<b>Shark River Inlet</b>

Three blue sharks, one of them 200 pounds and the others 100 pounds apiece, and a 50-pound mako shark were beaten on the weekly, open-boat shark trip Wednesday on the <b>Nan Sea J</b> from Belmar, Capt. Tom said. The mako was the first on the boat this season, and all the fish were released. The 200-pounder was the first fish battled aboard the trip. Waters were 63 to 65 degrees, clean and pretty, and seas were calm, including no swell. No bluefish or other life showed up, but birds worked the surface. Open shark trips sail every Wednesday through July, a rare opportunity to fight the beasts without chartering the whole boat. But charters are also available for sharking, Tom’s favorite fishing.

<b>Manasquan Inlet</b>

Shark fishing whaled non-stop blue sharks, and Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b> in Brielle heard about no confirmed catches of makos through the weekend, he said. An angler would say a mako or two were seen in the slick but weren’t hooked. “So to me, that doesn’t count,” he said. One customer had a great white swim under the boat and hooked the big fish a moment, but it got off. Seven bluefin tuna were trolled between the Triple Wrecks and the Texas Tower on a boat from Southside Marina. Dave took a tilefish trip last Monday, pumping up three, and the fishing would’ve been very good, but conditions were unfavorable.

A couple of anglers from Ohio were supposed to shark fish with <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b> from Point Pleasant on Monday, but forecasts, although they turned out incorrect, forced sharking to be cancelled, the report on the boat’s Web site said. So the anglers decided to fish for the sure thing instead: striped bass, quickly limiting out. Andrea’s Toy’s annual open-boat, mixed bag, offshore canyon trips are impending, will go after tuna, mahi mahi, sharks and tilefish, or some combo thereof, all in one outing. See details on Andrea’s Toy’s home page.

<b>Beach Haven Inlet</b>

Some of the crew, when bringing the boat back to New Jersey from North Carolina, made a detour to Washington Canyon on Friday, nailing 40- to 50-pound yellowfin tuna, said Capt. Lindsay from the <b>June Bug</b> from Beach Haven. That was better-sized than many yellowfins reported recently, fish that were just barely legal, he said. Then the crew moved to the Hambone, shellacking a 176-pound bluefin tuna. Lindsay didn’t ask what the bluefin bit, but he assumed bait or a jig, because the crew said fish were marked on the bottom. Though of course Washington Canyon is out of range from Beach Haven, the Ham Bone and such places are in reach for trips. Plus yellowfins swam closer canyons.

<b>Great Egg Harbor Inlet</b>

An offshore canyon catch was finally reported, said T.C. from <b>Brennan Marine</b> in Somers Point in an e-mail. Bennett Muldoon and crew on the Moonshot hit the jackpot on yellowfin tuna at  Lindenkohl Canyon, trolling 17 of the fish on spreader bars in warm waters they found around the 500-fathom line. They kept four--a 50-pounder, two 40-pounders and a 30-pounder--and released the rest. On Saturday the gang on the One More Drift battled to the boat a 298-pound thresher shark at one of the reefs.

A 165-pound mako shark was wrestled in from the Ham Bone, said John from <b>Fin-Atics</b> in Ocean City. Then the anglers motored toward the deep, jumping off a white marlin just before the Poorman’s Canyon. Small yellowfin tuna hovered around such southern canyons, and bigger yellowfins like 60-pounders were sometimes claimed from the Carteret, Lindenkohl and Spencer.

<b>Townsend’s Inlet</b>

Yellowfin tuna supposedly schooled the 100-fathom curve from Toms Canyon south last week, but no boats got out there in a few days, and all trips were weathered out with <b>Over Under Adventures</b> from Avalon through early in the week, an e-mail from Over Under said. The waters seemed to be moving south at the time. Reports about sporadic bluefin tuna catches also came in, but so did news about trips that got skunked. Capt. John Oughton from Over Under found them at places like the Ham Bone and nearby lumps in the early mornings. Besides charters, open-boat, day-long trips are running for bluefins, and open, overnight trips are fishing the canyons for yellowfins, including this weekend. Boats from Over Under are also fishing from Ocean City, Maryland, and fishing was promising for small yellowfin tuna there last week. The fish hung along the 100-fathom line from South Poormans Canyon to the 800 Square north of Washington Canyon. At times the number of bites made getting the spread in the waters difficult. Those boats are also fishing for bluefins at places like the Hambone.

Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b> in City City heard about yellowfin tuna, smaller ones to 40 pounds, mostly shorts but enough keepers to bag, were fairly abundant from Lindenkohl Canyon to Norfolk Canyon, he said. The fish popped up at different places on different days. Bluefin tuna, not big but 40 to 60 pounds, swam in 30 to 50 fathoms. Joe encourages anglers to sail for tuna in the early season, instead of waiting, because he’s mugged tuna in June and July in recent years, and the late season was slower. He hoped the late season would be good this year, but the fish were here now. Jersey Cape is offering open-boat tuna trips, usually on Wednesdays, and call for details. The trips could sometimes sail on other days, depending on the weather and when anglers wanted to go. The trips will fish either inshore for bluefins or offshore at the canyons for yellowfins. Joe won’t limit the options, and he just wants to catch, he said. This summer he’ll offer mixed-bag offshore charters, trolling for tuna in the mornings, then casting lures, bait or flies to mahi mahi in the afternoons.

<b>Hereford Inlet</b>

Blue sharks, plenty of them, thresher sharks and 100- to 125-pound makos were dialed in when the weather allowed boats to sail, said Cathy from <b>Sterling Harbor Bait & Tackle</b> from Wildwood in an e-mail. C.J. Neidig clubbed a 455-pound thresher on Capt. Bill Greenling’s Blue Runner from Wildwood.

<b>Cape May Inlet</b>

Yellowfin tuna were pinned down a fair ways to the south, said Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> from Cape May, but whether  the fishing was good, okay or slow was unknown. Few boats fished in the weather, so that was about all he heard. Previously George’s friend smoked two bluefin tuna on the southern grounds. During the weekend George heard about catches of mako sharks, including a 125-pounder that another friend belted, and blue sharks.

The bluefin tuna population began to increase at the 20- to 30-fathom lumps, said Capt. Tom from the <b>Fishin’ Fever</b> from Cape May. Forty- and 50-pounders were around, but so were 130- to 170-pounders. Lots of yellowfin tuna, mostly small but also keepers, ran up and down the 100-fathom line. Mako and thresher sharks haunted inshore waters. An unconfirmed rumor said an 876-pound mako was lambasted off Maryland.

The crew from the Lora Mae won <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> from Cape May’s 27th annual shark tournament with a 165-1/2-pound mako during the weekend, Matt said in an e-mail. Anglers from the Warden Pass won second with a 162-pound mako, and the gang on the Miss Edna Jane took third with a 160-pound mako. Thresher sharks were also weighed in, including a 285-pounder waxed on the Well Done and a 280-1/4-pounder slam-dunked on the Miss Andrea. A couple of 10- and 11-foot tiger sharks were released, and so were quite a few other sharks. The weather scared off some entrants, but 42 boats fished. Bluefin tuna began to move in at the Ham Bone and the Hot Dog, but catches were yet to be consistent. Yellowfin tuna, small but up to 50 pounds, good numbers when anglers found them, started getting trolled at the canyons.

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