Wind has been making life difficult for offshore fishermen lately. I think Ed Berger summed it up best:
“If you are like me, your boat is gathering grass on the bottom and all of the little chores that have been on the “to do” list have been done for about a week now. When is Mother Nature going to turn off the fans?! There has not been a decent offshore window in weeks now, and we all know the fish are out there flipping around in the whitecaps. There is a bluefin or a bigeye out there with my name on it, and I can’t get there! I pay my taxes, brush my teeth twice a day, only owe money to people I don’t like …so with all this clean living, don’t I deserve at least one day out there a week? C’MON!”
Shark Fishing
Sharkin’ off Long Island has been as good as it gets, with big numbers of makos and good numbers of threshers around. The makos are ranging from 125 to 175 pounds, and for every six makos, anglers seem to find one thresher. Bryce at WhiteWater Outfitters said the shark fishing out of Shinnecock Inlet is the best he’s seen in years.
Team TackleDirect pulled a shift out sharking when they had a little half day window this past week, but it was only blue sharks chowing down in the neighborhood they were in. There are good eating sharks within range if you can get out there with a fairly long list of really nice makos and threshers hitting the scales in the past few weeks.
Bluefin
The only place captains have been able to sneak in some tuna fishing lately has been the inshore waters off Cape Cod. The bluefin bite off Chatham is picking up again. Eric Stewart of the Hook Up trolled up a 75- and a 71-inch tuna on Tuesday of this week. On Wednesday, he landed a 55-inch bluefin, which suggests a new group of smaller fish has moved into the area. This is consistent with last July’s pattern, when a school of smaller tuna moved into the waters East of Chatham and provided consistent action throughout most of the month.
Canyons
Some great water is moving into the canyons, but until the winds cut us a break, fishermen won’t know what is out there. A slug of warm water is moving into the Northern Canyons now, no doubt aided by the relentless southwest wind. When seas calm, you better believe the canyon fishing should be on fire.