Northeast Offshore Report- July 19, 2024 – On The Water

In a tournament-heavy week across the Mid-Atlantic region, yellowfin and bigeye tuna, along with white marlin, have been the main draw for anglers making the run to places like Hudson or Wilmington Canyon. Trolling ballyhoo has been the key to success for tuna along the edge, but the fishing hasnt exactly been lights out, and golden and blueline tilefish continue to save trips. High winds and high seas hampered the tuna fishing earlier this week, but as things settled down, white marlin put on the feed bag in the canyons and a mid-shore school bluefin jig bite developed off New Jersey and Long Island due to a large mass of sand eels.

Meanwhile in southern New England, the bluefin bite has been slow with only some small, undersize bluefin. But further north, fishing is good on Jeffreys Ledge despite rampant shark activity, and bluefin are really beginning to fill in around the northern end of Stellwagen and Middle Bank. The mackerel have thinned out a bit, and those bluefin have moved inside Isles of Shoals to feed on bunker in 30 to 50 feet of water, where theyre being caught on the troll and with poppers.

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The trolling bite exploded for bigeye tuna in Wilmington Canyon early in the week and while it didnt remain hot for long, it was good enough for one boat to bring in a 191-pound bigeye to win the 37th Annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament last Sunday. A few of the fish were taken on spreader bars, but most were caught by trolling skirted ballyhoo. On a similar note, just north in Atlantic City, NJ, a 193-pound bigeye was brought back to the dock this week.

More recently, a few bluefin tuna have been taken over inshore lumps in the 15- to 30-fathom range. And while some large mahi were taken in the Jimmy Johnson Quest for the Ring Tourney in NJ, chicken mahi are beginning to show up on floating structure and over mid-shore reefs. There are enough of them around that even bottom fishing party boats are getting in on the action by casting jigs toward mats of grass and flotsam on the surface.

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Yellowfin and bigeye tuna were taken on trolled ballyhoo in the canyons this week when conditions permitted a safe run. Hudson Canyon has some big yellowfin with a mixture of white and blue marlin. Meanwhile, the mid-shore grounds hosted a bite of school bluefin and big yellowfin tuna that showed a preference for Nomad jigs and UVT jigs in 90 to 160 feet of water; a few yellowfin were even taken on poppers. According to Captain Adrian Moeller of Rockfish Charters those yellowfin have mostly moved off the mid-shore grounds now, but large sand eels are keeping school bluefin well fed.

For boats running out of Ocean City, NJ, during the Jimmy Johnson Quest for The Ring Championship Fishing Week, white marlin have been the most bountiful; at this time, 80 of the 113 tournament catch entries are white marlin, with the largest weighing in at 63 pounds.

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There are reports of bluefin as close to home as Ipswich Bay where theyre feeding on herring, mackerel, and pogies. The fish are beginning to fill in around the northern end of Stellwagen and Middle Bank, and there are some tuna being caught on south end of the bank and Peaked Hill Bar.

There are still tuna around Jeffreys Ledge where both casting at feeds and trolling have been successful; however, sharks havemoved in thick to collect their tax.

To the south, white marlin have been spotted in the shipping lanes about 20 miles south of the Dump, and small school bluefin remain available with some commercial-size giants around, but legal rec. fish have been tougher to come by. Captain Larry Backman of the Skipjack in Falmouth said his best guess for bluefin would be to fish the 30-fathom line from Butterfish Hole to Tuna Ridge.

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Northeast Offshore Report- July 19, 2024 - On The Water