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Golden Eagle has productive mid-range tuna trip

There was no lack of action on Tuesday’s mid-range exotics special of the Golden Eagle from Belmar. The Golden Eagle wad more success in getting yellowfin tuna into the boat than during previous trips with 14 caught while over 30 were lost. The tuna ranged from 40 to 65 pounds, and were hooked on both bait and jigs.

I can understand the losses as it was hard enough Sunday for just three anglers on a 32-foot center console to prevent tangles or untangle those that occurred when multiples were hooked. We only lost one, but I can imagine what a mess that is on a party boat where fares are often using tackle too light to control big fish alongside. Another such trip is being planned by the Golden Eagle.

Paul Haertel was also there for the hot Sunday bite. The long-time JCAA official said they had nine yellowfins up to 65 pounds on his center console. Despite the large number of boats over 70 miles offshore on Sunday, they were spread out in small clusters as everyone seemed to be catching and there was reason to gang up.

Though the forecast for today was only northwest at 10-15 knots, fluke pro Dave Lilly said he couldn’t keep his cap on, and wasn’t able to hold bottom at the Mud Buoy. He ended up with a boat limit at the Rattlesnake, but could barely hold even in shallower depths in a wind he estimated at 30 knots. All of that was worthwhile when he boated a 28 1/2-inch fluke that went 9 pounds on his Boga Grip. Best of all, Dave hoked that big fluke on a frozen snapper that his granddaughter Maddie caught for him to use for bait.

Hopefully, NOAA will be more accurate with tomorrow’s forecast of southwest winds of 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots in the afternoon when showers and thunderstorms are possible.

The Golden Eagle was back to inshore variety today, and reported good action with bluefish up to 6 pounds plus some sea bass and fluke.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant found some bluefin tuna Tuesday. Some anglers limited on blues before they headed out for little tunny and tuna that included a 35-pounder. They also lost a few tuna and released shorts. Both king and Spanish mackerel have been caught on recent trips.

The Jamaica from Brielle did well with blues today along with lots of chub mackerel plus a few bonito, little tunny, sea bass and fluke. Mike Madsen of Grand River, Michigan won the pool with a 9-pound little tunny.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. has been getting into the best large fluke action of the season with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, but that often requires heavy sinkers. Thus, he figured it’s time for his fall, “Bring a heavier action rod” speech — Something that can handle 8-10 ounces and I don’t mean an Ugly stick that bends in half to the 4th guide with the weight, while you are telling me how many fish you caught with that rod!!  You will loose rigs galore as we can’t bounce the sinkers out of the rocks with light tackle….You have been warned once again!“

Capt. Rob Semkewyc, of the Sea Hunter at that port said the last two days haven’t been up to par due to very fast drifts. Some keepers are caught, but he’s looking forward to better drifting conditions tomorrow.

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Where did the dolphin go?

The opening day of the White Marlin Open at Ocean City. Maryland produced very few fish, but prospects are much better after the tropical storm blows through today with a fine forecast for the rest of the contest that runs through Sunday.

Only 42 boats out of the 433 entered fished the first day, and many of them trolled for tuna closer to shore rather than running out to the canyons. That may have been the reason for the relative lack of billfish and the total absence of dolphin at the scales.

I expected to see dolphin on any boat that went out the first day. While canyon trolling is often a shot in the dark over great depths, dolphin are usually available by trolling the pot buoys along the edges of canyons. Yet, the daily award for dolphin went unclaimed.

Indeed, the WMO reported a species count for the day of only four eligible tuna plus six white marlin releases and one boated. Unfortunately. the boated white didn’t meet the 70-pound minimum.

Restless Lady 2 from Ocean City got off to a good start with a 114.5-pound yellowfin tuna, That wouldn’t normally stand up through the contest unless no bigeyes are encountered. Swords Fish from Indian River is in second with a 92-pound yellowfin that may not stand up, but also leads the Small Boat Division with a $250,000 payout. Wrecker from Ocean City moved into third with a 57-pound yellowfin.

The only good thing about the storm is that it’s getting out of the way quickly. The offshore forecast for Wednesday is for a southwest wind diminishing to 5-15 knots with seas dropping to 3-6 feet. By Thursday it’s down to less than 5 knots and 3-4-foot seas. What the fish will do under those conditions is always a question, but it will certainly be a new ball game.

Those fishing shore and inshore areas can expect to see dirty waters for a at least a day before the ocean settles even after the winds drop out.

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Early entry for JCAA Heavy Hitter Fluke Tournament ends today

Though the annual statewide JCAA Fluke Tournament fell victim to the pandemic, that organization is going ahead with the Heavy Hitter contest that Paul Haertel started last year. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to promote that event before my computer went down — and the early entry for the Aug. 7 -9 fishing days ends tomorrow..

Anglers can fish only one day in any N.J. waters,and must declare for that day the night before by text or e-mail. The total weight of three fluke determines the winners. There is no captains meeting or awards party due to the virus. There’s a $5,000 first prize and many Calcuttas that may be entered. The $125 early entry must be postmarked by Aug. 1, and the fee goes to $150 after that. For details visit jcaa.org, or call Paul at 973 943-8201.

The fluke all those anglers will be looking for next week was caught yesterday in Sandy Hook Bay. The Tackle Box in Hazlet reports “Inny P.” boated a 10-pound doormat from his kayak while fishing with a bucktail teaser rig.

At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported a 9 1/4-pound pool winning fluke yesterday when “many” 4-5-pounders were caught among the shorts.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant hit it right on their Tuna Tuesday trip as a dozen yellowfins up to 70 pounds were caught. Two were on bait, but the rest were jigged. They have space on tuna trips set for Aug.25 and Sept.15. Lots of blues up to a 4.5-pounder were jigged Thursday morning.

The Jamaica from Brielle reported limits of blues during Thursday’s trip along with some Spanish and chub mackerel plus bonito and sea bass. Bruce Tucker of Philadelphia won the pool with a 4.5-pound sea bass. Night bluefish trips will be run Friday and Saturday at 6:30 P.M. Reservations are being taken for 40-70-mile tuna trips on Aug. 2,3,9,10,and 17.

The only thing anglers at Point Pleasant Canal got this morning was wet! Fishing has been poor there for some time, but one angler hit a bite of blues and stripers the previous morning late in the tide. Unfortunately, the drizzle turned into rain before we could determine if there would be a repeat.

The marine forecast is for northeast winds at 5-10 knots, shifting to southeast in the afternoon.

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Swordfish saved canyon trip for Crisdel

Canyon trolling was very poor Monday when Frank Criscola’s Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club only boated one 50-pound yellowfin and lost another. However, that boat has been specializing in deep drop daytime swordfishing — and soon shifted gears.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano, who was part of the fishing crew, noted that they had lost a sword of at least 300 pounds at boatside during the last trip, and this time they had a surprise hook-up on the very deep line that turned out to be a bigeye tuna in the over 200-pound class. That was followed by the swordfish they were seeking which was estimated at 170-200 pounds.

Word Press cut off the end of last night’s blog at the mention of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant. I mentioned that they were on a tuna trip — and that turned out to be very successful as they limited on “under” bluefins up to 40 pounds and released a few. Today they had limits of bluefish and sea bass plus some fluke.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported hot bluefishing yesterday morning as limits were filled on them plus sea bass. They also added some fluke up to a 7-pounder which would win almost any pool on a fluke boat this season — and added a winter flounder. Today was just decent with steady blues up to 3 pounds as the five blues and two sea bass limits were filled plus some ling.

The Bay Head surf was dead with low water at daylight, and Frank Huza found the same thing later in the morning when he came down from Aberdeen.

The morning forecast is for southeast winds at 5-10 knots.

The following report was received from Capt. Chris De Gennaro of Hi Flier at Barnegat:

It’s been a busy couple of weeks fishing on the Hi Flier. Inshore we connected with bluefish, weakfish (only one), fluke, and spinner sharks. The weakie hit a jig tipped with shedder crab, it was only a 20 minute try so I am optimistic about going on the hunt for them again. There are 3 to 5 pound blues all around the inlet. The spinner sharks are terrorizing the bunker pods just a few miles outside our inlet, we caught them on the snag and drop. They were 40 lb class, maybe 4 footers.

Offshore we ran to the mid range grounds (50-70 miles) for bluefin and connected on the troll, 5 for 9 on 20 to 50 pound fish. We ran two trips to the southern canyons, 4 for 4 on the first with 30 to 50 lb yellowfins and then yesterday we went 2 for 2, a 50 and 80 lb yellowfin, all trolling Chatter Side Tracker bars. We also jumped off a white marlin. We are also trolling albacore with a few bonita mixed in at Barnegat Ridge.
Thurs and Fri, July 9 and 10 are available for charter to fish inshore or the bay for any number of species. Sat, Sun, and Monday, July 11, 12, 13 are also available for charter or we will run Open Boat for Barnegat Ridge or Mid Range Tuna. Things are really heating up with both of these fisheries.
PICS:
Vinny Imbimbo of Millington, NJ with AlbacoreJeff Frazier of Toms River, NJ with 40 lb Bluefin Tuna (plaid shorts, black sleeveless shirt)Frank Posci of Barnegat, NJ with 35 lb Bluefin Tuna (black t-shirt)Howard Culang of North Beach, NJ with a 16″ weakfishGreg Borras of Keyport, NJ with 80 lb Yellowfin Tuna (navy shirt with green lettering on sleeve)

Dave DeGennaroBack Bay Adventures732.330.5674 cellphillyfishingshow.com
5 Attached Images

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Bigeyes blast

Multiple canyon trolling catches of bigeye tuna have been almost common lately, but if recent seasoms are any guide they will become scarce come big money tournament time. Reports from the Canyon Runner out of Point Pleasant follow.:

Capt. Deane Lambros & Capt. Mike Zajac had a very busy past week getting in 4 overnighters with highlights on each trip. From dozens of big-eyes, to multiple 20 yellowfin/Big-eye trips, to perhaps the best hour of fishing in a decade.
Specific highlights included the Peter Wilcox charter with 3 nice big-eyes and 17 fat yellowfin, the Frank Tedesco charter with our biggest big-eye this year well over 200 pounds, the Jason Hutt family with 4 more big-eyes and a hold full of yellowfin and finally the Mike Davie charter just loading up with perhaps the best one hour of fishing in a decade – 3 passes over the edge in the first hour in the canyon and they had 7 big-eyes and 3 yellowfin – they finished up with 7 big-eyes, 13 big yellowfin and a big blue marlin.
But what’s really got us excited is when we look at our Canyon Runner Coaching and Fishing Report Member reports plus Deane’s and Mark DeCabia’s – they’ve accounted already for over 100 big-eyes this year.
And the fishing isn’t just in one spot – on one day a few days back between the Member’s and Mark and Deane we had big-eyes caught in Block, Dip, Babylon, Jones, Hendrickson, Spencer, Wilmington, Baltimore and Poormans Canyons. Just all out epic fishing!!!

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a boat limit of 2-5-pound bluefish this morning and released many more on jigs. A few fluke were caught and sea bass released.

The report in last night’s blog about the Queen Mary’s bluefish and sea bass catches were actually from Monday’s fishing.

The first day of daily 6 a.m. fluke fishing on the Big Mohawk from Belmar produced some limits as those fishing with spinning tackle and Gulp badly outfished the bait draggers.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for west winds at 5 knots — shifting to the south in the afternoon.

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Canyon tuna trolling breaks open

The Canyon trolling season broke open with a bang for the Canyon Runner from Point Pleasant as Captains Deane Lambros and Mike Zajac made a Friday run to Lindenkohl Canyon.

They arrived at first light and had the first bluefin at 8 a.m. There were a dozen by noon, and it only got better as the final count was 39 tuna. Most were bluefins, but yellowfins were included — along with albacore which usually aren’t  here this early. In recent years, the spring canyon trolling has been better than the traditional summer and fall sport — though the spring  bluefins are often on the small side.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had another day which started slowly in a strong current before sea bass and ling turned on as the current slacked.

Despite the fog, Dave Lilly got off to a good start trolling bunker spoons for stripers over 20 pounds until a “red tide” moved into the middle of Raritan Bay and the bite died out though he still marked bass and bunkers.

Of course that’s not the real red tide that kills fish in Florida and  some other areas, but it turned the clear waters reddish.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano waited for the fog to lift before joining a friend at Sea Bright to seek bass in the ocean where there was a bite yesterday afternoon. They saw scattered bunkers in several areas before trolling at the Rocks and Highlands Bridge without marking a bass. However, as they ran back around the Hook there were large bass on top. They ended up having a blast casting poppers to those fish before they moved on.

Dense fog is predicted again tomorrow morning with southeast winds at 5-10 knots.

 

 

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Good flounder bite at Belmar

It’s not often that a report from a tackle shop is modest about fishing in their area, but that seems to have been the case with the Fisherman’s Den assessment of winter flounder action Sunday  from the Belmar Marina docks. Tom O’Connor sent an e–mail noting that he had a keeper flounder within 40 minutes, and ended up catching six over the 12-inch  minimum in a couple of hours — keeping his two-fish limit with 14-and-16-inchers. Furthermore, Tom said everyone he talked to that was fishing with sandworms caught least one.

That doesn’t sound like any big deal unless you consider how bad flounder fishing has been in recent years. Sunshine and warm weather is perfect for that early season fishery. That’s what we have now, though small craft advisories are up for tonight, and the forecast for the morning is southwest at 10-15 knots with gusts to 25.

Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported that a customer fished from local docks Sunday and caught a legal flounder plus three “decent” stripers. They’ll have bloodworms in stock by Friday.

Pete Kearns of Point Pleasant Beach was at his local beach around 6:30 p.m. Sunday when he spotted 12-18 dolphins swimming north about a hundred yards off the beach. He noted that’s something he doesn’t usually see until July.

Zancudo Lodge in Costa Rico reports there’s been a hot bite there recently of big roosterfish and yellowfin tuna. A 150-pound marlin also showed up among the tuna and jumped on a live bait. For info e-mail Gregg@thezancudolodge.com.

roosterfish-Zancudo

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$3,368,490 on the line during last two days of the MidAtlantic

After a Wednesday during which all 157 boats entered took a lay day for the first time in the event’s 14-year history, the MidAtlantic was back in action today and concludes tomorrow at Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May and Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Maryland as the distribution of the $3,368,490 purse will be determined.

Though the ocean looked good inshore yesterday, there was an offshore forecast of 20-30 knot winds. Running a canyon trolling tournament in hurricane season is always risky, but the MidAtlantic has been blessed with fishable weather after a northeast wind blew through before the first day. The first two days produced a remarkable release total of 387 white marlin and 16 blue marlin as 44 boats fished the first marginal day after the northeaster with good results — and 156 were out the next day  — as the contest averaged over two billfish per boat day.

There was also a showing of bigeye tuna after they had been absent at the recent White Marlin Open where the tuna awards went to modest-sized yellowfins.  Indeed, Capt. Mark De Blasio strained the scales Tuesday with five bigeyes on Blue Runner, and is in a second place tie with Toddy Time at 114 pounds – just behind the 116-pounder by Da Sea.  Though impressive, there’s still plenty of room for improvement in that category as the MidAtlantic record is a 254-pound bigeye on Bernard and Drew Dinardi’s Absolut-ly in 1993.

The big-money white marlin category got filled in quickly as two 73-pounders were weighed the first day by Justin Blanning of Wall, N.J. on 3’s Enough and on Special Situation.  Andrew Hall of Chester, N.J. moved into third Tuesday with a 68-pounder on Lucky Lady Jean — just ahead of Intents at 66 pounds and Gusto with a 65-pounder. None of those whites are sure things as the MidAtlantic record is 95 pounds by Topless in 2009.

Maybe I should send my wife, Kathy, down there to help out as her only white marlin was a trophy caught while sharking with me before we were married, when I kept my Mako 22 in Montauk. She hooked a white that took a small bunker drifted in Butterfish Hole. Even after being out of the water all day, it still weighed 99 1/2 pounds at Montauk Marine Basin — winning the Outdoor Life national contest that year.

As noted in yesterday’s blog, the blue marlin category remains wide open with a 400-pound minimum, despite all the smaller blues that have been released. The 43-pound dolphin by First Light appears to be the most likely entry to stand, though the contest record is higher still at 56 pounds on American Lady in 2010. The Zipper leads in wahoo at 71 pounds, which could stand even though it’s well below the MidAtlantic record of 97 pounds set by Joanna in 2009.

I’ll have a late blog with updates after the weigh-ins close at 9 p.m.

I was wondering about Climate Change this morning as I was shivering in a light jacket while casting a Tactical Anglers Bomb Jr. popper into the surf  north of Manasquan Inlet. I’ve never before been chilled during an August morning on the beach, but that northwest wind was cool. A fat 23 1/2-inch striper hit the plug as I was about to lift it out of the water for another cast,  and I later also released my first surf bluefish of the year — a mere 17-incher.

Vinny D’Anton caught two small stripers nearby on a Storm Searchbait, and later moved further north to catch two more on a Chug Bug.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc said the last two days have been windy, creating a fast drift that produced good action though not as many keepers (see below) as he’d like to see on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands.

Flike on Sea Hunter

Tank Matraxia and his Lyndhurst crew had good fluking off the Rockaways with Capt. Chad Hacker on Tagged Fish from Highlands as the seven anglers totaled 21 keepers from 19 to 23 inches with only a few shorts. Tank only put ALS tags into four fluke. He had a particularly good day catching six legal fluke. Surprisingly, there was almost no variety with only a couple of sea robins boated.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a fast drift to start, but it settled down for good sea bass and chub mackerel action plus some blues and fluke along with “some nice sharks”  — a notation I’ve never before seen from a party boat.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported a variety pick of blues, chub mackerel. sea bass, blues, fluke and bonito.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported lots of fluke were caught in the surf Wednesday, particularly in Island Beach State Park. They note that the 6-inch Gulp produces more keepers though there’s less action.  Matt and Megan Roser show off their 2.1-pound blue and 1.6-pound fluke from IBSP on bunker and Gulp.

Kid's blue & fluke

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West wind worked for some

Today’s west wind was just what the Ocean Explorer from

 

Belmar wanted, and they reported red hot fluke fishing with lots of keepers up to 8 pounds. Pink and white were the best jig colors once again.

Fluke reports from Atlantic Highlands weren’t as good. Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen said a hard south current combined with the west wind to create rough conditions where they had fished yesterday. A move to rocky bottoms resulted in calmer waters and a decent pick.  Yesterday was much better as a 6.8-pounder was boated before Capt. Ron Sr. added a 6.2-pound fluke. The skipper’s son, Ron Jr., boated a 5-pounder and most fares did well. Capt. Rob Semkewyc wasn’t happy with the west wind that was harder than forecast, but ended up with a decent catch on his Sea Hunter.

Small blues provided Shore party boats with a shot of good jigging action. The Golden Eagle from Belmar then went offshore to add chub mackerel and some sea bass.

The Jamaica from Brielle got into small blues yesterday morning, but they were hard to catch. As a result, they set up for chumming offshore to load up on chub mackerel plus a few ling and sea bass — while dolphin also invaded the slick.

Jamaica dolphin

 

Adam La Rosa is looking forward to the MidAtlantic Tournament in Cape May, where the Canyon Runner fleet from Point Pleasant has been in the money four of the last five years. They have only one charter date left in August for chunking yellowfins

Mike Barrasso of Bay Head went to his local beach at 3:30 yesterday afternoon and was finally able to reach surfacing bonito to catch not only one –but a doubleheader on a hammered metal and a Joe Melillo Castaways Tackle teaser.

Outdoor writer Nick Honachefsky has caught bonito from the local surf before, but never a Spanish mackerel until this morning. After a series of mishaps at Point Pleasant, he made a blind cast before leaving and broke the ice.

Vinnie D’Anton fished north of Manasquan Inlet and was at the right place when some stripers started rolling. He released four up to 24 inches on a Chug Bug, and switched to metal when a school of small blues zipped by to catch one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Still waiting for official results of WMO

Last night’s late blog summarized the major results of the White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland, but I’m still waiting for the official results that were supposed to be sent today. Those would include the winners of  the release categories.

Now on to the 27th annual MidAtlantic Tournament out of Cape May from Aug. 19-24. That event had a $3.2 million purse last year. For info call 908  884-0177 — or e-mail southjerseytournaments.com.

Rain wasn’t much of a problem today along the Jersey Shore, though NYC and western Long Island got blasted.  The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported that rain held off all day,  and they caught lots of chub mackerel along with some sea bass,  ling, and fluke — plus even pollock and dolphin.

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Ron Santee said there was more easterly wind than forecasted, ad it combined with a strong current to create a very fast drift  requiring heavy sinkers. As a result, fishing was off from Friday’s banner bite — though some quality fluke and sea bass were boated on the Fishermen.

Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant,  reports bonito were caught at Bay Head Friday evening by anglers casting metal. Bonito are a very rare catch in the surf (I’ve only caught one myself), but they were drawn in by an abundance of rainfish. Melillo said small pods of cocktail blues were in and out there and further south this morning. He noted that crabbing remains excellent, and there are plenty of snappers around.

There had been rainfish at Manasquan yesterday morning, but I didn’t see any this morning.  The waters looked good, but I never raised a thing until my last cast before having to move my car from a spot that became prohibited at 7 a.m. Fortunately, that 23-inch striper hooked up on a Chug Bug.

Capt. Dave De Gennaro ran his Hi Flier well to the southeast last Sunday where  he anchored up to chunk tuna. Jigging produced a surprise 16-inch ilex squid which was sent out on a float  and attracted an 80-pound bluefin tuna that was fought by Matt (with yellowfin below) and Tess Tebaldi of Manahawkin. A call from Brian Ewan on Dora Lee about a yellowfin trolling bite not far away inspired a change in tactics, and ended up trolling two 40-to-50-pounders.

Matt Tebaldi Yellowfin .JPG

Two 20-to30-pound yellowfins were trolled Monday among whales and dolphins. De Gennaro switched to sharking at Barnegat Ridge  Tuesday as small Atlantic sharpnose sharks provided action for Michael Fuhrman of Cherry Hill while Steve Karl of Loveladies released about a 200-pound dusky, and Erin Froose from Altona, Pa. released a 120-pounder.