Canyons Report
The window to the canyons opened, and Captain Rich Wilkowski and the crew of the Jersey Hooker the Jersey Hooker took big time advantage of it, hitting the Wilmington for some nice 40-plus-pound yellowfin.
The Pez Machine out of Barnegat also headed down south Wednesday morning and decided to go straight to bottom fishing, landing a mix of grey and golden tilefish with the largest weighing 41 pounds. On the troll, it didn’t take long for the action to begin and between 4pm and dark they went 8 for 15 on yellowfins, jumped off two white marlin, and released their first blue marlin of the season. Set up on the drift for sharks, they managed one yellowfin on the jig. And a 65-inch mako around 10:30pm. before cruising back to the dock in time for breakfast.
Farther north, the rumor is that commercial lobstermen working the canyons have been seeing good numbers of swordfish basking on the surface – a good sign for the season ahead.
New Jersey & Long Island Nearshore/Bluefin Tuna Report
Tony at Harry’s Adventure Outfitters in Robbinsville, New Jersey heard of some bluefin action out at the Mudhole, but it seems the fish are on the small side. Reports of some slightly larger fish are coming from more southern haunts. Greg from Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City had bluefin on the troll at both ends of the Chicken Canyon, but again, these were fish under 100 pounds. Shark hunters heading offshore have been doing well with mako and brown sharks with the occasional thresher taken closer inshore.
One of the biggest shark tournaments of the year took place this weekend out of Montauk, the 26th Annual Star Island Shark Tournament. This year’s winner was a 422-pound thresher caught aboard the Bluefin. Almost as impressive was the 344-pound mako that took second place. There seems to be a good amount of big makos around this year. Another shark tournament took place farther west on the island, the 40th Annual Freeport Hudson Shark Tournament. In this contest, a 230-pound thresher caught aboard the Our Passion narrowly edged out a 225-pound thresher caught aboard the Mojo for first place honors.
New England Nearshore/Bluefin Tuna Report
Southeast of Block Island, from the Fairway Buoy and out to the Mudhole, a few fishermen have reported “schoolie” football tuna around working commercial draggers. Chris from Bad Fish Outfitters said there’s scores of 60-inch fish south of Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard as well. They’ve been feeding on the surface long enough for anglers to toss stickbaits into them. Chris recommends Ocean Lures and the River2Sea WideGlide.
You’ll find bigger fish on the tuna grounds east of Chatham. Eric Stewart of the Hook Up caught two tuna out of four bites on Thursday. The fish hit splash bars trolled over Crab Ledge. The fish haven’t been showing too much of a color preference, Eric said, but darker colors might be the better bet.
Live bait is also working well in the waters east of Chatham. Barry at Red Top said that this may be the best shot of the year for a recreational angler to catch their yearly allowance of one 73-inch or larger tuna. Bluefish in the 16- to 20-inch range are the current bait of choice.
There have been reports of 300- to 400-pound tuna on the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank, but catches have been sparse. Bait and whales are plentiful, so Stellwagen should turn on at any moment.
i have been looking for the fairway buoy for years and cant find it, can sombody please tell me where it is
can sombody please tell me where the mud hole is