New England Offshore
Bluefin fishing continues to be hot east of Chatham. Captain Eric Stewart of the Hook Up in Orleans landed 5 bluefin of 8 hooked on Thursday. Other boats had similar results landing multiple fish. Trolling, jigging and casting are all working. Dan from the Hook Up reported that tuna are being caught from Nauset down to the BB Buoy. A smaller class of fish has showed off Chatham, with fish from 42 to 55 inches being taken.
Off Stellwagen some of these smaller fish have appeared as well. John from Nelsons said there have been a few in that size range caught in recent days. Also taken from the bank was a 700-pound-plus giant.
White marlin are still popping up in the waters just south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Cam from Billfisher reported that anglers spending a couple hours searching are generally seeing a few billfish. Getting bites is another question all together. There have been “acres” of halfbeaks according to Cam, but the marlin seem to be the only predators taking advantage. Tuna seemed to have moved on.
The Monster Shark Tournament out of Oak Bluffs took place this weekend. There were only 9 eligible sharks weighed in for the tournament, though several boats brought in sharks below the tournament minimum (200 pounds for makos, 250 pounds for threshers), which is intended to discourage participants from keeping small sharks. The winning shark was a porbeagle in the high 400-pound-range.
New York/New Jersey Offshore Fishing Report
The West Elbow of the Hudson fired up with Yellowfin for the guys going long, with rainbow spreader bars, green machines and skirted ballys being the choice of these speedy streetfighters.
The Jenny Lee with Captain Dave Bender has been hitting the yellowfin tuna pretty good at the Hudson Canyon. Trolling is the secret to their success.
The bluefin action has been hot and cold, day to day but jigging seems to be getting better traction. Trolling is turning up much smaller fish. Bluefin guys connected in the Atlantic Princess area to south of the fingers with good connections coming on cedar plugs. Jigging for bluefin was also a strong option when the screen’s lit up deep. . Bluefin are still parked at the Triple Wrecks most in the 30- to 50-pound class but they responding to jigging.
Mahi are being caught sporadically for those targeting them. There have been reports of pretty good mahi catches from the Manasquan Ridge out to Little Italy.
Offshore anglers are still doing well with Tilefish.