Kevin Cole 5.82 lbs *

2^nd – Adam Schechter 5 lbs.

3^rd – Robert Pagiuco 4.86 lbs

4^th – Keith Scaglione 4.79 lbs (caught by Jon Lasser)

5^th – Tom Lichnak 4.53 lbs.

*Also won all 4 fluke Calcuttas ( 1 fish 5.82 lbs., 3 fish 13.4 lbs.)

Sea Bass Calcuttas

Adam Schechte

Dave Lilly couldn’t find any fluke bigger than 3 to 4 pounds to enter in the weekend Leonardo Flukemasters Tournament, but had a moment of excitement when a tripleheader of rays was hooked up.

The forecast is for west winds at just 5-10 knots before going south in the afternoon with showers and seas up to 5 feet.

N.Y.C. Capt. John McMurray has a real problem with too many bluefins these days as some are too big for the casting tackle his customers are fishing with and that often results in a long fight that doesn’t end well.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. started off with another good fluke trip on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. Several 3-4-pounders were boated and Arnoldo had a 4 5/16-pounder, before it suddenly went dead there and everywhere else Ron went. There was a big swell that might have had something to do with that.

A small craft advisory is up until late tonight.

The morning forecast is for west winds at 5-10 knots before going southwest in the afternoon at 10-15 plus gusts to 20.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. had a charter with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands today, and the fluke cooperated as he noted there were lots of keepers along with plenty of shorts.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar loaded up with chub mackerel while also picking some blues and sea bass.

The White Marlin Open gets started Monday in Ocean City, Md. after the weekend captains meeting.

A small craft advisory is up into Sunday afternoon. Sunday’s forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 25 and possible showers and thunderstorms.

Can’t open anything except Facebook. Chasin Tails B&T in Atlantic Beach, NC reported a very unusual surf catch as follows:

with a metal jig he picked up from the shop this morning. He snagged a shad on his retrieve then this 32 lb king came up and smoked the jig & shad combo. After a 45 min fight on 12 lb mono David finally managed to pull him up on the sand and headed for the shop.

Nice catch and great story

Hope to have this cleared up tomorrow.

The White Marlin Open at Ocean City, Maryland begins fishing on Monday. I’ll be covering that if Word Press holds up — which it isn’t doing at present as I haven’t been able to open messages today.

Vinny D’Anton reports surfcasting along the north Jersey Shore remains picky. He manages to get into a few bass and blues most mornings by working hard with a variety of lures. Today he was surprised by a blue of almost 10 pounds on a popper, and last week one of his bass was a 28 1/2-incher. The usually reliable sand flea bite has never turned on — and those baits have been hard to rake — which may be why bass haven’t been feeding on them.

Vinny has heard that some Spanish mackerel have been showing up in the surf well south of his usual Monmouth County surf spots.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant has been into great jigging for small blues most days, while bonito, sea bass and a few Spanish are often added.

Anglers seeking big bluefin tuna have been using live blues to attract their target just a few miles offshore.

A small craft advisory is up this evening. West winds at just 5-10 knots by morning increase to southwest 10-15 in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into lots of small blues on jigs plus some bonito on jigs today, That boat is chartered tomorrow, but will be back on the blues Thursday.

They made their first exotics trip this week and got into some mostly smaller yellowfins, but up to 40 pounds. They also reported a lot of skipjack tuna, and saw two marlin chasing baits.

A small craft advisory is up tonight. The morning forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 and likely showers.