<b>Sandy Hook</b>

Fair numbers of bluefin tuna 150 pounds were plundered at the Bacardi wreck, said Joe from <b>Michael’s Bait & Tackle</b> on Staten Island.

An charter on the <b>Katie H</b> from the Highlands fished Toms Canyon overnight Saturday to Sunday, and catches were slow, but a 60-pound longfin tuna was trolled during the day, and a 15-pound mahi mahi was chunked at night, Capt. Mike said. Tuna were read but refused to bite, and a 25-pound leader with a live squid was dropped down to them, and still no bites. If tuna wouldn’t eat that, they wouldn’t hit anything, he said. A few squid schooled, nothing crazy. Waters were 70 degrees, clear, blue and good-looking. A charter will fish inshore for bluefin tuna this weekend, and another will head back to the canyons the following weekend.

<b>Shark River Inlet</b>

An inshore trip Tuesday clobbered a schoolie bluefin tuna and a 12-pound mahi mahi while anchored, said Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> from Neptune in an e-mail. On the troll a big fish was lost, and large bluefins sometimes still bit on the troll, and call for a charter. Last Lady’s canyon tuna fishing is finished for the year. Not worth the time and effort, he said.

<b>Manasquan Inlet</b>

The last tuna trip of the season, at least the last one scheduled, went out with a bang Monday on the <b>Benchmark</b> from Point Pleasant, the report on the boat’s web site said. The charter went 5 for 6 on longfin tuna on the daytime troll and hammered five large yellowfin tuna to 80 pounds on the nighttime chunk. The anglers waited all night for the yellowfins to show up. A charter last week on Thursday racked up one longfin on the troll and six on the chunk. Another trip fished inshore for bluefin tuna, bagging one until false albacore and blues took over the scene.

A trip sailed for bluefin tuna at the Mudhole on Wednesday on the party boat <b>Cock Robin</b> from Point Pleasant, Capt. Jim said in the report on the boat’s web site. The vessel anchored in 200 feet, and a runoff was scored soon afterward, but the fish got off. But the next bite produced a 30-pound bluefin that was landed. Then another fish was missed, and soon afterward a 32-pounder was landed. Then lots of tuna were read on the fish finder but refused to bite, and all different baits were tried, including butterfish, sardines, sand eels and live spots. The boat is also running false albacore trips in addition to its daily bluefishing schedule.

A longfin tuna bite on the troll went down mostly at Toms Canyon in the past week, and some boats got a dozen of the fish Wednesday, said Capt. Fred from <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b> from Point Pleasant. Yellowfin tuna remained scarce, but shots at swordfish continued, and loads of mahi mahi swarmed. Bluefin tuna fishing at the Mudhole was picky, scratchy. One more canyon charter is slated this season with Andrea’s Toy. The crew specializes in mixed-bag fishing, like for tuna, swords, sharks, mahi and tilefish all in one outing.

Eighteen tuna, mostly longfins but also 60-pound yellowfins, were trolled mostly on spreader bars on the Jenny Lee at the canyons late in the week, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b> in Brielle. One small swordfish was released at night. The crew on the Intrepid tried trolling for big bluefins at the Texas Tower and the Bacardi wreck but got none. So they fished Hudson Canyon next, landing good-sized mahi mahi and afterward deep-dropping for tilefish, boating a bunch.

Toms Canyon was fished on an overnighter last week from Thursday to Friday on the party boat <b>Gambler</b> from Point Pleasant, and catches weren’t great but weren’t bad, Capt. Bob said. Big, 50-pound longfin tuna were chunked at night, and so were four swordfish. A couple of yellowfin tuna were decked in the dark, and a couple of more longfins were taken after daybreak. A dozen mahi mahi 5 to 25 pounds were gaffed through the trip, and tilefish were added to the box. One angler specifically deep-dropped for tiles, nailing a 10-pounder and a 25-pounder. At night probably no more than 45 minutes passed without a hook-up. Jim Hartley from Wayne was high hook with two 50-pound longfins, a 40-pound yellowfin and a 20-pound mahi. Anthony Scardino, 15, from Lyndhurst, who had the day off from school, muscled in a 75-pound sword.

Yellowfin tuna were pumped aboard mostly during a one-hour period in the early morning on a trip to Hudson Canyon last Friday on the party boat <b>Sea Devil</b> from Point Pleasant, Cindy said in an e-mail. Jigs worked well, but bait also got smacked, and the boat also made a move, and longfin tuna were clubbed. Ryan Erdel and Dave Lewis each landed three tuna, and Mitch Titen and Joe Bucci each took two.  A swordfish was also bagged.

<b>Townsend’s Inlet</b>

That’s Right, one of the vessels from <b>Over Under Adventures</b> from Avalon, ran its last canyon trip of the season from New Jersey on Wednesday, the report on Over Under’s web site said. The gear was stowed away, and there just wasn’t a bite to speak of at the southern canyons anymore. The trip caught a decent-sized swordfish, a pup sword and 30 mahi mahi, mostly 10 to 18 pounds but up to 25 pounds.  Still, mahi were considerably scarcer than before, either because of fishing pressure through the season or because of cooler waters. The Baltimore was 67 ½ degrees.  Both That’s Right and Low Profile, another vessel from Over Under, fished on overnight trips that left port last Friday, a 46-hour outing for the Low Profile and a 22-hour one for That’s Right. They fished from Carteret Canyon to the Lindenkohl, Wilmington and Baltimore, tackling a couple of longfin tuna, a swordfish and lots of mahi. At first the crews gave longfins a serious shot, hoping for the first good tuna fishing of the season, but only the two were nailed. The boats tried fishing the Wilmington at night for swords and mako sharks, fish that previously took up slack while tuna were scarce this year, and found that the swords, sharks and bait became scarce. Mahi were abundant, but that seemed to change by Wednesday’s trip that was reported above. No mention was made about whether Low Profile is still sailing, so the assumption is that the boat probably is.

<b>Cape May Inlet</b>

Capt. Bob from the <b>Down Deep</b> from Cape May put away his tuna rods this weekend, calling it a season, he said.

On a drive home from the boat this week, Capt. George from the <br><b>Heavy Hitter</b> in Cape May had the tuna rods in the back of the truck.  He was probably finished offshore trips for the year. 

Tuna trips with <b>Copacetic Sportfishing</b> from Cape May are probably over for the season, Capt. Mike said. However, he’ll run fall sharking trips, and already sailed on one. A couple of brown sharks were beaten, and a big monster, maybe a thresher shark, was fought 45 minutes before it broke loose. A couple of other fish nabbed the baits, dragging off line a moment before letting go, and big bluefish were caught. No makos turned up, and waters were 67 degrees, an okay temp for fall sharking, not ideal, but on its way toward cooling down, attracting makos. Copacetic is one of the few charters that shark fishes during the autumn migration south, though the angling can be just as good as during the spring migration north, so here’s the chance to pick a fight.

Mahi mahi, wahoos and a few white and blue marlin came from Baltimore and Wilmington canyons last week, said Matt from <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> from Cape May in a fax. Farther north, Lindenkohl canyon last week offered longfin tuna that started to be trolled, and anglers hoped they moved a little farther south, closer to port.

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