609-494-5739 Fishing the offshore waters has offered up awesome action for local angler. Both the shark and tuna fishing have been very good. Here’s some recent reports from this past weekend. Let’s hope this weather clears and allows for more time out on the edge.
Captain Jeff Warford aboard the Reel Innovations got into them good AGAIN! The captain and crew fished the 16th into the 17th and mo-hawked ’em. The crew headed and fished a canyon way down south (100+ miles run) where the yellowfin bite has been good. Here’s Jeff’s report from the epic trip.
“We headed out for an overnight canyon trip and was greeted with flat calm seas. Arriving on the grounds at 5pm on Friday afternoon, it only took four minutes to put the first FOUR yellowfin in the box! The rest of the evening saw much of the same action, boating 12 quality yellowfin from 35-55lbs. We set up at night in 70 fathoms and quickly had mackerel and squid in the lights. About 45 minutes in we were hooked up to our first double header of makos. By midnight we had 5 makos and 2 brown sharks before calling it quits for the night. We kept one 100lb mako for the table and released the rest. The largest was about 175lb. Up on the troll in the morning we quickly boxed another 5 yellowfin before the boat traffic took over and became too much. The guys were anxious to try some tile fishing so I decided to go to an area up the line. We planned one scouting an area on the way and boy did it pay off. After coming across what looked like nat-geo, we were back into a hot bite. Our first pass threw the area and four bluefin piled on at once. We kept our legal limit and continued on to the tile grounds. In less than an hour we had a 50/50 mix of 20 nice golden/blue line tiles. What an awesome trip!”
Captain Bill aboard the Reel Trouble reported nice fishing on the tuna grounds. Check out this round one.
Blue Runner Sportfishing reports the yellowfin tuna are here! “We recently had Greg Steinman along with Bill, George, Don, Ken and Tom out for an extended day trip. Fishing got off to a good start first thing in the morning with the very first rod in the water getting nailed 10 ft off the stern. It was steady most of the day with flurries of red hot bites. By days end we landed 43 Yellowfin (only keeping 12) and 11 Bluefin to 120lbs. We also saw our first Mahi of the season. With the weather holding out, we decided to try for a Mako before heading in. First bite was the right one and a very fat 80″ Mako hit the deck. The fish was easily 200 lbs. Got back to dock very early morning so guys could spend Fathers Day at home. Looks like we will be sitting out next few days with bad weather.”
Andrew Moody reported, “Recent offshore trip was really good. We caugth 10 big eye, four yellowfin and one bluefin. It was nuts! We had a wolfpack pile on… Four 80 pound class tuna all at the same.”
Brandon and Alan Kape fishing with Jeremy Gers got it done. “Slob bluefin and a nice 150 pound bigeye to spice it up the sushi plate the weekend!”
Angler Pete Nork aboard the Las Sofias caught and weighed in a 176 pound mako for the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s mako and tuna tournament. They were fishing the waters outside of the fingers.
While the offshore fishing stole the spotlight on this post, we would like to share info on a doormat fluke that was weighed in this past weekend. Giuseppe Rubino caught this 28.25″ 8.9 pound fatty in the bay a couple days ago. He got it on a bucktail with a live minnow.
Here’s some info from the state…
The recreational summer flounder (fluke) season that began on May 25 keeps intact an 18-inch minimum size limit for fluke, instead of the 19-inch size limit originally mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife biologists provided data demonstrating that the 19-inch size limit will:
– Result in excessive harvesting of breeding females that are key to ensuring a healthy and sustainable resource
– Negatively impact the fluke population by increasing the discard mortality to levels that are higher than the anticipated harvest
– Adversely affect recreational anglers and businesses, as fluke, is one of the state’ most popular sport fish
New Jersey has been found out of compliance by the ASMFC which has reported this determination to the Secretary of Commerce. An appeal will be heard on June 20th in front of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In order for New Jersey to support its case for a smaller size limit, it is critically important anglers do their part to reduce the mortality rate of fish that are caught and released. This can be done in many ways including proper handling and release of fluke caught and the use of larger hooks that help reduce the catch of smaller fish (sizes 7.0 – 9.0 are recommended).
The Division of Fish and Wildlife has posted information regarding the 2017 fluke season and information on how to reduce fluke mortality at www.njfishandwildlife.com/fluke.htm. Information will be updated throughout the season.
Please do your part to reduce discard mortality of fluke, and ensure healthy fisheries and great fishing for the future!
