The forecast looks fishable for the holiday weekend, so I suspect some fiberglass cities may be popping up on top of some of the more popular fishing areas over the next few days. The canyon bite has been good lately, depending on where you’re fishing, and the bluefin bite is variable, changing drastically from day to day in some areas.
Bluefin Tuna
Last Friday, it seemed that everyone who fished the waters east of Chatham on Cape Cod, Massachusetts came back to port with sore arms after tangling with bluefin tuna. Fast-forward to Thursday, and boats are struggling to get a single bite. Captain Eric Stewart, who went 5 for 8 aboard his boat the Tammy Rose last Friday, managed one bluefin in two trips in the middle of this week.
Stellwagen Bank is seeing a few more tuna lately, but the bite is far from hot. Tuna are being picky both on Stellwagen and east of Chatham.
Bluefin are biting a bit better off the Garden State. Anglers trolling spreader bars are finding fish in the 30 to 50 inch range on midshore structures. Boats that have found some working scallop boats have really managed to hammer the tuna. Bluefin are attracted to the scallop guts being tossed over the side, and anglers who can acquire some of the guts from the scallop boat can hook the fish one after another.
Sharks
In New England, anglers are catching blue sharks at will. More desirable species have been tough to come by just yet however. In New Jersey, makos up to 275 pounds have been caught over the past week.
The biggest new among shark anglers was the 441-pound mako caught during the Montauk Marine Basin Shark tagging tournament. It is the largest mako weighed in so far this season.
Threshers are still being caught inshore around the bunker schools, but anglers moving off the beach and setting up a slick over deepwater structures are having shots at the whiptails as well.
Canyons
Canyon reports were mixed this week. In the southern canyons such as the Wilmington and the Baltimore, small yellowfin and skipjack made up most of the meager catches, though a couple white marlin were raised and released. The size of yellowfin being caught all over has plummeted from earlier this season with ahi nearing 100 pounds were being caught. Now, many tuna below the size limit are being caught and anglers are having to work for fish up to 45 pounds. The fishing changes week to week, however, and hopefully some larger yellowfin will move back in as the season progresses.
I did see one report of a pup swordfish coming up overnight, but most anglers staying over in the canyons are tying into nothing but dusky sharks after the sun sets.
In the Northern Canyons like the West Atlantis and the Fishtails, the reports are much better, with good numbers of yellowfin (though still small), white marlin, blue marlin and bigeye tuna! I heard another report of a 155-pound bigeye over the weekend, suggesting that these barrel-chested tunas are moving in.