<b>Shark River Inlet</b>

The <b>Bandit</b> from Belmar returned from an overnight tuna trip Monday at the southern end of Wilmington Canyon, a long run, but waters were loaded with tuna, and fishing was excellent, Capt. Scotty said. Patrons came back with yellowfin tuna to 104 pounds, mostly 80- to 90-pounders, and only a couple smaller ones. Five anglers onboard bagged 17 of the fish, and there were 11 passengers, but seas were bumpy, and six became seasick and didn’t fish. More than 35 fish were broken off during the fight, and an additional 18 popped off at the boat, all because of broken leaders. The next overnighter is Monday to Tuesday, and openings are available.

A tuna trip was weathered out Monday night on the <b>Nan Sea J</b> from Belmar, Capt. Tom said, but another was leaving the dock last night.

Canyon fishing was super with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> from Neptune last week from Thursday to Friday, Capt. Ralph said. A 500-pound blue marlin was released and was fought to the boat on a 30-class rod, and a bunch of yellowfin tuna to 90 pounds were landed, and some longfin tuna were bagged. Both chunking and trolling produced, and the weather was beautiful. Space is full on Last Lady’s open-boat canyon trips, but a few dates remain for charters.

<b>Manasquan Inlet</b>

Canyon tuna fishing was good Sunday night on the <b>Jamaica</b> from Brielle, an e-mail from the boat said. Action was spread throughout the night, but 4 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. was best. A mix of yellowfin tuna to 75 pounds and longfins to 60 pounds were bagged on bait and jigs. After sunrise the boat fished a few lobster pots, where patrons fought mahi mahi to 16 pounds. Judson Dahl was high hook with two yellowfins and two longfins. Darryl Warner, an avid wreck fisherman, tried his hand at tuna fishing and bagged a 70-pound yellowfin and a nice-sized mahi mahi. Tuna trips were pretty good last week except Thursday night, when fish were read, and some shot through the slick, but the action never turned on. But there was good daytime fishing for mahi mahi to 15 pounds.  A 39-hour trip last week produced a good catch of yellowfins to 100 pounds and a few longfins, and patrons sometimes landed golden tilefish to 25 pounds, gray tilefish, barrelfish and wreckfish. More tiles would’ve been boated, but a breeze picked up in the afternoon and pushed the drift too fast. A good number of mahi mahi were then nailed at the lobster pot buoys. A Wednesday night trip last week also came back with good numbers of yellowfins, a few longfins and some mahi mahi.

Windy weather kept reports to a minimum, but offshore fishing was good when conditions allowed boats to sail, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b> from Brielle. Customers last week headed to Hudson Canyon, where nighttime gave up very good catches of yellowfin tuna, and anglers were limiting out on the fish to 80 pounds, and Shimano butterfly jigs got 80 percent of the hits, and glow colors were hot. Trolling put out longfins at the 100 Square, and fishing for white and blue marlin was also good at the canyon. Capts. Dave and Steve Matthews on the Pepper went 9 for 17 on whites that were released. Customers were mostly fishing the Hudson and not going to other canyons at that time. Reports rolled in about at least six wahoo battled at the Glory Hole last week, and nobody talked about catching bluefin tuna at such inshore spots, but boaters returning from the Hudson said they saw bluefins.

Overnight tuna trips were weathered out on the <b>Katie H</b> from Brielle both Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday, Capt. Mike said. But trips are slated for tonight and tomorrow night. He heard little about tuna fishing in the past days, and few boats seemed to go, and sometimes winds were stiff. But boats were going back out now.

An overnight trip left for Hudson Canyon with <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b> from Point Pleasant last week on Thursday, the report on the boat’s web site said. The trip would’ve left during late morning but instead took off later because of forecasts for rough weather, so there was only 1-1/2 hours of daylight left for trolling when the boat arrived. But a 40-pound longfin tuna was trolled, and there were other knockdowns. As the sun set the anglers set up for chunking in 700 feet along the edge. Mahi mahi bit through the night, and a dozen to 10 pounds were landed. At first the lines were running toward the bow, so no tuna bit. But by 2 a.m. life started to build around the boat, and bait and tuna were read. There was a run-off, and the anglers started jigging glow-colored Shimano flat-sided butterfly jigs to try to get the bite started. The night’s first yellowfin tuna was nailed, and fish that had been down 150 feet started to rise. Then more than 20 tuna hit in the next two hours, and seven yellowfins to 85 pounds and two longfins to 45 pounds were boated, mostly on the jigs, but they also ate sardines, squid and butterfish. Andrea’s Toy is running offshore on both charters and open-boat trips.

On the <b>Benchmark</b> from Point Pleasant, Ron Antonelli’s charter fished offshore from Thursday to Friday of last week, and they had to wait a long time for tuna to start feeding, but bites came at 5:30 a.m., the report on the boat’s web site said. They boated 2 of 5 longfin that hit, and a nice yellowfin was landed at 8 a.m. before they sailed home. Greg Moran’s charter got into quite different action last week from Wednesday to Thursday. Trolling before nighttime produced two longfin tuna, and then the anglers set up to chunk. Again, it was a long wait, but the tuna started biting at 3 a.m., and then 20 of the fish to 85 pounds were nailed, and the anglers left them biting.

<b>Barnegat Inlet</b>

Jan Gladstone and friend scored great false albacore fishing at Barnegat Ridge on the <b>Hi Flier</b> from Waretown on Sunday, Capt. Dave DeGennaro said in an e-mail. They arrived at the ridge at 8:30 a.m., and the fish took a half-hour to start biting, but then more than 20 of the albies, nice-sized fish 8 to 10 pounds, were jigged the next couple of hours. None would hit a hooked bait, and every one slammed pink or chartreuse 4- and 5-inch Tsunami shads vertically jigged down 20 or 30 feet, where marks were read. Dave was fishing on another trip to Barnegat Ridge to chum for albies today. On Sunday one or two spots for individual anglers are available for albies on an open-boat trip. Monday is also available for fishing the ridge on an open trip or weakfishing in Barnegat Bay on a charter. For those who want it all, combo ridge/weakfish charters are available.
 
One angler overnighted on a party-boat tuna trip Monday in rough seas, and only a half-dozen tuna and two swordfish were lifted aboard, and conditions were terrible, said Dale from <b>L&H Woods & Water</b> in Waretown. He thought the boat fished at Carteret Canyon. But other anglers said tuna fishing was going well, and Brian from the shop was headed offshore yesterday, and Dale thought he was fishing Toms Canyon.

<b>Little Egg Inlet</b>

An offshore trip was weathered out Monday with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b> from Tuckerton, but a charter last week on Thursday night put together a good catch at Lindenkohl Canyon, Capt. T.J. said. Yellowfin tuna to 70 pounds were chunked, and several nice-sized swordfish bit, and a 130-pound sword was landed and kept. Not a whole lot was happening on the daytime troll. Another offshore trip was heading out during the end of this week.

<b>Absecon Inlet</b>

Offshore fishing news was scarce during the week, because the weather was often snotty, but boats were heading out yesterday and planned to go today, said Jack from <b>Offshore Enterprises Bait & Tackle</b> in Atlantic City. Fishing previously was strong at Lindenkohl and Spencer canyons, and most tuna seemed to bite on the chunk, and not too many seemed to be fought on the troll. The <b>Carly A</b>, the shop’s offshore charter boat, ran no trips in about a week because of weather.

<b>Townsend’s Inlet</b>

Tuna fishing was outstanding at Carteret, Spencer and Lindenkohl canyons for <b>Over Under Adventures</b> from Avalon last week, an e-mail from Over Under said. Because the fishing was good in that area, Over Under was bringing a second boat to Jersey, a vessel from their fleet that had been fishing from Ocean City, Md. The boat can accommodate more than six passengers. Tuna fishing was good the past five weeks for Over Under, and the season was shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. Check out Over Under’s schedule of <a href="http://overundercharters.com/?page=opendates" target="_blank"> open-boat trips</a>, and more dates will be added as groups call and ask about splitting costs with other anglers.

<b>Cape May Inlet</b> 

Tuna fishing was still hopping whenever boats could get out, and the weather was windy a lot, said Capt. Ray from <b>Jaftica Sportfishing</b> from Cape May. Overnight chunking was best, but daytime trolling also produced some catches. A bunch of overnight charters are booked, and Ray hopes they’ll be able to fish between the weather. Inshore trolling was pretty decent for blues, false albacore and bonito 10 to 15 miles from shore.

Offshore fishing was hot at Wilmington Canyon at night on Friday and Saturday along the edge or on the flat along the west wall, said Matt from <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Cape May in a fax. The fishing was also great at the tip of Lindenkohl Canyon. At both canyons yellowfin tuna from 70 to 100 pounds were pretty common, and a few swordfish were taken, and white marlin were sometimes trolled at the Lindy.  The inshore lumps were loaded with false albacore that could be hooked on trolled spoons or feathers or could be landed in a chum slick while anglers drifted back spearing or cast a fly or a spoon.

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