From the top to the bottom of the glorious Garden State the sounds of singing drags are welcoming the Fourth of July
weekend. Even though this is the historical unofficial “official” opening of the tuna season in New Jersey, the pre-season has been nothing short of world class. The southern canyons are lit up with the best yellowfin tuna bite that any of us can remember in years, and the bluefin up north are not being shy either. With the weather cooperating the way it has been, there is no excuse for grilling beef this weekend. As I am writing this the marine forecast is not showing anything over 3 feet for the next 5 days with a SW moderate wind pattern that spells GO GO GO!
I don’t want to totally overlook our freshwater friends before I start jumping down the coast with shop reports so I connected with Laurie at Dows in Lake Hopatcong to check the bite. She has a bunch of guys whacking hybrid stripers on herring off the points, with some of them topping 9 pounds. The walleye are cooperating too with Robert Smith of Ogdensburg taking one just north of 5 pounds – pre-heat the skillet honey, I’m coming home! Stop in the shop before you go out and get the latest scoop.
Ernie up at Giglio’s in Sea Bright is still weighing in big bass from the beach. Billy Bertsch plugged himself a 43-pounder this week, Lou Feniger from the Asbury Park Fishing Club beached a 37-plus-pounder and local Drew McGinniss from Sea Bright dragged a 33 up on the sand. Serious fish without a doubt.
Dave at The Reel Seat in Brielle has been seeing all kinds of great bluefin reports from his guys. If you are an offshore sharpie you know that Dave has been making some of the best spreader bars and offshore trolling rigs you can buy for years with one of his custom Reel Seat bars holding up to a 69-inch B-fin this week. Unfortunately, there have been some marauding schools of big bluefish mixed in so Dave is doing double-time on repairs as well. The Chicken Canyon and Atlantic Princess are still hot with the tip of the Hudson producing nice white marlin catches in 78-degree water. The yellowfin are up there too with good catches of 30- to 50-pounders on the troll.
Similar spin from Chris at Harry’s Army Navy in Robbinsville: tuna, tuna, tuna on bars and Ballys with pink and white being hot licks. The brown sharks have started moving in but there are still threshers and makos to be battled. Speaking of prehistoric beasts, there are reports of a 6-foot great white sighting off of Island Beach – just in time for Harry’s free kayak surf launch and safety seminar in Spring Lake…. hmmmmm. Call the shop for detail on the clinic at 609-585-5450. By the way, the flukin off of Long Branch has gotten even better, or if you want to take the kids crabbing or clamming over the long weekend, Harry’s has a full supply of professional traps and rakes for both.
The crew at Fisherman’s Headquarters are running up the “get ‘em while you still can” flags for stripers from the beach as the water warms inshore. It’s not over yet but the fat lady is clearing her throat. There is plenty of other action to focus on as the fluke bite in deeper water and on structure has really started to get rolling as warmer water moves deeper. If you are landlocked you can still get great action in the back at sunrise and sunset for stripers and then do a switch over for some midday crabbing. The crabbing has just been awesome with lots of big jimmies hitting the sidewalks .
Andy over at Riptide Bait & Tackle in Brigantine says his guys have kingfish fever and are walloping the tasty little critters from the beach. What could be more fun than pulling double duty of getting nailed by these little locomotives and thinking about the fish fry that follows? Maybe the scenery while waiting for your next hit? Not bad at all!
Team Tackle Direct in Somers Point has been field testing some great new trolling gear off of their offshore wall on the yellowfin out in the neighborhood of the Spencer and the Lindy. Their spread has been a combination of two spreader bars with skirted ballyhoo just in front and behind, with a couple ballys short on flatlines, a skip bait down the middle short and a green machine trailing the whole footprint. One day this past week they put 11 yellowfin in the box, raised a white, and had a buddy boat nail a 72-inch wahoo that weighed in at just under 100 pounds!
Down in Cape May Rusty at Off The Hook is talking to customers that are hitting the tuna from the Baltimore all the way up to the Spencer. Right around the 50 line is a good place to start paying attention to the water temps and looking for slicks. There have been fluke for those that know how to fish the Old Grounds and Reef 11, but be prepared to donate lots of gear as they are deep in the structure. Off The Hook more than doubled up on their freezer space for this year and have stocked in a huge supply off ballyhoo in all sizes for your offshore adventures.
Best Bet this weekend is pretty obvious…. it’s tuna time, big time. The seas look good for a long run, the fish are out there and they are on the feed. Get your crew on board earlier than usual as the bite has been hottest just after sunrise, then slows mid-morning, then picks up again a little later. For us, the bigger class fish came later in the morning but the first light bite was truly hot!
Stay Tuna-ed!