Welcome back to another year of On The Water’s Northeast Offshore Fishing Reports, brought to you by Sirius XM Marine, Garmin, and Canyon Runner. We’re a few weeks into the Northeast tuna season, and the fishing is off to an early start, which has been a common theme as far south as Maryland and Virginia this spring.
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DelMarVa
Down south, things kicked off as early as mid-May, when the first recorded yellowfin tuna of the year in Maryland was brought back to the Ocean City docks by the crew of Always Bent Fishing OC after a hazy morning on the Full Service.
Since then, more and larger yellowfin tuna are being caught with some regularity as water temperatures climb. Anglers trolling squid bars are putting mid-size yellowfin on the deck, along with some stud mahi-mahi to round out the catch. And as we enter the first weeks of summer, warming ocean waters will bring the yellowfin action even closer to home. It’s already happening just a short distance up the coast.
New York/New Jersey
Giant bluefin tuna were reported within the 10-mile range of New Jersey in the first couple weeks of May. Since then, bluefish have arrived in force off of New Jersey and Long Island, and offshore fishermen made haste to keep their limit of 3-fish per angler, which were destined to be live-lined for trophy-class bluefin. More recently, massive pods of bunker pulled up along the coasts of New Jersey and New York, allowing anglers to fill their live wells should those larger bluefish die on the trip out, or break-off mid fight. But bluefin tuna are not the only ones kicking around inshore of the canyons; a couple of large yellowfin tuna were also reported on poppers as of late, which could partially be due to a recent heat wave combined with this week’s full moon tides jumbling up bait and creating drastic temperature breaks.
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While the bluefin and yellowfin are slightly closer to home, the canyons have also seen an uptick in activity in the way of swordfish on the deep drop. Meanwhile, the canyon edges are holding quality blue and golden tilefish in numbers, which is a nice backup plan if you’ve made the long haul and the sword bite doesn’t pull through. The tilefish bite has shown no signs of slowing, as anglers have been sticking studs well over 20-pounds since the final week of May.
New England
South of Cape Cod and the Islands, the bluefin tuna bite accelerated equally as quickly as it has off of Long Island and New Jersey. In early June, stacks of mackerel were sitting in 80 to 200 feet of water, just waiting for the tuna to come in. And come in they did. Anglers capitalized on a warm, calm weather window in the second week of June, which led to bluefin from 30- to 65-plus-inches being landed on live mackerel and jigs in relatively shallow water. However, as the second week of June came to a close, strong and steady southwest winds (gusting up to 30 knots) have hindered southbound trips beyond Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island. The steady blow has sent some anglers heading east of Cape Cod, where bluefin are being taken on the troll and on live bait including mackerel, bluefish, and if you’re lucky enough to encounter them, menhaden.
Bluefin also have already been taken from areas like Jefferies Ledge and the lower reaches of Stellwagen Bank despite cooler water temperatures. However, reports have quieted down a bit since the blow began.
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