The weekend marine forecast looks great! We will be running Open Boat trips for Bonita or Yellowfin Tuna on Saturday Sept 27 and Bonita on Monday Sept 29. I will go with what the majority picks to fish for on Saturday. Monday is Bonita only, as per the forecast.
Here’s what’s going on. There are Yellowfin Tuna 55 to 65 miles from our inlet. They have settled in to this area and are hitting bait more than anything else. Every day there are a few taken on jigs, as well. No trolling whatsoever. Day chunking is the technique. Live bait is working the best, and we are well stocked with that. In my opinion, this is as exciting as fishing gets. Not just fishing in NJ, fishing anywhere. You have to experience slow feeding a weightless bait into a chunk line, expecting a tuna to eat it any minute, and then the spool goes from 0 to 30 mph.
No experience necessary. You don’t need a thing. We have everything you need on board. Just bring whatever you want to eat and drink for the time we are out. If you have a favorite rod, bring it, let’s see if we can’t blow it up!
I sailed this past Friday with a light rail of me and two anglers. Went to the “magic spot” where they had them solid just 24 hours earlier, and us, and two dozen other boats caught nothing for two and a half hours plus. On the way out, I throttled back on a whale, a slick, and two chick birds in a tight area. I didn’t read anything on our slow roll through, and I thought I should get to where they had them yesterday. If I had any courage, I would have threw some chunks and put a few rods out. Instead, I never put a rod out, but at least I marked it as a waypoint. After not catching at the spot, we had a quick meeting and I suggested we hit that spot where we saw the life. All agreed. When we arrived, we immediately saw a few chick birds. Enough to go on the drift. Not a soul on the horizon. Started slinging the chunks heavy and after 30 minutes, I saw a boil pretty far back in the slick, and then another….and another! Pretty soon we had 40 to 50 pound yellowfins eating every floating peanut bunker in the slick. The rods were not going off but it was something to see. We changed things up and I had these guys on my heavy spinning gear casting live and fresh dead peanut bunker into the boiling fish and they started hooking up. I can’t describe the mayhem or how we lost so many fish, but we went 1 for 7 in two hours of feeding these fish. One broken rod, a few busted off on the 30 lb flouro the rods were rigged with, so many more blunders. Mark Marquez, who some of you may remember, used to run Fishing Reports Now, a NJ website with fishing reports, finally got one close enough to stick with a gaff…….Thank you Mark! There is no greater jump in numbers than between 0 and 1, when you are fishing. We had lines is by 3PM, started cleaning up for the ride home, and put the numbers on the VHF for those close by. Before we throttled up, there were six boats on us. I hope they connected.
We are drifting or anchoring on the 15 to 25 mile lumps for bonita, albies, and a few spanish mackerel. All bait and jigs, no trolling. Catching them on spinning rods. They are great sport on this tackle and bonita are delicious.
Sailing Open Boat Tuna or Bonita on Saturday Sept 27, your choice, whichever gets the most people interested:
4AM to 4PM, $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
Open Boat Bonita: Monday, Sept 29. 7AM to 3PM $300 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
It’s a great time of year to be fishing. There is something unique about the ferocity of these species when the migration kicks off. You feel it in every hookup.
Stop in to Fishermans Headquarters for insight from their guys who know these fisheries inside and out. They have all the bait, lures, gear, and intel from the most helpful “no ego” guys who just want you to have the best day on the water.
Thank you,
Dave
Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674 cell
Pic: Mark Marquez of Williamstown, NJ with his 40 pound yellowfin he bested on a spinning rod and live peanut bunker.
