New York/New Jersey
For the most part, the offshore action out of South Jersey has been quite slow, except for the bigeye tuna, but that can change at any time with the right eddy spurring off the Gulf Stream.
The fishing improved somewgar this week with Yellowfin and Bluefin Tuna being caught by anglers trolling 60 to 70 miles offshore.
OTW Naturalist Logbook columnist Chris Paparo was out about 10 miles south of Shinnecock Inlet tagging sharks with Reel Science Charters when a 10 pound mahi came cruising through the slick. Shortly after landing the mahi, the team hooked up with a small mako. After collecting data on the shark, it was tagged and released marking their 49th shark of the season.
John at Trophy Tackle said the offshore fishing is the hot ticket on the South Shore with a nice mix of bluefin, yellowfin, and wahoo out at the 40 fathom line and bigeyes in the 100 square area of the Hudson Canyon.
Tonya at Westlake Marina added that the shop is seeing great offshore fish hitting the scales this week including a 225 pound bigeye, 85 pound swordfish, 47 pound mahi, and a 49 pound wahoo.
The most intriguing tuna talk on Cape Cod came from Red Top Sporting Goods and Nelsons Bait and Tackle. Jeff at Red Top said “football” bluefin from 40 to 70 pounds have been hunting in Cape Cod Bay. Jeff had no specifics as to where, but fishermen hitting the bay for bass would be wise to bringing along a tuna setup or two and take a cruise out to deeper water. Fortunately, Nelsons had some intel on where the tuna were popping up off the tip of the Cape. Herring Cove to Head of the Meadow has been holding feeding bluefin lately.