New Jersey Fishing Reports

No locals reported fishing offshore during the week, probably because of the weather and the fact that offshore trips weren’t as common by this point in the season, said Vinnie from Michael’s Bait & Tackle on Staten Island. Last week a group of customers took a charter offshore and scored a 200-pound bigeye tuna, another bigeye and a bunch of longfins.

Jersey Shore Fishing Charters from Sea Bright fished nasty seas for bluefin tuna at the Monster Ledge on Sunday on the chunk, but the fishing was slow, and only a ling bit, Capt. Jake said.

Anglers onboard tried for false albacore and blues at the Mud Buoy on Sunday, but winds were strong, and no fish showed up, so they moved inshore and caught bottom fish, said Capt. Akira from True World Tackle and True World Tackle Charters in Bayonne.

A trip looked for inshore tuna at the Bacardi wreck and the Texas Tower over the weekend with Jersey Devil Charters from the Highlands, but little was happening, so the boat moved farther inshore, and a small mako shark was nailed on the troll, Capt. Brian said. Jersey Devil also fished Hudson Canyon last week on Wednesday to Thursday and bailed 20 tuna, mostly longfins but also four yellowfins to 80 pounds. Most of the fish were chunked at night, but several longfins were trolled in the morning. The boat only trolled a short time because the fish box was mostly full. The water was in the mid 70s but cooled since then. Lots of false albacore were jigged near Coney Island on the boat Tuesday evening on rubber lures, including Calcutta foil shads and Storm 4- and 6-inch peanut bunker. Striped bass were mixed in, and so were cocktail blues.

False albacore:

The following couple of reports come from inshore waters, but they were about the blue-water species false albacore, so they were included, in case they were of interest:

Frenzy Fishing Charters from Staten Island fought false albacore throughout the week, and a trip Tuesday with three anglers brought 12 to the boat, Capt. Tommy Verderosa said. The fish were popping up quickly and moving fast, and Frenzy was bouncing all over to find them, including along Ambrose Channel, off Breezy Point and around Long Island. The albies even showed up near Staten Island, but again, they were quick-moving. Sometimes the fish even appeared, and anglers would be in the thick of them, and none would be hooked. But Frenzy was scoring pretty good luck with them. Still, water temps dropped 4 degrees in the past week, so they could leave soon. Besides charters for the albies, Tommy has anglers who will go on open-boat trips, so call him if you want to be added to the list. Most of his anglers were casting with spinning rods to fight the fish, like with Deadly Dicks, but Tommy will also fly fish for them. He had a couple of fly rods onboard the other day, but winds were too nasty to use them.

Two Rivers Charters from Sea Bright reeled in lots of false albacore that were swimming off False Sandy Hook Point on Tuesday, and peanut bunker and flies did the trick, Capt. Fletcher Chayes said.

Shark River Inlet

A couple of tuna trips on the Nan Sea J from Belmar fished last week, including Wednesday to Thursday, and they were good, and a bunch of big, 70- to 100-pound yellowfins were boated at the southern canyons, Capt. Tom said. No longfin tuna showed up, but mahi mahi were bagged. Lots of flying fish were in the water, and some squid but not a ton appeared, and butterfish produced most bites, and the tuna even seemed to prefer butters over sardines. “Butterfish are back,” Tom said. A huge whale shark swam next to the boat 45 minutes on one of the trips, and it was incredible. A tuna charter was weathered out this past weekend, and the boat will keep tuna fishing this month.

Manasquan Inlet

A tuna trip was good on the Jamaica from Brielle on Tuesday night, and 70- to 80-pound yellowfins made up almost all the catch, and a couple of longfin tuna were gaffed, an e-mail from the boat said. The action started 2 a.m. and continued through daybreak, and at times readings were 100 feet thick, and tuna were often seen swimming through the slick. With the number of fish seen, a wild bite would’ve been expected, but instead anglers picked the fish through the night on bait and jigs. Jose Perez took home three yellowfins, and so did Solomae Cruz. Prior to that trip, plenty of tuna were swimming several different canyons last week, but the bite was sporadic, like it was the week before then. But a trip this past Saturday night produced the best catch of the season. Seas that night seemed like the anglers would be in for a bumpy trip, but the northeast winds diminished earlier than predicted, and the boat was able to steam full speed to the canyons. The boat was anchored by 10:15 p.m., and the first yellowfin tuna hit the deck 15 minutes later. Good action took place the next 1 ½ hours, and patrons boated yellowin tuna to 80 pounds and longfin tuna to 60 pounds. Then the action slowed to a pick of a couple of tuna every 20 or 30 minutes. A nice flurry of catches took place at 3 a.m.., and the bite really turned on an hour later. Fifteen tuna were hooked at once at one point, and the fishing slowed down after 5 a.m. Ron Taurick limited out on yellowfin tuna and bagged four longfins, and Mark Mitchell limited out on yellowfins and took two longfins, and Sam Dibner nailed six longfins. Space is available on upcoming trips through this month and November, sailing at 5 p.m. For info call the boat or visit its web site. The Atlantis will run for Mudhole tuna 3 a.m. Sunday, October 21.

Three tuna fishing trips on the Katie H from Brielle were weathered last week from Thursday to Sunday, and Capt. Mike was hoping to get out again this weekend, he said. Few people fished recently between the windy weather, so it was difficult to get a read on the fishing. Hudson Canyon’s water had turned cold or dropped into the 60s by the weekend, and earlier this week Mike was thinking that his next trips were probably going to sail to the southern canyons. But by mid week he was hearing scattered talk that the fish might’ve still been biting despite the cold, and he needed to hear more info to confirm. Boaters who managed to get out earlier last week seemed not to do so well on tuna. The fishing seemed slower, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t pick right back up.

A bunch of reports about tuna trips through the weekend were posted on the Benchmark from Point Pleasant’s web site, and not a lot of details were given, but here’s a rundown. A charter Sunday went in pursuit of bluefin tuna and indeed scored two, and a photo of the fish was posted on this site’s photo pages. Last week on Wednesday night a charter only boated a few tuna but good-sized ones during the full moon. A group on that Tuesday night put together a nice catch of yellowfin tuna, and a gang that Monday had a great night of tuna fishing. On a charter the previous evening a white marlin was caught, and then the anglers got into a steady pick of yellowfin tuna most of the night. On the prior trip on Saturday night, a tuna charter was skunked on the boat the first time in about five years, and Capt. Nick said he was disappointed but willing to admit it. He thanked the charter for their understanding.

Offshore boaters were pushing off to the canyons again Sunday after winds and seas were too brutal, said Dave from The Reel Seat in Brielle. Before the winds some of the boaters caught tuna, and some didn’t. Some scored well on the troll on both longfin and yellowfin tuna, mostly at Hudson Canyon, but some at the Toms and Carteret. Some also tilefished when trolling was slow, and again, some hooked up, and some didn’t. George A. Lewis and George W. Lewis on the Cast Bronze nailed eight tiles, none weighing less than the low 20 pounds, and one was 52 pounds, and another weighed 49.

Tuna fishing was fairly slow last week, though it was good a couple of weeks before then, said Capt. Bobby from the Gambler from Point Pleasant. The boat was attempting to get out this week, but the crew could only give a report Sunday, and an update will be posted as soon as it’s available. The fish last week were being marked under the boat for like an hour, and a few would bite, but most wouldn’t, and it was a little frustrating. Five open-boat tuna trips per week will keep sailing through October and maybe in November, and it depends on the fishing. Then striped bass trips will begin running daily, and afterward trips will sail for sea bass and blackfish, and later in the winter offshore bottom-fishing trips will target giant sea bass, ling, cod and pollock.

Barnegat Light

News about tuna fishing was mostly quiet because of strong winds, but the fish were certainly there, said Basil from Oceanside Bait & Tackle in Brighton Beach. He was also sure bonito and false albacore could still be found at Barnegat Ridge. He heard about bonito popping up close to shore off Seaside at times, but nobody reported seeing them closer to the shop.

Cape May Inlet
Offshore tuna fishing was very good when the weather allowed boats to sail, and more and more swordfish were coming in, said Matt from Jim’s Bait & Tackle in Cape May in a fax. The crew on the Noreaster II came back with six yellowfin tuna, five wahoos and some nice dolphin that were taken at Wilmington Canyon on a combo of trolling and chunking.

An overnight tuna trip is slated for this weekend on the Heavy Hitter from Cape May, Capt. George said. He saw somewhat of a satellite shot of the water temps, because clouds obscured some of the chart, and the warmest water seemed to hold from Spencer Canyon to water near Baltimore Canyon. The weather kept people from fishing this week, but boaters were heading out to the canyons yesterday and today, and they were all talking about going to Wilmington Canyon. Supposedly nothing was biting at Baltimore Canyon, and the fishing’s all been on the chunk, and trolling’s been slow all season. Last year George’s trips were trolling 7 to 10 yellowfin tuna with longfins mixed in, but almost no tuna were hooked on the troll on trips this year. A friend said his friend was fishing from Ocean City, Md., and started chunking tuna during the daylight, and George was thinking he might try chunking during the day in addition to night on this trip.

On the Down Deep from Cape May an overnight tuna charter last week nailed six yellowfins around 80 pounds apiece, a mako shark, some mahi mahi and released a white marlin at Wilmington Canyon.

Jaftica Sportfishing from Cape May was slated to fish offshore this weekend, and tuna trips will sail another couple of weeks before switching to striped bass, Capt. Ray said.

A couple of fall shark charters are on the books with Capacetic Sportfishing from Cape May, and fall sharking is available, Capt Mike said. The fish return to the area in fall, and the fishing can be just as good as during the spring migration, and the only difference might be that the fishing can last a shorter time in fall, because the fish are kind of high tailing it south to warmer waters. But makos and threshers can be battled.