Decent Day on Yellowfins yesterday

[Caveman Sportfishing]

We ended up with a few decent Yellowfins along with a some nice Mahi-Mahi but other boats we talked to had 9-13 with most caught early am before we got there. I heard there was a good bite in the afternoon yesterday when the boats thinned out but we left at noon to go home. A charter boat from OCMD had multiple big eyes on right next to us in the morning and heard of quite a few boats hooking up Big Eyes the last two days. Overall decent tuna fishing for many in the Wilmington but not our day as we had hoped for at least double digits on Yellowfin on this trip. Talked to a couple of friends that said the Baltimore was loaded with pilot whales (a positive sign that the Big Eye are now there) but not much happening trolling during the day tuna wise yesterday. Heard of at least one Bluefin caught inshore over 200 lbs. this past weekend with lots of skipjacks along 20-30 fathom lumps. I think the inshore Bluefin bite is about to take off any day now once boats start to target them.

Boats that overnighted did extremely well at first light on the Yellowfins with some Big Eyes in the mix but the bite did slow as the fleet arrived. It really seemed like a weekend more than a Monday but everyone knew about the Gulf Stream water moving into the southern canyons plus the word got out quickly how good the bite was Sunday afternoon. There was good tuna fishing in multiple canyons yesterday so the secret is to get there very early or wait until the fleet thins out later in the day and try to find a pod of tuna away from all the boats if possible.

[Caveman Sportfishing]

The boats that overnight fished the Wilmington definitely did better on tuna than the ones doing day trips overall. The bite was on fire starting about 4:30 am until 7:30 am roughly then it became a pick pretty much for many. Cannot begin to remember how many times of have seen this over the years espeically when a large fleet show up and scatters the tuna or sounds them. Excessive boat traffic has a negative effect so often on tuna fishing especially when trolling in the daytime. I have decided once the weather allows us to get back offshore we will depart around midnight and that will put us in the canyon long before first light. I think we will put out our big eye spread prior to sun-up then switch over to our Yellowfin spread right at false daylight. There is know question the big eyes have now shown up locally and hoping the Yellowfins stick around for a while.

[Caveman Sportfishing]

The nice water that pushed into the Wilmington has moved south down towards the south Baltimore and Poormans Canyons which are in the 70-75 range from our dock in Cape May. We will be running either 24 hour or 14 hour day trips over the holiday weekend and have July 5-8 open at this time. Come down to Cape May and get in on this excellent bite on Yellowfin tuna and Big Eyes all within a 2-3 hour boat ride from our dock.

[Caveman Sportfishing]

Now that the offshore weather is improving we will be back out fishing more to the south in the Baltimore or Poormans Canyons which is less than 75 miles from our dock. The fishing for the few boats that made it out was off the charts the last few days with 10-20 yellowfins with many in the 40-50 lb. range and multiple Big Eyes. Just flat our great tuna fishing without a long boat ride.
We have some open dates coming up possibly late this week and over the July 4th holiday so now is the time if you want to take advantage of the great tuna fishing while it lasts.

[John D.]

When are the fish going to show in the local canyons for us manasquan guys? 😔