<b>Sandy Hook</b>

On the <b>Hyper Striper</b> from Highlands, bluefin tuna fishing was excellent Monday, the vessel’s Facebook page said. A limit of two unders was apparently kept, and many unders were released, and a mahi mahi was clubbed. The page also included a post about a trip that boated longfin tuna, a couple of yellowfin tuna and some mahi mahi farther offshore last Friday. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hyperstripersportfishing" target="_blank">Click here</a> to visit the page.

<b>Shark River Inlet</b>

On bluefish trips on the party boat <b>Golden Eagle</b> from Belmar, lots of bluefish, bonito and chub mackerel were pummeled, a report on the vessel’s website said. It’s time to book tuna trips. Twenty-four-hour trips are scheduled for September 28 and October 5 and 19, and space remains, but is filling up. See the <a href=" http://goldeneaglefishing.com/tuna-reservation.html" target="_blank">Golden Eagle’s tuna trip page</a> online.

Bonito and chub mackerel were fought among small bluefish on bluefish trips on the party boat <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>, Capt. Alan said.

<b>Manasquan Inlet</b>

<b>Mushin Sportfishing</b> from Point Pleasant Beach was busy fishing offshore and inshore, Capt. Alan wrote in an email. The offshore trips sailed for tuna and other big game, and the inshore trips ran for bonito and bottom fish. An overnight trip fished offshore last week on Thursday to Friday, and the angling for tuna was slow at night, despite lots of bait and great conditions. So the crew will keep concentrating on fishing during daytime for tuna – yellowfins, longfins and bigeyes – and white marlin that can be found at those waters, the canyons. The trip cranked up golden tilefish, a good pick. Several inshore trips this past week trolled bonito, crushed them, aboard. Hook-ups were almost constant, and the anglers left them biting, switching to bottom-fishing to wrap up the day, reeling up ling, sea bass and fluke, fair catches. Charters are still being booked, and open-boat, overnight trips to the canyons are available September 12 to 13 and 26 to 27, and reservations are required. Mushin means a relaxed state of readiness.

Bluefin tuna weighed 20 to 30 pounds, less than before, last week, but quite a few were tackled, said Eric from <b>The Reel Seat</b> in Brielle. They were found a little closer to shore than before, in the Glory Hole and Resor wreck area. Some also began to be jigged, not just trolled. Mixed reports about bluefins were heard from the Mudhole. Mahi mahi swam the Mudhole. Farther out, Hudson Canyon’s tuna fishing turned back on last week. A good number of yellowfin tuna, sometimes longfin tuna, and white and blue marlin were trolled. Sometimes a trip got lucky and caught the tuna at night, but the nighttime fishing was usually tough, yet to take off. Crew from the Canyon Runner will give the store’s next free seminar, on offshore fishing, at 7 p.m. Thursday. If space fills, anglers who show up first will be the ones who attend.

<b>Barnegat Inlet</b>

Bonito fishing was on fire at Barnegat Ridge for customer “Pennsylvania” Al on a trip, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River.  No. 3 Clark spoons caught best, and a couple of mahi mahi and some Spanish mackerel bit. A few 2-pound blues, not many, ran the area. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, bought <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard this year, and is running both shops now.

The <b>Super Chic</b> from Barnegat Light sailed for bluefin tuna to the Chicken Canyon and Resor wreck area on Wednesday, but the fishing was dead, Capt. Ted said. A couple of mahi mahi were trolled along lobster-pot buoys. So the trip pushed back inshore to Barnegat Ridge, and trolled a mess of bonito. A friend’s bluefin trip the previous day trolled 11 in the same area. Ted guessed the tuna moved on, he said. The water was clear and blue, looking great for tuna fishing, and was 73 degrees. But the water held no bait. At the ridge, trips aboard also hooked bluefish. But on this trip, Ted bumped up the trolling speed, because the anglers didn’t want blues. Only two blues were caught.

From an edited email from Capt. Dave DeGennaro from the <b>Hi Flier</b> from Barnegat: “Barnegat Ridge is on fire. Only 15 miles from our inlet, it has blue water, not even bluish anymore, downright blue! Seventy-three-degree water, chick birds, flying fish, butterfish, sand eels and loads of bonita! One of my favorite fish to pursue. These 2- to 5-pound torpedoes are great sport on light tackle, and delicious to eat. Any way you prepare tuna, you can also do bonita, including sashimi. We bring the soy and wasabi with us now. The key is to bleed them while they are still alive, and then slush them in sea water with lots of ice. In the mix this weekend, we bagged a 48-inch 19-pound bull mahi mahi on the North Barnegat Ridge. That's the biggest mahi the Hi Flier ever caught, and it was Chris Lang from Pennsylvania on the rod. We also added 17 bonita on the trip. Saturday and Sunday were blowouts in wacky weather, but I kicked in Plan B on Sunday, with Pete Menges and his cousin Tim from Maryland. We picked up our batch of grass shrimp that I ordered as a back-up, in case we couldn't get offshore, and instead of using it locally, where I haven’t been able to catch a weakfish, we cruised all the way to Beach Haven, where we got to 2- to 4-pound weakies and short stripers on the 6-pound rods. On Wednesday, I ran back out to the ridge for an afternoon trip, and we boated 25 bonita in just a few hours. Double and triple headers. <a href="http://youtu.be/hqiuQGvZqts
" target="_blank">Here’s some video</a>. We’re running an open-boat trip 6 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday for bonita and more at Barnegat Ridge. The weather looks great, and if it stays that way, we could push off farther for tuna and mahi, as well. These decisions are sometimes made at the dock or at our first stop, Barnegat Ridge. The longer range trip (will run at a rate somewhat higher) and will also run longer in duration, usually 8 to 9 hours, instead of the 6-hour ridge trip. Three people max. All fish are shared.  We’re booked on Sunday and Monday mornings, but both days have the afternoon trips available, for either back bay or Barnegat Ridge fishing. I have two people interested in bay/inlet fluke and blues on Monday afternoon. If someone would like to be the third, it's a go. If I get three new people who want to go beat up bonita offshore, we’ll do that. It's a work in progress.” <b>***Update, Friday, 8/8:***</b> “Tuna!” another email from Dave said. “Two people signed on for our open-boat tuna trip (on Saturday).  I have room for one more. Have great intel on where they are. Only (a) 28-mile run. It's going to be a calm ocean and great weather. We are now meeting at the dock at 4 a.m., returning by 2 p.m. sharp. … Call me on my cell to reserve that last spot: 732-330-5674.”

<b>Great Egg Harbor Inlet</b>

Not much was heard about tuna during week, because of the offshore hurricane, said Pat from <b>Fin-Atics</b> in Ocean City.

If anglers want to fish, they should troll the ocean for bonito and blues, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Stray Cat</b> from Longport. The catches were great from 8 miles from shore to the ridges. Two or three hundred per trip were landed. He couldn’t even snap photos to post on this site, because he was too busy aboard. Only five or six rods were trolled on trips, because of the action, and a trip aboard Wednesday was throwing back the fish by 10:30 or 11 a.m. Other catches also swam the area, including 10-pound mahi mahi 8 miles from shore, cobia, little tunny or false albacore, skipjacks, bar jacks, buoy jacks and more. Bluefin tuna swam just offshore of Atlantic City Ridge. Yellowfin tuna were around on the inshore grounds. Hammerhead sharks swam around schools of blues on Wednesday’s trip. The water’s been gorgeous, cobalt blue, like 50 miles offshore.  Sargassum could be seen 12 miles from shore. Massive schools of bunker swam along the beach. Some inshore tuna charters are available. Some Saturdays and Sundays are available for charters late this month, and weekends are available in September.

<b>Townsend’s Inlet</b>

The two anglers aboard last week on Thursday wanted to fly-rod mahi mahi, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> in Sea Isle City, affiliated with <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. So the trip fished within 15 miles of the coast, and each landed a mahi, on Clouser Minnow flies on sinking lines. They also fly-rodded amberjacks, banded rudderfish and a bluefish, and had several shots at larger mahi, and two shots at cobia, that refused the flies. Joe was headed offshore to the canyons today. A buddy fished at Wilmington Canyon on Wednesday, and the trip went 1 for 4 on bigeye tuna, landing a 150-pounder, and also caught yellowfin tuna to 70 pounds. Several white marlin were hooked but got off. Bluefin tuna are swimming closer to shore, around 30 fathoms. White marlin also showed up inshore recently, and that was cool, Joe said.

Lots of mahi mahi swam everywhere from the inshore to offshore, said Mike from <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b> in Sea Isle City.  Tuna fishing was decent, not at any one spot. Trips sailed to places like Wilmington, Spencer or Baltimore canyons, all returning with a couple of tuna. A customer boated a 40-pound cobia close to shore on a minnow.

A trip was weathered out Saturday that was supposed to fish inshore for catches like bluefin tuna, mahi mahi, wahoos and bonito, said Capt. Jim from <b>Fins and Feathers Outfitters</b> from Avalon. A local tackle shop owner told Jim he fished at Washington Canyon last Friday, and the trip scored some of the best offshore fishing he’d seen. A bunch of yellowfin tuna, a 400-pound bigeye tuna and a bluefin tuna, a small one, were boated.

<b>Cape May Inlet</b>

Wahoos and mahi mahi were trolled last Friday at inshore lumps with the Cape May Concrete charter on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> from Cape May, Capt. George said. Small bluefin tuna 30 or 40 pounds swam the water, 25 miles from shore. A friend that day boated one of the bluefins but no wahoos.

Offshore fishing was dead in past days, and reportedly was even terrible in the week’s White Marlin Open from Ocean City, Md., said Capt. Frank from <b>Melanie Anne Sport Fishing Charters</b> from Cape May. Tuna offshore swam 20 miles south of Norfolk Canyon, the last Frank heard. Some of the catches were reported from Toms Canyon, but that was also too far from Cape May. But the week’s offshore hurricane could’ve stirred up waters, drawing fish to local haunts. Inshore tuna fishing was still decent. Anglers had a decent shot at tuna there, and wahoos and mahi mahi also swam the area. Melanie Anne was weathered out from fishing during the weekend. A trip aboard last week on Thursday fished for bluefin tuna at 19-Fathom Lump and the Elephant Trunk. That was covered in an update to the last report, and the trip actually trolled two yellowfin tuna. A total of five large, bull mahi mahi 20 to 30 pounds were also trolled on the trip, and the final mahi was caught near the East Lump, while the trip trolled back to port. The water was 77 degrees almost everywhere, and seas were 4 feet, but not bad.

A few good catches of wahoos and mahi mahi came from the lumps along the inshore ocean, said Nick from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b> in Cape May. Bluefin and yellowfin tuna were sometimes wrestled from places like the Hot Dog and Massey’s Canyon to farther offshore.

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