Offshore Fishing Report – August 4, 2023
Captain Bill’s Landing in Point Pleasant Beach shared this photo of Capt. Niff and crew member, Ken, of the Audrey Sue with the 83-pound bluefin caught earlier this week.
Inshore/MidShore
Fishermen off New Jersey seem to have cracked the code on those inshore bluefin over the past week, and the codecracker was live squid. Bluefin have been setting up over the lumps and bumps where good numbers of squid are also holding. Anglers are jigging squid on the grounds and sending them out for bluefin that have been ranging up into the too-big-to-keep-recreationally realm. According to some reports there’s been a big fleet on the more productive spots, which has led to some more finicky tuna. But, glass-half-full fishermen are still enjoying some fresh fried calamari even if the bluefin poke bowls elude them. The bite’s been good in the afternoon, so you don’t need to leave the dock at first thing in order to hook up.
View this post on Instagram
The southern New England tuna grounds are still producing a reliable jig bite for bluefin, which is going on its fourth straight week (if not more). The topwater bite for yellowfin fired up over the last few days, and it’s beginning to look like a repeat of last year’s lights out yellowfin fishing in easy range of Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut anglers.
East of Chatham saw a resurgence in the topwater tuna action this week, but word had it that it was a farther than usual run east to get to the fish.
Giants are popping up at Montauk, the Regal Sword off Chatham, MA, at Stellwagen Bank, and pretty much wherever they well please. One young angler had the thrill of a lifetime fishing a couple hundred yards off the tip of Cape Cod when a giant tuna tried to rob him of the 10-pound bluefish he was fighting.
Mahi fishing is improving. More boats are reporting finding schools of chicken mahi holding on lobster pots inside the canyons, so, when heading off for those mid-shore tuna, have some striper or albie gear rigged with small jigs or poppers ready to throw at any floating structure. At the Dump, a perennial mahi hotspot south of the Vineyard, the water looks good for mahi, but there hasn’t been as much structure to throw at lately, according to a report from Stavros Viglas out of Martha’s Vineyard. Anglers drifting and jigging for tuna are occasionally seeing mahi cruise by the boat.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Canyons
While most of the midshore mahi are smaller than 10 pounds, there have been some “bull” mahi in the canyons. In last week’s Tri-State Canyon Shoots, one boat lost an estimated 50-pound mahi at boatside.
The Cape May, NJ fleet is finding good action on bigeye, billfish, and yellowfin fishing the southern canyons with the billfishing getting better the further south you go. The New England and eastern canyons, namely Atlantis and Veatch, have been slower, but fewer boats have been running that far outside the tournaments, with the midshore tuna fishing being so good. Daytime swordfishing devotees, like Captain Larry Backman, are catching.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
There was a slowdown in the New England canyons around this time last year, and Anthony DeiCicchi and I had a nearly fishless 36 hours in Veatch, save for a few consolation tilefish.
Tilefishing has been good, and fishermen from Norfolk Canyon to Atlantis are adding to the fish box with almost all goldens to the north and a mix of bluelines and goldens to the south.
Leave a Reply