Fishermen land a giant 500-pound bluefin tuna in 3-hour fight
The big fish are here in the waters of New Jersey.
Capt. Kris Black came back to the dock Monday with a near 500-pound giant bluefin tuna on the deck of his boat, Fish Stix. The fish measured 90 inches.
Black said he stayed inshore of the canyons and was trolling ballyhoo when the brute struck. The fish took a good run on them and hunkered down.
He and his crew of Rich Kosztyu, Ian Bonham and Darren Flynn fought the fish for three hours on a stand-up rod and Penn 70 reel before the tuna finally threw in the towel. Black said he stayed at the wheel the entire fight while his crew each took two turns on the reel.
SPORTS NEWSLETTER: Sign up now for daily updates sent to your inbox
Another big fish, Tancook passed through New Jersey waters in a blink of an eye this week. Tancook is a 10-foot, 715-pound-tagged great white shark. Its name means "facing the open sea" to the indigenous Mi'kmaq people of Nova Scotia, where it was tagged last September.
Tancook was off of Ocean City in about 30 feet of water on Tuesday. Two days later, the shark was closer to Long Island.
The conditions will be iffy at the start of the long holiday weekend. Fishermen will be looking at, or into, some patchy fog, and some gusty south winds on Friday. The fog should lift by Saturday, and the wind should start to settle but there could be some passing rain showers and thunderstorms.
The wind should pretty much die out by Sunday as the forecast calls for very light breezes.
The fluke fishing is picking up. A lot of limit catches are being made in the rivers and bays. Not much effort has been made in the ocean but that should be changing as the calendar nears June and the water warms up. The water temp was 57 degrees Wednesday at Island Beach State Park.
Steve Reynolds of Shore Kayak Fishing found some good fish home floating near the mouth of the Point Pleasant Canal on the Bay Head side. Reynolds scooped up a limit of fluke bouncing bucktails with Gulp baits.
Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait & Tackle said they weighed in a 4-pound fluke for Joel Reda of Brick. Reda was drifting Manasquan River and dragging a Gulp bait.
The fluke fishing has been very good in Shark River. Bobby Matthews at Fisherman's Den said the new size limit has been a great help for casual anglers to get some keeper fish to take home for dinner.
The sea bass fishing is still drop and reel. Capt. William Egerter Jr. on the Dauntless party boat said his fares had lots of full coolers this week. While the sea bass are in heavy, anglers are also reeling in codfish and ling at a decent clip.
The bluefish were in the surf on Thursday, according to Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park. Fran and Joe Hettler brought in some blues up to six pounds fishing with bunker.
The surf fishing has been pretty good on Ocean County's barrier islands for striped bass, too, as the shop had several weigh ins and reports.
The boatmen are landing bass trolling spoons on rocky bottom along the northern Monmouth County coastline.
Matthews said he also received reports of big bass on live eels fishing that rough bottom from Long Branch to Sea Bright.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom, where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.