New Jersey and New York
Warm waters have brought dolphin within reach of anyone capable of making it out to the reefs to fish for fluke. Buoys, weedlines and floating debris all seem to be holding some chicken mahi with the odd gaffer-sized fish mixed in.
In the New York Bight, the tuna bite at the Atlantic Princess is spotty with jigs still accounting for some fish. It seems like the nicer water moved out and the bluefish moved in. Going a bit further east, anglers trolling are finding mahi and yellowfin, and jigging is accounting for some fish as well.
New England
Small mahi and bluefin tuna have been moving close to the south sides of Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Look for halfbeaks leaping from the water southeast of the Block and out at the 15 fathom line south of Nomans and just south of the Hooter Buoy off Wasque, where 30- to 50-pound bluefin have been reported. Off Chatham, Captain Eric Stewart of the Hook UP is reporting a pick of fish in the 50- to 60-inch range at Crab Ledge, and schools of blitzing bluefin in 60 to 80 feet of water have surprised some captains on their ride back in.
Reports of mako sharks just 7 miles off Martha’s Vineyard have some small boat anglers gearing up for sharks. Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters caught three makos this past Tuesday, along with a mess of blue sharks to 300 pounds. There have also been some nice makos mixed in with the blue sharks up on Stellwagen Bank.
Spin fishermen are tackling bluefin tuna with live mackerel and soft-plastic stickbaits, such as RonZs, Hogys, Slug-Gos and Bill Hurleys, and the bite is a steady if not spectacular one from the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen to the backside of the Cape by Peaked Hill Bar. Trolling squid bars at first light has produced a few fish; after sunrise, live bait has been best.
Farther north, football tuna have been ripping through schools of baitfish in close proximity to the shoreline from Boone Island to Halibut Point, and more than one striper fisherman live-lining a mackerel has been relieved of his line in short order. Peter from Saco Bay Tackle said that he hauled onto his boat a 77-inch bluefin on Tuesday, which took a live mackerel just south of Tantas Ledge.
Canyons
The water at the edge is hot, hot, hot, which quite often means, billfish, billfish, billfish. So far this seems to be the case in the White Marlin Open, where in the first three days of fishing more than 100 white marlin have been caught and released, along with a smattering of blues in the southern canyons. In the northern canyons, the water is just as hot. The best temperature break appears to be in West Atlantis at the moment, with 75 to 80 degree water available through a number of canyons. These waters have brought some billfish and wahoo into these canyons, and with a pristine forecast for the next couple days, captains are taking advantage and heading to the edge.
Small yellowfin are still dominating the tuna bite in the canyons, and a few anglers are reporting some tuna action on the overnight chunk, which, up until recently, had consisted of only sharks for most boats spending the night at the edge.