<b>Sandy Hook</b>

Ron Marks’ charter on Friday ran to the tuna grounds on the <b>Hyper Striper</b> from the Highlands, Capt. Pete Wagner said in an e-mail. A good catch was smoked: 13 yellowfins trolled east of the Chicken Canyon, on plastics and ballyhoos. Six of the tuna were 45-pound class, and the rest ranged down to 15 pounds.

Two large mahi mahi 20 or 25 pounds were docked from a trip that Anthony Pennemede took to the Texas Tower Saturday, said Wayne from <b>Twin Lights Marina</b> in the Highlands. Waters were dirty all the way to the Atlantic Princess wreck, so Pennemede had to push out to the tower to find clear waters and a catch. On the charter boat Hyper Striper, sailing from the marina, a trip whacked 13 football yellowfin tuna southeast of the tower that day. A trip on the Hyper attempted to sail offshore Thursday, but turned back because of seas. The captain reportedly heard from boaters farther offshore, saying seas were even worse, so he made the decision. All the offshore baits like flats of sardines are stocked.

Fishing for bluefin tuna and yellowfin tuna slowed for everyone at the midshore grounds, probably because of water quality, said Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b> from the Highlands. But if clear waters return, the angling should rebound. Anglers can call for info if interested in the tuna fishing with Fisher Price.

<b>Manasquan Inlet</b>

An afternoon trip motored out for light-tackle mahi mahi fishing on the ocean with <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b> from Point Pleasant Beach, a report on the boat’s Web site said Wednesday. The trip ran east, until the crew found the “right water,” the report said. A couple of chicken mahi were busted there “to get us warmed up,” the report said. The outing kept pushing east, “and found the right ones,” the report said. A pair of 20-pound mahi were axed on bucktails with chunks. “Wound up with a half-dozen, and back at the dock before nightfall,” the report said. “Good summertime fun!” A canyon charter fished aboard with Mat Losielle’s group, a report on site said last Friday. Great time was made under the full moon, and the trip set up to chunk on the drift near the canyon. Within a half-hour, yellowfin tuna 30 pounds swam under the lights, and seven were bagged. The fish bit into first light, then stopped. Then the anglers did a little fishing for mahi, landing a couple. Instead of trolling for more big game, the charter wanted to fish wrecks for pollock, and left the canyon. The trip “saw some life, and dropped the jigs and bait, (and the) flatlined sardine went off, and an hour later, we had a 120-pound 58-1/2-incher in the box,” the report said. The charter had enough, and made a run for the barn. Great day of fishing, the report said. Open-boat trips are fishing midshore and offshore for a mixed bag of species in one outing, like bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, mahi, swordfish, sharks, tilefish, cod and pollock. Anglers can call for info about the unique, annual outings.

Bluefin tuna fishing had good moments, and bad ones, apparently because waters turned green, and the fish moved deeper to cleaner waters, said Chuck from <b>The Reel Seat</b> in Brielle. Still, bluefins, with yellowfin tuna mixed in, were picked at the Atlantic Princess wreck and the Texas Tower. Farther from shore, the Jenny Lee reportedly overnighted between Hudson and Toms canyons toward the end of last week, Friday to Saturday, Chuck thought, trolling a great catch of yellowfins during daytime, catching only sharks at night.

<b>Barnegat Inlet</b>

<b>***Update, Friday, 8/19:***</b> From an edited e-mail from Capt. Dave DeGennaro from the <b>Hi Flier</b>: “Fishing on the west side of Barnegat Bay is very good right now. We are catching 12- to 15-inch weakfish on both shedder crabs and live grass shrimp. Also in the mix are kingfish, fluke, blowfish, burrfish (porcupine puffers), croakers and more. We are using ultralite spinning tackle to amp up the fun. We are also catching small stripers and all sizes of blackfish out on the inlet jetty, anchored up chumming with our “special bait,” using spinning tackle and no sinkers! Just a hook. Very unique way to catch these fish, and very effective. Most trips, we are combining this with the back bay, and it is not uncommon to catch 10 different species. <b>Offshore</b> has still been a struggle, with lots of green water ugly-ing up my favorite haunt: Barnegat Ridge. On Wednesday I made a run to the Atlantic Princess with Darren Dorris and Steve Spina in search of tuna. That area had lots of life including whales, blackout readings and lots of big bluefish. Too many bluefish and green water. We were called in to the west, the Glory Hole area, where some guys were catching mahi in blue water, so we took a ride. We didn’t pass through this nice blue water on the way out, because it was on a heading from Manasquan Inlet, and we left out of Barnegat. The water color was beautiful. There were frigate mackerel breezing on the surface, a few flying fish, but we didn’t score with the mahi, as some of the boats there did. We gave it a few hours, and went into Plan B, my first-ever wreck effort, on a piece that a friend gave me the numbers to try. A few bergals came over the rail, and then a cod. And more cod, probably 15 to 20 cod in two hours, with only two keepers, a 22-incher, and a 26-pounder that ate my clam bait right at the whistle to go home. We had a few conger eels, and Steve added this 3-pound yellowtail flounder to the mix. That blue water in the Mudhole has my attention right now, so I will be running an open boat there Saturday and Tuesday, armed with an arsenal of spinning rods and bait to pitch to the lobster pots, and any other structure we could find for mahi mahi (dolphin).  Of course, we will have all the tuna-trolling and -jigging gear onboard, just in case those fish are cooperating. 5AM to 1PM, maximum of three anglers, all fish are shared. On Sunday the weather looks questionable for offshore, so I will run a full-day open-boat trip that covers all the inshore fishing we are doing. 5 AM to 1PM. We will fish the back bay with shedder crab and/or live grass shrimp, bounce around the channels for some fluke, and finish up with the light-tackle stripers and blackfish out on the jetty. Limited to three people. The boat is also available for charter or open-boat Monday from 2:30 PM to 7:30 PM in the back bay, Wednesday full or half-day inshore or offshore, and Thursday 5AM to 11AM in the bay. If the Ridge cleans up, we can run there as well. Hope to see you on board.”

<b>Beach Haven Inlet</b>

A friend overnighted at the Knuckle on Tuesday, said Capt. Lindsay from the <b>June Bug</b> from Beach Haven. The trip trolled six tuna during daytime, chunking three at night. A bunch of blue sharks then showed up at night.

<b>Great Egg Harbor Inlet</b>

Small yellowfin tuna were trolled at 28-Mile Wreck, said Nick from <b>Fin-Atics</b> in Ocean City. Farther from shore, at all the canyons, including Lindenkohl and Baltimore, a healthy population of white marlin swam, and blue marlin were mixed in, and loads of mahi mahi hung out, including at weed lines that began to develop, and a few yellowfin tuna were found. The farther south, the more yellowfins.

<b>Townsend’s Inlet</b>

Not a lot was heard about offshore, and the fishing was sporadic, because the fish were spread out, said Mike from <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b> in Sea Isle City. But white and blue marlin, mahi mahi and tuna were sacked. A few bonito and skipjacks were trolled at Sea Isle Ridge, spotty fishing, but better than before. Brown sharks, restricted to catch and release, swam inshore waters.

With Jay Vonczoernig, son Luc, Dave McCullough and Mike McCormac aboard, a 60-pound yellowfin tuna was landed on a trip last Friday, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b>, affiliated with <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>, from Sea Isle City. A white marlin or two were hooked on the trip. Sizeable yellowfin tuna could be caught at the canyons, “if you ran over them,” Joe said. Fishing for whites was going well, and lots of mahi mahi turned up catches. Closer to shore, Rich Duffy and family climbed aboard an inshore sharking trip Tuesday, tackling a dozen duskies and browns, a good catch, releasing them, on mackerel on spinning rods. The fishing, catch and release with spinning or fly rods, within 10 miles from shore, is an opportunity to pull on big fish, often an angler’s biggest-ever, without the long trip offshore. Joe will compete next week in the Mid Atlantic $500,000. Keep up on Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May Inlet</b>

A couple of offshore trips ran on the boat, each rounding up yellowfin tuna and mahi mahi, said Capt. Bob from the <b>Down Deep</b> from Cape May. No wahoos showed up on the vessel, but wahoos were around on the same grounds. Inshore trolling trips aboard beat plenty of blues and some bonito, Spanish mackerel and mahi mahi

Nothing was heard about tuna in lousy weather through the first part of the week, said Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> from Cape May. But previously the fishing got bites at different places: Baltimore Canyon one day, Wilmington Canyon another, in 30 fathoms another, and so on. One of the boat’s inshore sharking trips, catch-and-releasing angling for browns, was supposed to head out Thursday. Lots of blues were bombed on inshore trolling trips, and bonito, Spanish mackerel and mahi mahi were mixed in.

Tuna, good catches, began to be seen in 100 fathoms at daybreak, said Nick from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b> in Cape May.

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