As summer 2012 (unofficially) comes to a close this coming weekend, I wanted to look back at some of the oddball catches made this year – and there have been plenty of them.
For one, cobia have been mentioned in the New Jersey fishing forecast almost every week since mid-July. Enough of them ventured North for Garden State fishermen to actually target them. Cobia were also caught in New York and Cape Cod.
Sheepshead made quite a showing in South Jersey in July, and a number were weighed in at the Absecon Bay Sportsman Center, with some very big ones weighing as much as 14 pounds.
Northern kingfish, while not an unusual catch in New Jersey and on Long Island, have been caught regularly in New England. We’ve been averaging at least one email a week from an angler asking us to ID a kingfish they’d caught while targeting fluke or sea bass. I even saw a juvenile kingfish in Cape Cod Bay – now that’s a long way from home for one of these guys.
Northern puffers, another Jersey regular, are invading Narragansett Bay right now, and have even been caught in Woods Hole, MA.
Another pufferfish, the smooth puffer, was caught in surprising numbers all the way up to Long Island Sound. Their scientific name translates to “rabbit-head,” which isn’t too far off. These weird-looking fish have highly toxic organs, so slice and dice with care if you plan on eating one.
Then there was the 35-pound red drum caught on a diamond jig off Chatham. This is the second year in a row that a big red ventured up to New England.
Boston Harbor fishermen, who are still getting used to the regular appearance of black sea bass and scup, were surprised to see gray triggerfish in their waters this summer.
One fisherman recently posted a picture of a frigate mackerel on the OTW facebook page. The fish was a unusual visitor to the waters off Martha’s Vineyard.
Historically, September is the best month for finding “unusual” species in the Northeast, but I’d say we racked up a pretty good number of them already. Who knows what this next month will bring. If you catch anything out-of-the-ordinary this month, or if I overlooked any exotic summer visitors, email it in, and I’ll post it on Fishing On The Job.
[…] These fish, however, gave us a double-take. We picked the two weirdest species they highlighted, but you can check them all out here. […]
Not that it was much in size but I caught a 17 inch sheepshead in the Shrewsbury River Yesterday while Jigging for Fluke with a Gulp Shrimp.I also picked 4 Kingfish on the same bait from 12 to 14 inches plus numerous smaller ones.
My 9 year old son Ryan caught a Warsaw Grouper off our dock this week. Prior to that he caught 2 Northern Kingfish in our seine net.
These canarys in a mine(lost and wandering sea life) are a dire warning of global warmings negative effect on our world..
We have ignored the warning signs and the children not young enough to fish now may never get a chance.. I truly hope i am wrong but the facts are what they are..SDR (self denial rational) seems to be the order of the day..drill oil wells..mine coal..put wind turbines on natucket shoals,store nuclear waste on the surface of our largest under ground water supply.etc etc etc etc!! .all money grubbing ventures supported by the sociopathic 1%..you can’t fix idocy and greed-ie:Romney”s buddies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WADR Chip Bourget
You are so wrong, all these warm water species have always been caught in our waters for at least 40 years I’ve been fishing. I caught puffers off of oak bluff beaches with my hands the size of ping pong balls in 1969. I’ve caught spanish mackerel at Tashmoo at least thirty years ago. Snorkeling I would see tropical fish along the jetties in Martha’s Vineyard and Narragansett in August and September.
Regarding the Northern Kingfish; i did caught more than 20 in one night from shore in Lewis Bay.
soap box my ass–sdr is termimal pea brain–its your attitude of denial thats the problem mitt head
Chip get off your soap box and go fishing. This is not the place to air you dirty democratic laundry
soap box my ass–sdr is termimal pea brain–its your attitude of denial thats the problem– mitt head
Great job on the Cobia, Jeff. I caught my 1st ever, in NJ , 2 weeks ago, 38″ 18 Lbs inside off the ICW Near Holgate, NJ. On hell of a fight on a Fluke pole and great tasting.
I caught this fish that had a chin like a cod w/vertical triangular stripex & rumor has it that this fish migrated from the gulf of mexico which it has never done befire. I’m guessing climate change to be the reason for this bur if u could tell me what it is,why its here I would apreciate it.
Jason,
I’ll see if Pops has an answer for you. Do you have a picture of the fish?
It may have been a banded rudder fish. My friend caught one a week or two ago
[…] More exotic fish also begin showing up in odd places. The summer of 2012 in particular has produced many strange fish being weighed in at our local bait and tackle shops. From wahoo in weird places to red drum schooling with stripers, 2012 has certainly coughed up some surprises. You can check out On the Water’s excellent post about many of these odd catches by clicking here. […]
Fishing columbus day in cape cod bay. Coming back to canal almost ran into a Mola Mola, Alson known as a sunfish. Waiting for picture from my buddy. About 6 feet long. Has to be at least 600 pounds. Never seen one before. Thought they were tropical fish.
Nah, frequent summer visitor throughout NE waters. I saw my first in 1980s couple miles off Rockport. Thought the big dorsal fin was Jaws…
That said I saw a gray triggerfish today off Gloucester breakwater… it was actually purple-blue but unmistakably a triggerfish. In theory they’ve been around here in summer waters for a long time too, but to your point about tropical, they shouldn’t be. Climate change is real. We shouldn’t try to prove each other wrong here denying climate change, just because something that used to happen 50 years ago (migratory or fluke fish etc) are common now. That’s like… I’ve seen snow in September before in Mass, and t-shirt weather in January. Neither is normal. If it starts happening a lot, that’s real, and that’s bad.
I cought a trigger fish last October on a hand line at pawa landing in Orleans
[…] More exotic fish also begin showing up in odd places. The summer of 2012 in particular has produced many strange fish being weighed in at our local bait and tackle shops. From wahoo in weird places to red drum schooling with stripers, 2012 has certainly coughed up some surprises. You can check out On the Water’s excellent post about many of these odd catches by clicking here. […]
[…] More exotic fish also begin showing up in odd places. The summer of 2012 in particular has produced many strange fish being weighed in at our local bait and tackle shops. From wahoo in weird places to red drum schooling with stripers, 2012 has certainly coughed up some surprises. You can check out On the Water’s excellent post about many of these odd catches by clicking here. […]
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