|
Barnegat Inlet
|
|
The Tuna-Tic from Waretown kept tuna fishing, landing some every outing, even though this year’s canyon fishing wasn’t the traditional bite, Capt. Mike said. The biggest news was that a few longfin tuna appeared after the storm, and Mike hoped bluefin tuna would be close behind. A trip this week first sailed to Toms Canyon, and several longfins were taken. Then the trip moved to Carteret Canyon to get away from other vessels and see what swam around, even though tuna were scarce at the southern canyons. Mahi mahi fishing was phenomenal at the Carteret, and the fish were 10 to 12 pounds, bigger than 3 feet each. The anglers filled the fish box, and the crew cut them off after a load were kept, saving some for another day. The dolphin were actually a nuisance, difficult to get the baits past to reach tuna. A couple of blue sharks and a throwback mako were nailed through the night. In the morning tilefishing was tried back at the Toms but wasn’t happening. Mike was giving canyon charters the option of whether they wanted to go on slated trips, explaining that the fishing was different than usual. He’s optimistic that tuna will show in the canyons this month, but he talked with longliners, and they said the nearest yellowfin tuna were 350 miles away, not fish that were going to arrive locally. But maybe a body of yellowfins was around and not discovered, and maybe they’d push into the canyons off Jersey. No matter, the season was already the slowest for yellowfins at the canyons in 20 years, if not in recorded history. September was also filled with the most weather-caused cancellations that Mike’s ever had that month. Four trips managed to get out, and usually 15 to 18 sail, almost back-to-back. But the weather looked fair for the boat’s canyon trips slated today through Sunday. The Tuna Tic will keep fishing the canyons from Waretown through the month, and after Halloween the boat will move north to the Highlands to concentrate on striped bass. If tuna happen to be around then and close enough, tuna charters will keep sailing from the Highlands between striper fishing.
|
|
