bluefin tuna

[bob lico]

brewster on you on them bad boys . there breaking all over the place around moriches inlet feeding on sand eels .

[Brewster Minton]

There here too. Nice fish. Call me this weekend and we will go if you can.

[JP Dalik]

Going in the morning.
Maybe some Thanksgiving sashimi.
Fish have been all over down here.
Dialed in on sandeels and smaller bluefish.

Unless I can catch some live bait, looks like I'll be wwwwb and planer fishing.

[jspiezio]

Good luck!

[bob lico]

walterk this is the seventies back again . the bluefin tuna are knocking the bad ass bluefish off the sand eel pods. i have not seen this since 1976 off block island only they were giants never the less you have to see the white water with the birds overhead only a mile off the beach .

[In Memory Walter K]

Whoopee! Go get 'em. Thought those days were gone forever!

[JohnCranston]

Sashimi for Thanksgiving?
Blue fin a mile off the beach?
I'm jealous...go get them guys.

[Al C]

Tough to catch these fish, they are so keyed in on the sand eels they ignore just about everything. After three trips we got one to bite on a sluggo rigged on spinning gear. Good news is the bass are usually close by and provide relief after the tuna get you frustrated!!!!

[bob lico]

i wonder what luck you would have with livelining a 12" bluefish?ac1977 did you go with a diamond jig and white tube to match the hatch?

[Al C]

Bob, we tried every tuna and bluefish jig we had. Big and small, every color we had some we had not used in years. Tried live lining bluefish but the smallest we caught were in 3-5 pound range so maybe a smaller one might be better. Even the ever reliable wwb bally on a z wing didn't work. The slugo with a slow twitch retrive got two but one didn't make the boat. It could change tomorrow but thats what worked for us.

[bob lico]

tuna has to be the most fickle fish i have ever encounted. one night in the canyon we tryed butterfish,whitefish,liveline squid, some mackeral we had on ice from sharking and finally a left over1/2 flat of herring i was going to cut for chum .one of the guys put one on a leader and we were off to the races in minutes.drive you crazy when your marking right under the boat and just can`t connect "what am i doing wrong" shut off the lights maybe the mono is lighting up .put on the lights bring back to squid . turn on the underwater lights .this week these guys are bent on sand eels perhaps we go with fluorocarbon with double hooks with multible sand eels

[Capt. DQ]

Good Luck Guys, go get-cha one.

DQ

[Tony Meola]

A couple of weeks ago, a guy out of Barnaget caught them on Umbrella rigs using lures to match the hatch. Apparently they are interested in taking in a mouthfull of sand eels at a time so they ignore the single baits.

The umbrella rig gives them the appearance of a school of sand eels.

A friend of mine also hooked up on one while trolling for stripers. He was pulling a surgical tube. He couldn't stop it on the gear he had. The reel was almost stripped when the line broke.

[Brewster Minton]

I had two fish to 80# in the fog by myself. Lots of fun landing an 80 pound fish with no help. After the second one I was pretty shot so I went drinking.Going this afternoon after lunch with my son.

[bob lico]

damn !!! why didn`t you call me! never mine the fog those were so pretty nasty waves in the inlet. hmm seams like another nut that wave off the coasties at the inlet with small craft warning flags flying on there flag staff.sound like you own a 31 bertram. btw how did you match the hatch?

[Brewster Minton]

There were some big rollers in the inlet but it was nothing to worry about. I used some jigs that a freind makes for me custom. I used the Sunami rod I won at the Montauk 31 dinner and a Vanstall 300 with 30# moi-moi to bang the fish stand up with the rodhookie.

[bob lico]

brewster don`t get the ruputation on this board like that nutjob "phoenix".mine went something like this----" phoenix outbound fire island looking for radio check" a moment of silence --try again phoenix---.after three trys coast guard o215 fire island ok radio check ----phoenix be advised small craft warning going to gale warning " phoenix thank you"------" coast guard ensign macormick phoenix be advised air/search/rescue from sandy hook " another words look you idiot we are not even coming out to get you and air rescue from new jersey is 80miles!!!

[randall]

air rescue has its limitations. 3 hours of chopper search couldnt find my son, his friends, and aswamped red 16 foot canoe.....................................in the bay.

[JP Dalik]

Well back to the dock.

Happy to say my son caught his bet yet. 61.70 bluefin wwwwwwwb payed off (dink blue and white eye with meat) lots of fish up and down the line. Saw nothing over 70 lbs in the bunches this morning. Pics to follow. Great day, both grandfathers on the boat, my brother, partner and brother in law, me on the wheel,,,, no better audience for my son to sit in the chair with.

Was bet $200.00 we couldn't catch one today by the owner of the Canyon Runner, bad day for him to bet against a Bertram.

Happy Thanksgiving.

[bob lico]

way to go jp you make up proud. if anyone was going to get a late season bluefin it would be you and brewster.-----even better your son was on the rod!!

[Brewster Minton]

Went 3 for 5 again today in 90 feet of water. Snapped of two fish that were a little bigger. Storm is here now so not today I guess. It is nice to hook into fish and only burn 8 gallons for the whole day.

[MikeD@Lightningshack]

I have been having trouble getting these Inshore BFT to bite the last few trips.

Yesterday, I made Fin-S, and Gulp Daisy chains with light Fluoro carbon. Green Gulps about 4" worked good yersteday.

I dropped 3 fish and never landed one, but I am happy to have least finally got them to bite.

One broke the main line??? After a few minutes, No chafe, no signs of anything abnormal. The schools were thick, so I think it must have got pulled across another fish while tight.

I then had a 30lb fluoro leader snap.. not a huge surprise, but if they aren't biting you can't catch them.

Then a 40lb fluoro leader knot pulled on the hook...

A little bad luck, maybe a knot mistake, but you can troll these fish up.

I was trolling at 3kts, stalling when near a school to let the lures fall, then bringing them up by putting it in gear.

If the wind cooperates between now and monday I will be back at it.

JP, I saw you run by me on your way back for Turkey I presume, Chimera always looks good.

regards,
Mike

[JP Dalik]

Freshly flushed from Thanksgiving






Trying to get out next week. See if we can get lightening to strike twice.

[Brewster Minton]

great job JP

[JP Dalik]

Brew,

Saw the secrect weapon. Those fish still on sand eels up there. Seeing the first signs of the herring showing up here. Should make ballyhoo fishing and jigging allot easier when they switch from eels to fish.

[Capt. DQ]

Way to go JP, Cort will be hooked for life.

DQ

[Harv]

I remember a similar situation about 5 years ago, only it was big fish in November. 300-500lb class fish. A friend of mine was trolling bunker spoons on 4/0 outfits in 40 feet off Jones Beach, and had one of his spoons picked up and cleaned the spool in roughly 10 seconds. What's really funny is the name of his boat, is Bluefin.

[MikeD@Lightningshack]

Guys,

Spent a solid 9 hours trolling for them on Sunday around the Sea Girt Reef.

Not a touch this time. We had them in the spread early and around the boat all morning.

I had the sand eel daisy chains out all morning, tried a couple other lures in the afternoon, but the fish seemed to disappear early afternoon.

Stuck it out till 3:30PM but they never came up again, wind picked up to around 20kt out of the South.

Biggest fish I saw today was around 60lb. Guys at the dock said they saw them further South in the afternoon near Axel Carlson.

I will try again if we get another window, next weekend.

JP if you make it out this week, let us know if they are still around? Water was 52 Sunday... but it is a lot easier getting a crew when you can tell them the fishing is good with straight face.

Good Luck,

thanks,
Mike