<b>Sandy Hook</b>

Warm, fish-holding water is becoming scarce at Hudson Canyon and northern waters, though it’s possible the east winds might push in warm Gulf Stream water, said Capt. Freddy Gamboa from <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b>. Still, the productive water is now sliding down to the southern canyons. For example, the warm water at mid week stretched from the Toms to the Spencer canyons at 100 fathoms, and the Toms was 72 degrees, and the Hudson was 67 degrees. Slithers of warm water were in the northern areas, but those eddies were moving fast, and the reliable areas of water in the 70s were to the south. But some big bluefin tuna were on the east side of the Hudson. Andrea’s Toy is running open-boat, offshore canyon trips for mixed bags of tuna, mahi mahi, tilefish, sharks and billfish once a week whenever the weather allows. An opening is available on next week’s trip, and more openings are available on future trips.

It’s been tough to catch a break from the weather, said Capt. Bill Hoblitzell from <b>Outback Fishing Charters</b>. Friends fished the Monster Ledge for pelagics Monday and Tuesday and found nothing, not even bluefish.

</b>Shark River</b>

The <b>Bandit</b> fished on an open-boat tuna trip Monday to Tuesday, sailing all the way south to Wilmington Canyon, and the fishing was good, Capt. Scotty said. Thirty-four yellowfin tuna from 50 to 85 pounds were boated, and so was a 45-pound longfin tuna, and 10 anglers were aboard. The boat anchored at 5:30 p.m., and within a half-hour six tuna were hooked. Openings are available for open tuna trips, including this coming Sunday.

An open-boat canyon trip Wednesday to Thursday produced a steady bite all night for <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph said in an e-mail. The fishing was very good for yellowfin tuna to 90 pounds and longfin tuna to 50 pounds, and one more open-boat canyon trip was added to Last Lady’s schedule that will sail October 31 to November 1.

<b>Manasquan Inlet</b>

The stormy weather kept fishing reports scarce through the weekend, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b> in Brielle. Before the weather, canyon tuna fishing was hot, but the action wasn’t at Hudson Canyon anymore but instead was pushing to the south to the Toms Canyon and beyond. Most people were chunking the tuna, mostly yellowfins, at this time of year, but those who trolled also caught fish, mostly longfin tuna but also a few billfish and wahoo. Also before the weather, undersized bluefin tuna 30 or 40 pounds were hitting at the Monster Ledge.  Some of the bluefins were landed on the troll, but most boaters anchored and chunked with butterfish and such bait, and some of the fish bit jigs.

The <b>Katie H</b> did no fishing in all the bad weather, but the vessel is supposed to resume tuna fishing this weekend, and the weather was forecast to calm down today, Capt. Mike said. Charters will tuna fish into November if the fish keep biting and the weather allows.

The <b>Defiant</b> was fishing for giant bluefin tuna in Massachusetts this week, but it turned out that none of the tuna were biting from Maine to that state, so the boat is heading home, Capt. John said. Commercial boats were scooping up all the herring in those waters, and no giants were sticking around without the herring, and dogfish were starting to move in. A canyon tuna charter is slated for Saturday to Sunday from Point Pleasant, and a bunch of canyon trips will follow.

Tuna fishing continued to be good on the party boat Jamaica, said Chris from <b>Brielle Bait & Tackle</b>.

<b>Beach Haven Inlet</b>

The forecast looked like the weather would provide an excellent window of opportunity to run an open-boat, overnight tuna chunking trip Sunday to Monday on the <b>June Bug</b>, and four slots are available, Capt. Lindsay said in an e-mail. The fishing’s been outstanding.

<b>Great Egg Harbor Inlet</b>

Quite a few tuna were fought mostly at Wilmington Canyon at night on bait fished 100 feet down in a chunking slick, said Dan from <b>Fin-Atics</b> in Ocean City. The fish were probably also at Baltimore Canyon, and the action at Spencer Canyon had been hot but then slowed down. Swordfish were also chunked, and mahi mahi were trolled.

Fishing for yellowfin tuna and a few longfins was apparently good at the Wilmington and Lindenkohl canyons early this week, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Stray Cat</b>. Tuna charters will remain available on the boat for some time.

Fishing was mostly shut down from the weather since last week’s nor’easter, said a fax from T.C. from <b>Brennan Marine</b> in Somers Point. One offshore report came in from anglers on a boat that sailed to Lindenkohl Canyon early last week, and they caught several yellowfin tuna and some dolphin and had a rough ride home.

<b>Townsend’s Inlet</b>

Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b> in Sea Isle City heard about tuna boated this week at Baltimore Canyon on the troll, believe it or not, and chunking for the tuna should also be good. 

<b>Hereford Inlet</b>

Before last week’s storm, tuna fishing was excellent at 40 to 50 fathoms inside Baltimore Canyon both while chunking and trolling, said an e-mail from Cathy from <b>Sterling Harbor Marina</b> in Wildwood.

<b>Cape May Inlet</b>

The <b>Heavy Hitter</b> is expected to sail for tuna on an overnight charter this weekend, and the forecast looked like the weather would be okay, Capt. George said. All the tuna seemed to be in southern waters now, and another captain fished for them Monday to Tuesday at Wilmington Canyon, put together a nice catch, and said the northern boats, such as the Doris Mae from Long Beach Island, were there. The captain marked few fish but just set up on the chunk at a spot where he’d been catching fish, and a tuna was caught about every half hour. A temperature chart this week showed that all the warm water was at the Wilmington and Baltimore canyons, and the water looked cold at Spencer Canyon and all the canyons to the north. But the easterly winds this week could push in warm water to those areas from the Gulf Stream. The Elephant Trunk also held warm, 70- to 71-degree water. The weather has made tuna fishing very difficult this year for Cape May boats, and lots of the Heavy Hitter’s tuna charters have been blown out.

<b>Jaftica Sportfishing</b> tried to put together a tuna trip for Monday evening during a short break in the weather, but it was too short notice, and a crew couldn’t be found to fish, Capt. Ray said. He’ll try to tuna fish this Saturday if the weather is okay, and that will be the boat’s last tuna trip of the year. Other boats that made it out landed as many as 15 tuna recently.

Capt. Stan from the <b>Canyon Clipper</b> is still trying to get out for tuna, if the weather will allow, he said. Mako sharks should also be haunting 28-Mile Wreck by now, if anyone wants to get in on fall sharking.

Capt. Gary from the <b>Sea Fox</b> knew of nobody who fished during the bad weather, he said. Tuna charters are still sailing on the boat.

The <b>Top Shelf</b> is finished tuna fishing until it heads to North Carolina to sail for giant bluefins this winter, Capt. Bill said.

Strong winds hampered fishing, but when boats were able to sail lately, fishing was good, said a fax from Capt. Fred from <b>Harbor View Marina</b> in Cape May. Last week the Wilmington, Spencer and Lindenkohl canyons were all giving up plenty of yellowfin tuna and some swordfish.

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