As of August 12, 2025, recreational harvesting of bluefin tuna is officially closed for the remainder of the season (Dec. 31, 2025). This federal action felt like a gut punch to the for-hire charter industry, but with the immense fishing pressure in concentrated areas off New York and Southern New England lately, it comes as no surprise to many.
Now that bluefin tuna are off the table—although catch and release is permitted—charter operations and private recreational anglers are turning their attention to other options. Mahi are abundant across the board, yellowfin and bigeye tuna are pushing in from the edge between New Jersey and Southern New England (where midshore white marlin are in play), and in the Mid Atlantic, wahoo and billfish are more readily available as tournament season continues.
Mid Atlantic
Off the coast of Maryland, anglers had their shots at some large wahoo this week when a quick bite developed on the midshore lumps (roughly 30 miles out of Ocean City) following the end of the White Marlin Open. Taylor Bakke of Always Bent Fishing OC was fishing aboard the Bad Habit on Monday when they received a knockdown from a roughly 70- to 90-pound wahoo that unfortunately came unpinned boat side. However, they made up for the loss with a rec. bluefin at the buzzer, landing it just before dusk on the final day of the bluefin season. Tuna action overall remains spotty, but anglers are being kept busy with blue and white marlin as well as tilefish at the canyons, and plenty of mahi within 40 miles of Ocean City. Add wahoo to the mix on the midshore lumps, and there’s plenty of action to make an offshore run worthwhile.
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New Jersey/New York
The yellowfin tuna bite remains solid off New Jersey, with most jig and pop anglers finding success before reaching the canyons. There’s a lot of life around Chicken Canyon and the Bacardi. Earlier this week, Capt. Jay Richardella of Side Job Charters went 6 for 7 on yellowfin while trolling about 70 miles out. Once marine mammals have been located, yellowfin are showing a willingness to crush both jigs and poppers, according to Mike Gleason of Tak Waterman in Long Branch, NJ. OTW’s Jack Larizadeh joined in on the surface-smashing yellowfin action during a trip with Captain Mark Horn of On Top Charters.
Further out in the the clear blue waters of Hudson Canyon, the chunk bite is still developing, and golden and blueline tilefish are in play.
Bonito, mahi-mahi, and Spanish mackerel are also available on the way to and from the edge; some very large “gaffer” mahi are hanging tight to inshore lobster pot buoys.
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Off the south shore of Long Island, anglers are seeing the same influx of yellowfin pushing in from the canyons. Captain Adrian Moeller of Rockfish Charters out of Moriches mentioned that the bite hit a slight lull following last weekend’s full moon, but they’ve had a stellar yellowfin bite on 2 of their last 5 trips. The skipper noted that a well-placed cast of a popper behind porpoises has been a reliable approach, but they’ve also been live chumming peanut bunker to get the yellowfin fired up.
Anglers making the run to the canyons out of Montauk and Connecticut are reportedly finding some large bigeye tuna on the troll.
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Southern New England
The waters south of Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard have been a hotbed of activity for weeks now, but with the closing of rec. bluefin, charters and private boats have been forced to pivot unless they want to play catch and release. There are still bluefin lingering around the Gully and Haab’s Ledge, where soft plastics fished tight to bottom are getting looks after last week’s full moon. However, results are somewhat inconsistent, and the hot/cold dead-stick bite has anglers looking elsewhere for action, or for new species.
White marlin have been caught around the windmills and mahi-mahi are still abundantly present toward the Gully, although they continue to be slightly finicky. Anglers employing light leader material and natural baits like squid strips around frequently-visited structures are experiencing better mahi results than those casting artificials like epoxy jigs and bucktails.
Further from home, yellowfin and bigeye are in play. Andy Nabreski and Capt. Larry Backman of the Skipjack out of Falmouth, MA, headed for Atlantis and it didn’t look promising, so they pivoted to Veatch, which was loaded with marine life. They picked up some 80- to 90-pound-class yellowfin on the troll while a nearby boat landed yellows weighing in the triple digits. Other reports from boats out of Connecticut and RI that ran to West Atlantis indicate that it is loaded with bigeyes and some XL yellowfin.
Day-dropping for swords, generally, has been unproductive, and that’s been a common theme this season. However, Brian Weiss and company managed to land a 200-pound swordfish on the buoy rod as they were pulling in their lines.
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Massachusetts to Maine
Off Chatham on Cape Cod, from the Regal Sword east, giant bluefin have been taken on jigs and RonZs. Giants also continue to pick away at scattered schools of bunker and even bluefish in Cape Cod Bay, and there’s been an influx of football-size bluefin skirting the outer edges of Boston Harbor—an area that has more recently grown rich with bunker.
Meanwhile, further north, the recreational bluefin bite between the Isles of Shoals and Boone Island has slowed down, according to Captain Bob of Seacoast NH Sportfishing. The juvenile pogies that sparked those feeds last week have scattered, but giants from 90- to 100-inches have since filled in on Jeffrey’s Ledge.