NJ fishing reports

Finally tuna blood on deck!
Youtube video: 58" YFT
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monster 58" YFT. At "the Princess" aka "AP". 48 miles SE of Manasquan Inlet.
Hit first jig dropped on a questionable choice of rods:rolleyes:... We gaffed it 1.16 miles from the hookup spot. we were on for an hour and a half...three guys traded off on the rod...twice...

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Congrats, I've heard there are some nicer ones out there. We're you also chunking or just Jigging?
We're going to Humpty Dumpy on my brother's (Regulator 28) early Friday AM (along with the rest of NJ...) and hopefully Resor or AP on Saturday or Sunday whichever day gives us the better window. I'd rather run to AP on Friday but my nephew is stuck at work...
 
AP area has the YFT and they are big.
first jig to hit the bottom. 6 oz diamond jig
Fish marks are at 50ft with bait scratch on bottom. You see streaks and bait pushed up.
We see guys speed jigging and yanking like crazy....We're to old for that sh@.We jig the bottom.
Trollers were getting them too.

Humpty has BFT. Jigging has been on the edge or on top 90ft. Trollers have also been in the hole 120ft
There was another fleet on the south rise out of the hole too.
There are too many boats to troll. Stick it out with jigs at the hump or get away and troll.
There are Kingfish (King Mackeral) ..and bluefish...and sharks...and rays....around eating the chunks of chunkers.
Heard of a 25 pound Cobia.
 
We ran out of Atlantic Highlands on my brother's new non Grady to the Humpty Dumpty this morning. New boat so we waited until first light to run so arrived a little after 6. Saw a couple boats hooked up but didn't see any major action and the fleet seemed to scatter by 7. No tuna for us but caught Bonita on the troll and another Bonita and King on the jig.

A bit of a swell but we were able to make 30kts out and 35kts coming home. Back at it tomorrow if the weather holds with an earlier start and may run out to the AP area.
 

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;)gotta watch your fish ID terms.... those are Bonito (oceanic bonito) not Bonita aka False Albacore aka Little Tunny
Bonito are very toothy, slender , stripes on top and no spots.

Bonito are considered good eating by some (I didn't care for it myself) whereas Bonita are crap.
Both make great strip baits for fluke and Mahi.


We got skunked at AP Thursday early. At one point every boat around us was either on or gaffing or bleeding out a fish and high five-ing.
A few boats chunking. If we go again we will chunk & jig

We were jigging til we could not stand it anymore...ran to pots for mahi and then Hudson for tilefish.

There were mahi on Chicken Canyon pots but not at Hudson and not in Glory hole.

Got 20 golden tiles on West Wall, 450ft to 650 ft...one long drift.... Broke in a brand new electric reel and hand cranked a 50 bent butt

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My bad and correct, these were Atlantic Bonito https://g.co/kgs/Hf93PU which is different than Oceanic Bonito which I actually like for sushi if fresh.

I'm broiling some for dinner but not overly enthusiastic about it but we'll see.

From reading the FB reports it sounds like a few Bluefin were caught early so we're determined to leave the dock an hour or so earlier at odarkthirty and make another go of it.
 
Seafarer_Bob said:
My bad and correct, these were Atlantic Bonito https://g.co/kgs/Hf93PU which is different than Oceanic Bonito which I actually like for sushi if fresh.

I'm broiling some for dinner but not overly enthusiastic about it but we'll see.

From reading the FB reports it sounds like a few Bluefin were caught early so we're determined to leave the dock an hour or so earlier at odarkthirty and make another go of it.
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Hehehe...I was going to say Atlantic Bonito but I thought I read on NMFS site it was oceanic bonito...maybe a general term for the lot of them?... So to add to confusion, some people call Skipjack tuna Oceanic Bonito and some people call both bonito and bonita "skippies"... Skipjack are supposed to be good sushi too but after trying, I could pass. In Japanese food, "shaved bonito" is dried skipjack.

Not a fan of Kingfish either... and thats another name disaster...
 
The 2 species called bonito are easy to tell apart. Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) aka oceanic bonito have stripes that are parallel to the lateral line. Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda) have stripes that run off at an angle. The fish in the picture is an Atlantic bonito.
 
Doc Stressor said:
The 2 species called bonito are easy to tell apart. Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) aka oceanic bonito have stripes that are parallel to the lateral line. Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda) have stripes that run off at an angle. The fish in the picture is an Atlantic bonito.
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yep and skipjack stripes are on the belly

skipjack
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little tunny aka bonita aka false albacore
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bonito (atlantic)
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We cleared NY harbor at about 4 this morning and made it to little Italy just as it was getting light. The ocean was glassy but a 3' swell kept us under 25kts or we'd launch on the bigger waves. We jigged with the fleet until about 8 but heard a couple people catching on the troll so we switched over and finally around 9 the old crusty natural cedar plug chain in the wash went down and we landed a 33" bluefin then got another on a red and crystal Joe Schute with a Bally and headed for the barn at 10.

ps: the BonitO was pretty dry so I'm probably putting the rest in the smoker with the king.
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Seafarer_Bob said:
We cleared NY harbor at about 4 this morning and made it to little Italy just as it was getting light. The ocean was glassy but a 3' swell kept us under 25kts or we'd launch on the bigger waves. We jigged with the fleet until about 8 but heard a couple people catching on the troll so we switched over and finally around 9 the old crusty natural cedar plug chain in the wash went down and we landed a 33" bluefin then got another on a red and crystal Joe Schute with a Bally and headed for the barn at 10.
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EXCELLENT!!!! :pThats the way a plan comes together! And you beat the thunderstorms home!
 
I heard Thursday a guy left the AP after getting skunked(like us!) and then trolled 6 YFT north of the RESOR.... They are everywhere this year. Some guys got BFT 3 miles off the beach, some got them at Manasquan ridge 8 miles.

I'm hoping the YFT stick around at AP 50 miles and settle into a chunk bite all summer. Last year it was 75 miles and we thought THAT was great!
 
SkunkBoat said:
I heard Thursday a guy left the AP after getting skunked(like us!) and then trolled 6 YFT north of the RESOR.... They are everywhere this year. Some guys got BFT 3 miles off the beach, some got them at Manasquan ridge 8 miles.

I'm hoping the YFT stick around at AP 50 miles and settle into a chunk bite all summer. Last year it was 75 miles and we thought THAT was great!
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Also got report of Bigeyes and YFT at Toms Canyon
 
SkunkBoat said:
We got skunked at AP Thursday early. At one point every boat around us was either on or gaffing or bleeding out a fish and high five-ing.
A few boats chunking. If we go again we will chunk & jig

We were jigging til we could not stand it anymore...ran to pots for mahi and then Hudson for tilefish.
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what were the boats around you at AP doing?
 
If the forecast holds it looks like we're running to the Atlantic Parking lot Saturday or maybe Sunday. I'm sure it'll be a circus out there but I'm busy the next couple weeks and can't pass a window like this, anyone else?
 
What are you looking at to assume it’ll be good? Something more than rain/ wind and forecasted wave height vs period?

Some guys got technical on the Key West trip and I have a feeling there are more items I should consider when heading out front…
 
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