Tight Lines

After the 400-boat field failed to hook a marlin big enough to weigh all week, Floor Reel came through with a worthy winner on the last day as John Ols won $ 6.2 million for a 640.5-pound blue marlin. There was some confusion at first as Skirt Chaser brought in a white marlin of the proper length only to watch it weighed at 67.5 pounds — below the additional 70-pound minimum. Then a blue marlin was submitted by another boat, but was two inches short of the minimum.

As the WMO notes “The blue marlin from the Floor Real left no doubt when it was measured at 118” in the boat before electrifying the crowd while tipping the scales at 640.5 pounds. It proved to be the only qualifying billfish and wins most of the money for both white and blue marlin. The $6.2 million won sets a new world record for the catch of a fish, breaking the previous world record of $4.45 million won in last year’s Open by Jeremy Duffie for his 77.5-pound white marlin.

Two new millionaires were minted in the tuna categories. Ro Sham Bo out of Ocean City, MD weighed a 215 bigeye tuna caught by Rusty Shriver of Leonardtown, MD. The fish won all $1,700,000 in the $50K winner take all level because no white marlin or blue marlin were caught in that division and all prize money was diverted to the top tuna.”

I’ll have more info after official results are posted.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported plenty of small blues this morning right outside the inlet. When that jigging slowed, they drifted for sea bass and fluke.

Capt. Ron Santee found no wind or drift with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, but managed to put together a fluke catch topped by a new monthly leader as Mr. Kim boated a 7 3/4-pounder. The Fishermen is chartered tomorrow.

The forecast is for southwest winds at just 5-10 knots with possible showers.

Though the White Marlin Open hasn’t put out any official results as yet. I’ll summerize the highlightd.

The long-awaited white marlin finally came to the scales, but Skirt Chasher missed out on over a million dollars when it failed to also meet the minimum weight. Then a blue marlin was brought in, it turned out to be just short of the minimum length.

However, the latter problem was taken care of when Floor Reel brought in a 640.5-pounder fought by John Ols.

The tuna lead changed right away as Reel Tight weighed a 265-pound bigeye tuna.boated by Brian Stewart.

I’ll have all the final results tomorrow,

The 50th anniversary White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Md. has never before been devoid of a billfish winner, though from 1984 to 1986 there were no qualifying whites. Yet, unless 357 boats fishing their final day come through history will be changed.

It’s not that billfish have been scarce. The release count for the first four days was 431 whites, 34 blues, five sailfish and one spearfish.

The cash allocated to billfish will be moved to the tuna division if there are no qualifying marlin. At present, that would be a bonanza for Fishlik with a projected $1.2 million for a 247.5-pound bigeye. John Zimmerman moved into second yesterday on Game Over with a 221 1/2-pound bigeye. Ro Sham Bo then added a 215-pound bigeye to take over third.

I’ll have an update on today’s results after the scales close tonight.

NY/NJ Bight fluke fishing continues to be very good. Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands reports “

Had perfect conditions right from the start and the bite was on. Eric had his 3 on the first drift…by days end there were several customers with their 3 and then some.

Ken Peters had his three and took the daily pool and is the new Monthly pool lead with a beauty at 5 pounds 7 ounces. Lots of Great pics tonight as they always tell the story! Get here early in the AM, get your spot 1 Rod only at the rail, when we have our customers, we sail!” That boat is chartered Sunday.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into 1-pound blues and then flurries of 2-3-pounders today. Lots of blue were marked, but they were fussy. Some fluke and sea bass were added.

Capt. John McMurray reported lots of yellowfins on poppers and jigs

The forecast is for south winds at 5-10 knots before increasing in the afternoon to 10-15 knots with gusts to 20.

Vinny D’Anton reported small bass and blues have been hitting lures every morning in the Monmouth County surf. He even had a 34-inch bass on a Red Fin this week, but this morning was no good. Fluke remain steady on white Gulp.

Bigeyes were featured again at Day 4 of the White Marlin Open leaving a lot to be determined during Friday’s final day.

The boat name was appropriate as Game Over took over second in tuna with a 221.5-pound bigeye. Ro Sham Bo then added a 215-pound bigeye for third in tuna. Later on, Reel Chaos got in the mix with a 128.5-pound bigeye. Quite a few yellowfin tuna were also weighed.

Everything is up for grabs in what should be a wild finish tomorrow.

Pending the results of today’s weigh-ins, which I’ll be reporting on after the scales close, the 50th Anniversary White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Md. has had no entries in the two big money categories for white marlin and blue marlin. If that continues, the million- dollar winner will come from the tuna category. At present, that would be Chris Mentlik, who caught a 247.5-pound bigeye tuna yesterday from his Fishlik.

If all this seems familiar, it’s much like what happened at the end last year before Billfisher broke the ice on white marlin with a 77.5-pounder for $4.4 million- and Cabana added a 511-pound blue for $960,000.

The standards are high, as blues have to be 114 inches in order to be weighed. Whites have a double standard, with 70 inches in length plus a 70-pound minimum. There’s also a swordfish category with a 60-inch minimum for which there have been no entries.

The dolphin leader is up to a 31-pounder by Maverick, and wahoo is led by Shooting Star at 57 pounds.

Fortunately, the weather looks fishable on Friday as practically the entire 400-boat fleet will be fishing. The present southwest blow will switch to a light northwest by morning.

Kil Song was testing rods on Montauk fluke aboard the Ebb Tide yesterday.

Sorry for the delay, but X-Finity lost the internet again today,

I didn’t get on again before weigh-ins at the White Marlin Open were well underway. The scales are still open as this is submitted.

Instigator lost its million dollar payout for a 1991/2-ound bigeye when Fish Lik weighed a 203 1/2-pounder. MJ’S came through again as Dante Sorriente boated a 178-pound bigeye, but was pushed to fourth when Full Service weighed a 203 1/2-pound bigeye.

There still no billfish weigh-ins, but Shooting Star took over first in wahoo during rough Tuesday with a 57-pounder. Sea Fix added a 40-pounder today.

Maverick took over first in dolphin with a 31-pounder, while also releasing a blue marlin and two whites.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had abother very good day of fluking with the high hook catching seven of keeper size while the pool fluke was 5 7/16 pounds.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar had a charter which caught many limits.

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

When 378 boats out of 400 entered in the White Marlin Open opted to fish the first day, I expected to see long lines waiting to weigh-in that evening on the Marlin Cam — but that wasn’t the case at all as fishing results were generally poor.

It was a good time for Instigator as their 199 1/2-pound is currently winning over a million dollars. though that’s only because there hasn’t been a white or blue marlin big enough to be weighed in so far. Fishing was so poor that only one dolphin of at least the 20-pound minimum was weighed — and it was barely big enough at 21 pounds.

There were some white marlin releases, but I haven’t been able to find any details about that so far. There also hasn’t been any species count, which should be easy considering how tough the canyon fishing has been.

Angelo Ponte holds second place in tuna with this 118-pounder caught on Bow Down

Only 22 boats are fishing during a marginal forecast on the second day as there are substantial pay-offs for dailey winners.

Chris Lido reports this doormat was aught during a bachelor’s party trip aboard the Gambler from Point Pleasant by a first-time angler using rental tackle and boat bait.

Also at that port. the Queen Mary had a Sunday morning squid trip with big catches — and that afternoon got into 3-5-pound blues for the first time in weeks.

With most of the fleet taking advantage of the weather to fish the opening day of the White Marlin Open, canyon action remained very poor.

The outstanding catch was a 199-pound bigeye tuna on Instigator, which is well ahead of a 118-pounder in the tuna division by Bow Down. Skid Row is third at 64 1/2 pounds.

Most of the weigh-ins were of yellowfin tuna — some of which didn’t even make the 50-pound minimum. Even dolphin were scarce as the only entry was a 21-pounder on Hey Buddy, as a couple of others missed the 20-pound minimum.

A 55-pound wahoo on Captain Deadley may stand up for a while. No blue or white marlin were brought in for weighing, but there were quite a few white releases — and one large blue was lost.

There will probably be few boats out Tuesday with southwest winds from 15-25 knots predicted.

There will be a lot of excitement this afternoon at Ocean City, Md. as 378 of the 400 boats entered in the White Marlin Open are fishing today. I’ll be adding a blog to bring results up to date after the scales close tonight.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro of Hi Flier out of Barnegat reports as follows:

It’s been an interesting few days of fishing. We started out with live grass shrimping trips in the bay on Fri and Sat. Friday had a mix of species including 5 weakfish for the Rick Masters charter. They had the usual assortment of species that visit our shrimp slick: weakfish, juvenile sea bass, little blues, blowfish, fluke, sand sharks, spots, and sea robins. Non stop action. On Saturday I had Mike and Karen Romance out for an Inshore Shark/Live Grass Shrimp Combo. We got bit off by a few bigger sharks that were not invited to this particular party but Karen did get the best of an Atlantic Sharpnose Shark, the targeted species before we decided to head into the bay. I anchored in the exact same spot as the day before but it was S L O W……..and then S L O W E R. Just doesn’t make sense sometimes, same spot, same tide, but my other spot was infested with silver perch, so we stayed put. We finally hook up and Mike is fighting what I tell him is going to be a big weakfish. The 6 lb ultralite rod is bent, the reel is singing, and as the fish finally gets close enough to land, we see it’s a cobia. Twenty incher. Not legal to keep, but great sport on that tackle. They then proceed to deck two keeper weakies, a 13 and 19 1/2 incher to wrap things up and put a little fillet in the Ziplock. 

Sunday the weather was nice enough to head offshore looking for tuna with the Jim Padilla party. I knew the fleet on the inshore tuna grounds up North has grown to 100 plus boats on a weekday and with a bluebird Saturday, that would surely almost double. I stayed south and after trolling for an hour we had only managed one false albacore and heard of one bonito among the few boats that were there with us. We reeled in and started to run further offshore. After a while, we stumbled on some fresh slicks with a good amount of chick birds picking at them. The machine showed a carpet of bait readings that looked like the squid that have been so prominent on the tuna grounds this season, so we dropped in some squid jigs and started swinging jumbos over the rail. We put them out for bait and proceeded to hook up with shark after shark. Mostly 150 to 200 pound brown sharks but one 12 foot hammerhead that fooled me into thinking it was a tuna run off. He hit and ran so hard. At 1:00 PM we get another good run off on the balloon that was set at 60 feet, and no one is enthused about doing battle with another shark. So I left it in the holder, rod bent, and giving out a good amount of line. I figured, let him bite the hook off. Jim finally said, begrudgingly, “I”ll take him”. He fought him for a while and then his son Greg took over for a while before I realized this fish was deep and starting to spiral. I yelled to Dave Flood, our deckhand for this trip, to get a gaff ready and then we saw color on a good size bluefin. Decked him after a good fight. 51 inches, about 90 pounds. Everyone was ecstatic and we headed for home.

I only have tomorrow, Tuesday Aug 8 available for a Live Grass Shrimp charter in the bay and Thurs Aug 10 for the same or an Open Boat Tuna 9AM to 5PM, we are only running 16 miles from the inlet to the fishing grounds. Thursday looks like the marine forecast is good enough to get to where we need to go. If we go Open Boat Tuna on Thurs, 9AM to 5PM, $300 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Call 732 330-5674.

Spot make great live baits for many species, and Absecon Bay Sportsman Center is loading up on them in the creek.

A small craft warning goes up at 6 p.m. and through Tuesday afternoon. Southwest winds at 10-15 knots will gust to 25 — and morning showers are possible.

After Dave Lilly’s team won a fluke tournament last weekend by fishing in Ambrose Channel, they were looking to sweep three contests yesterday before being confronted by a mass of dolphins. Lilly said he’d never before seen such an abundance as the marine mammals were spread from the Verrazano Bridge to Romer Shoal. What should have been productive bottom was so dead that whole squid baits came back up with their tentacles intact. The team ended up way east at Atlantic Beach Reef, along with party boats. Keeper fluke were caught, but none of the big fluke needed to even bother weighing in.

Capt. Ron Santee reported the conditions were good for his anglers on the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. “George” caught a triple limit up to a 4 3/4-pound pool winner.

The Jamaica from Brielle reported everyone caught at least a dozen chub mackerel from their chum line yesterday, while high hooks had over 50. Dropping to bottom produced the one sea bass each angler is presently allowed.

Betty and Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reports fluke and bluefish in the surf, while the bay is producing blowfish, spot and snappers.

Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association as follows: “

Late summer fishing action in the Long Beach Island area is progressing according to schedule as the fluke are moving into the ocean around structure and artificial reefs while the tuna are making their presence known in the canyons.

The only regret for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is that the daily bag limit for black sea bass is only one per angler. The black sea bass are around the inshore ocean structure in good numbers, but anglers can only take one home daily for the dinner table.

“StarFish” crew member Max Goldman reports “decent” fishing for the anglers on the “StarFish” with good numbers of shorts and keepers both of fluke and sea bass. Most of the trips do not have to venture far to find good fishing action.

The party boat “Miss Beach Haven” has seen its ratio of keeper fluke to throwbacks rising for its anglers. A recent trip had triggerfish and a porgy boated in addition to its fluke action and daily limits of black sea bass.

Captain Ray Lopez had an overnight canyon trip recently that produced good numbers of yellowfin tuna and mahi-mahi for his happy anglers on the “Miss Liane.”

Captain Brett Taylor has been busy fishing the waters around Barnegat Inlet for clients of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing.” He recently had a day with three charters which resulted in a total of 128 fluke released and nine keepers, all in bay waters. Strong winds kept the trips in the bay, but the nasty conditions did not seem to bother the busy anglers.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org“

Monday’s inshore forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 and possible showers. Boaters in the White Marlin Open at Ocean City, Md. will be facing south winds at just 5-10 knots early before increasing to 10-20 in the afternoon.

Kil Song had three giant tuna on last week at Cape Cod, but all

were lost.