Tight Lines

There was a big change today in Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring Tournament out of Atlantic City, but not an unexpected one as MJs upended the tuna category just as that crew has been doing since they were teenagers. They had only caught one yellowfin before the right tuna was raised. With Dante Sorriente in the chair, the odds were in their favor. When a crane raised it out of the cockpit, I estimated it at 200 pounds, but was wrong. It only made 198.8 pounds! I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up with an even bigger one this week.

Also added to the leaderboard was the largest yellowfin so far as that 96.7-pounder on Highly Leveraged moved into second in tuna. There was also the first wahoo entry as Jersey Cape weighed a 38.8-pounder.

Yesterday’s Quest for the Ring report at Atlantic City was in error about a blue marlin being weighed. That photo I saw just as I got back to watching the weigh-ins was from last year. I suppose the tournament dock crew was trying to liven up a poor first day as 34 boats only reported nine fish.

The species count did include a blue marlin, but it was a release on Beast — which also released one of the four white marlin. I had expected to see a lot of yellowfins over the 50-pound minimum as they have been common in canyon catches recently. Yet, there were only two on Miss Melania of 57.4 and 55.7 pounds. Polarizer had the largest dolphin at 29.1 pounds while also adding a white marlin release. The Experience weighed an 11.7-pound dolphin.

There are 52 boats out today, and I’ll bring their catches uo to date in a blog after the scales close at 9.

Dave Lilly’s team caught lots of fluke Saturday, including the 8-pounder that was the first day’s leader in the Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament — and finished in second place. Fishing on one of his offshore spots, Lilly was surprised to also catch a quantity of big sea robins for the first time in years. However, a stop in Ambrose Channel once again failed to produce large fluke as has been the case this year.

A big swell made for tough fluking yesterday. The Big Mohawk from Belmar still managed a few limits. Today was also tough as there was a stiff south breeze plus a screaming north current.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had good chumming today for chub mackerel, bluefish and sea bass — all in the 1-2-pound class

Capt. Ron Santee managed to slug away at some keepers up to almost 7 pounds yesterday on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands despite the poor drift.

The forecast is for west winds at 5 knots before shifting to southwest in the afternoon. There’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon.

Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring Tournament out of Atlantic City got under way today, and at least one big fish has been boated. Unfortunately, I had dinner at the time the blue marlin was weighed — and as of this writing it still hasn’t been posted on the leaderboard. Thus, there could be a protest involved which hasn’t been straightened out as yet. It’s hard to get info about this event, but I thought I heard someone say that only 34 of the 80-boat field sailed today.

The only other weigh-ins were of a 29.1-pound dolphin on Polarizer, which also released a white marlin, and yellowfins of 57.4 and 55.7 on Miss Melani — and one other smaller dolphin. I’ll catch up on this tomorrow.

Tuesday’s inshore forecast is for south winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon. There’s a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported chumming up chub mackerel along with some sea bass, blues and ling on a beautiful day.

Cabana won the Ocean City, Md. Tuna Tournament with a 236-pound bigeye that was worth $495,000.

Fluke pro Dave Lilly’s team got off to a great start yesterday in the Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament aboard Brian Farmer’s boat as Chris Gioffre boated an 8-pounder that took the $200 for first on Saturday, but the team got edged out of first today when an 8.8-pound fluke was boated. I don’t have any official reports as yet, but anglers who scored today certainly deserved their catches as Lilly said conditions were terrible in wind and rain that even kept fluke party boats in port.

The weather looks a lot better tomorrow with northwest winds at 5-10 knots before going southwest in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar did get out to chum in the Mud Hole for a pick of chub mackerel plus some sea bass though blues didn’t show up. They have room on their first inshore exotics trip on July 24.

Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring offshore fishing tournament gets started Monday at Atlantic City.

Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring has its captains meeting Sunday at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City before entrants fish three out of nine days next week for a huge purse. Those not familiar with offshore tournaments may wonder how those days are selected.

Weather is the overriding concern, but if that works out everyone wants to fish on Friday as the soft spots on the leaderboard may influence the location the skipper may head to and how he will fish on that final day. Most boaters also like to fish the first day in order to get something on the leaderboard before the weather may turn for the worse. By then selecting Wednesday, it’s also possible to to give the crew a break by not having to do any back-to-back canyon runs.

Of course, that ideal schedule doesn’t always work out, and if a fishy area is found one day it may be wise to go back the next day before conditions change.

Tomorrow’s party at the Golden Nugget runs from 4-9 p.m. For info visit questfortheringac.com. Boats will leave very early during the week to be at their goal for lines in at 7:30. Lines out is at 3:30, and the scales are open from 5-9 p.m.

No live bait is permitted, and IGFA rules apply except that’s it’s allowable to immediately pass the rod with a fish hooked on the troll to another angler. Blue marlin must be 105 inches for weighing, while whites must measure at least 68 inches. Minimum weights for weighing are 50 pounds for tuna and 10 pounds for dolphin and wahoo.

Capt. Ron Santee thought the largest fluke of the year was coming up on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands this morning. The heavy throbbing had him expecting a 9-pound fluke, but “Bob” actually had a remarkable doubleheader of a 4-pound sea bass and a pool-winning 4 1/2-pound fluke. Santee got into some keepers and more shorts early in the trip, but conditions changed and the rest of the day was tough.

Vinny D’Anton only managed one small striper casting into the Monmouth County surf this morning before switching to fluke and making his day with an 18 1/2-incher on a pink slime Gulp Grub. Vinny said the continuing southeast wind hasn’t helped the surf fishing.

The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20. Showers are possible.

Jimmy Johson’s Quest for the Ring Tournament returns to Atlantic City next week, and boaters can sign up Sunday in the Golden Nugget for $30,000 in order to be eligible for all categories — or lesser amounts for divisions they plan to concentrate on during the three days out of five they can fish.

All the details are available by visiting questfortheringac.com calling 305 255-3500 – or attending the Golden Nugget captains meeting tomorrow. I’ll provide daily updates on the contest next week.

Blue marlin, white marlin and bigeye tuna will be the featured species along with dolphin and wahoo. Yellowfin tuna will probably be the volume species, but are rarely large enough to win in the tuna division.

Fluke fishing has been pretty good on rough bottoms, though anglers had a hard time finding bigger specimens last Saturday in the Raritan Bay Anglers Club Charity Fluke Tournament. Entrants in this weekend’s Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke contest will have a lot more time to find a winner as it’s a two-day tournament.

Though bluefishing has been very spotty, chumming for chub mackerel almost always has been resulting in full buckets for those using light spinning tackle. The Golden Eagle from Belmar did get some 2-pound blues today plus sea bass.

The weather forecast is for south winds at just 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon.

The Sandy Hook Bay Anglers 41st annual Two-Day Fluke Tournament will be contested this weekend, while Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring Championship gets underway in Atlantic City.

The last chance to get in on the fluke contest is at tonight’s 7 p.m. captains meeting in the Senior Citizen’s Building at Atlantic Highlands Marina. For details call 732 787-4008.

Jimmy Johnson’s contest features a $1 million guaranteed purse for offshore anglers next week. Get additional info at questfortheringac.com.

Nick Honachefsky has his Saltwater Underground programs running every Saturday this month on Discovery Channel at 5:30 a.m. Surf stripers are next up.

Friday’s forecast is for southwest winds at a mere 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 plus gusts to 20 after midnight.

At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported a “great” day of fluking with action all day and many limits up to 5 pounds.

The Golden Eagle once again anchored up on the edge of the Mud Hole to chum up chub mackerel in flurries. They ended up moving out to anchor for sea bass and ling.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant only had a small group which preferred fluke. That turned out to be a good move as Mike Payne limited and released 23 shorts. Thirteen-year-old Colin boated a 19.5-incher and released 24 shorts.

Kil Song took a day off halibut fishing at Icy Bay Lodge in Alaska to concentrate on lingcod — a large northwest Pacific species that’s neither a ling or a cod.

Dennis Muhlenforth said the 2 1/2-day tilefish trip on the Voyager from Point Pleasant was tough due to wind and strong currents that required 3-5-pound sinkers, but he still hand-cranked this second place 35-pounder in 1000 feet.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant made their first tuna trip and had some fish around, but they were only hitting for trollers. A couple of hits on jigs didn’t hook up. It could be a completely different story on the next trip. That’s tuna fishing!

Capt. Ron Santee also had a setback today after having had good fluke action for a few days on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. He went right back to where he had good current the day before, but the drift wasn’t there. When he later found the right conditions in another area, the current got too strong. Tuesday was a breakthrough for the “big girls” as Bill Venizia took over the monthly pool leadership with a 7 7/16-pound fluke, and the next biggest was 6 13/16 pounds. The Fishermen is chartered on Friday.

Capt. Frank Massaria of Vitamin Sea from Keyport reported “Excellent fluke bite this morning for the Wednesday boys. Once again we had to release too many 19-22” while trying to fill our slot limit. We had many quality fish today with biggest being 5.6 and 6.7 pounds. Plenty of short action to keep the rods bent all day.” He has some openings this week Call 917 439-6448.

Yellowfin tuna on Capt. John McMurray’s NYC charter,

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a very good day with chub mackerel on the southwest edge of the Mud Hole.Buckets were filled with chubs before they ended up drifting for sea bass so everyone could add the one presently allowed. A sea turtle swam by during the day, and a small hammerhead was fought to boatside,

Chub mackerel on the Golden Eagle.

The Jamaica from Brielle has also been loading up on chubs while seeking the on-and-off bluefish. They have half-night bluefish trips coming up at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Their first tuna trip is at 11 p.m. July 17 – followed by a tilefish trip at 10 p.m. July 18.

The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

I started on my blog this morning by writing an R.I.P. for Capt. Joe Galluccio to be sent out with additional news later in the day. However, it published while I was typing — and Chuck Many just informed me that it came out only with R.I.P. and my name. I may be old, but I’m still kicking!

Party boat historian Mel Deak passed along the sad news that Capt. Joe Galluccio (1938-2023) passed away on July 6 in Florida. Joe was best known as skipper of the Sea King from Belmar, but also sailed from other Metropolitan ports and out of Stuart, Fl, with the Island Princess.

I caused a bit of confusion this morning when entering that info on my blog for later use as it somehow posted with just the R,I.P. and my name — as if I was writing my own obit. When informed about that, I added a correcting blog to clarify the situation.

The Raritan Bay Anglers Club Charity Fluke Tournament on Saturday turned out to be a close call as Manny Prado weighed a 5.9-pounder that nipped the 5.85-pound entry by Robby Romano. Mike Brunner was third at 5.10 pounds.

NYC Capt. John McMurray reports tuna fishing has been great one day and tough the next, but his son and friends were able to get in on some “manageable” yellowfins this week.

It’s looking good for tomorrow with west winds at just 5-10 knots before going to south 10-15 in the afternoon.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar noted that fluking was tougher today with only a few limits.

Vinny D’Anton has had surface action with his Chug Bug the last two mornings in the Monmouth County surf along with small blues and an occasional bigger one. The only negative is that the bass have had red marks on them that weren’t present on schoolies caught earlier in the summer. To top off this morning, Vinny finally got a keeper fluke on Gulp — and it was a 21-incher.