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Blue Marlin World Cup goes to a Cape Verde 964-pounder.

The annual July 4 worldwide hunt for the biggest blue marlin turned out to be a runaway when Marty Bates brought a 964-pounder into Cape Verde.

Very impressive, but still well behind in the winner-take-all contest were a 667.2-pound blue on Done Deal in the Gulf of Mexico, and a 545-pounder on Blue Rampage in Portugal. I hope to have more details tomorrow.

After a good showing the previous two mornings, Spanish mackerel were missing today in the Bay Head surf. I was happy to just get one hit when an aggressive 15 1/2-inch fluke hit my teaser fly.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had excellent bluefishing Monday morning before heading out at 11 p.m. for her first tuna trip of the season.

The forecast is for `southeast winds at 10 knots plus a chance of showers — with thunder storms possible in the afternoon.

The Quwwn Mary from Point Pleasant

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What a difference a day can make

Capt. Rob Semkewyc was surrounded by stripers yesterday on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, as was noted in yesterday’s blog. Yet, he said today it was like the Sahara Desert in the same area. Only one small group of bass came up, and just one striper was boated. Of course, as fast as they can disappear, they could well be right back tomorrow.

Frank Jones was at the right place Saturday as he and his son Kyle livelined four stripers up to 48 inches in the fog off the Red Church while fishing on Bob Murzada’s Knee Deep before heading out to the Farms for limits of sea bass.

There was a surprising lack of reports today in such fine weather. There was one report of very cold water in the surf after days of south wind upwellings. The northwest wind is predicted to continue at 10-15 knots into the morning, which could help improve that situation before turning to southwest in the afternoon.

Point Pleasant Canal was dead this morning though conditions weren’t bad except for the usual weekend boat traffic. Yet, I saw only one angler get a hit. I stuck it out to the end of the outgoing and finally hooked a 17-inch striper on a Z Man 5-inch white Swimmereez. As far as I know, that was the only fish caught here this morning.

Vinny D’Anton is still in Sarasota. and had a fine morning of wade casting as snook turned on just as waves from the tropical storm started building up in the Gulf of Mexico. He ended up releasing 16 on the DOA Shrimp.