Final 12 months, OTW’s Anthony DeiCicchi and Jimmy Charge, together with Adam LaRosa and Deane Lambros of Canyon Runner, launched weekly dispatches on offshore fishing within the Northeast. Over 5 months, we tracked nice fishing from big tuna simply off the seashores to best-in-a-decade billfish motion out within the canyons. Listed here are a few of the hottest bites from the 2024 season.
June: Overs on Jigs off Cape Cod
Over the previous couple of seasons, there’s been late-June run of bluefin east and north of Cape Cod, the place fishermen discovered them smashing via faculties of sand eels on the floor. In 2024, an onslaught of 60- to 70-inch tuna arrived in mid-June and couldn’t resist heavy steel.
Because the saying goes, “The flame that burns twice as brilliant burns half as lengthy,” and so it was with this chew. After per week of captains tallying double-digit hook-ups on massive recreational-size bluefin, the fish disappeared for components unknown, and the light-tackle chew east of the Cape turned a grind for the rest of the season.
July to September: College Bluefin Bonanza
In 2023, fishermen loved nice motion on yellowfin and bluefin on the Dump for a lot of the summer time. In 2024, the Dump was largely quiet and midshore yellowfin had been few and much between, however with huge numbers of fun-size bluefin arrange simply off Block Island and Montauk, nobody was complaining. The fish settled in round mid-July, and by August, hooking 10, 20, and even 40 bluefin in a day was not extraordinary. Most fell into a good vary of 32 to 36 inches, although there have been bigger fish within the combine, and anglers sticking it out may normally depend on a minimum of one encounter with a 50-inch or higher bluefin. Slender steel sand-eel jigs had been the best choice for light-tackle anglers, although there have been instances when poppers labored as nicely, if not higher.
September: Marlin Mania within the Mid-Atlantic
Boats out of Ocean Metropolis, Maryland, skilled white-hot fishing for white marlin originally of what ended up being a stormy September. Boats trolling marlin spreads within the Norfolk, Washington, Baltimore, and Wilmington canyons discovered that double-digit billfish days had been the norm somewhat than the exception. Some boats reported catching as many as 40 white marlin in a single journey. General, it was an awesome 12 months for marlin from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, right down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, however none of it in comparison with the loopy early-September chew out of the mid-Atlantic ports.
July and August: Unbelievable New England Canyon Fishing
Whereas nearer New England canyons like Atlantis and Veatch had a slower summer time, boats with the vary and gasoline budgets to succeed in distant canyons like Munson discovered downright epic fishing. At instances, yellowfin had been so ample that they had been a nuisance to crews concentrating on 200-pound bigeye that had been additionally round in nice numbers. Good water sat over these far canyons for an enormous chunk of the summer time earlier than it lastly moved west in September, bringing the fishing with it to Veatch and Atlantis for a brief window within the fall.
Late August and September: Yellowfin Night time Chunk
Yellowfin fishing assorted for a lot of the summer time, however one of many sizzling stretches was in late summer time when the fish loaded into Hudson Canyon, giving anglers a crack at catching them on chunks and jigs each through the day and at evening. September storms disrupted the chew, however by mid-October, it was ramping up once more, with headboats reporting full limits into November.
October: Not-So-Ghostly Tuna in New Jersey
Years in the past, fishermen referred to as the autumn bluefin off New Jersey “ghosts” for his or her tendency to look and shortly disappear. In 2024, that wasn’t the case. Bluefin from 40-inchers to giants stacked up on construction from simply off the seaside to far offshore. Smooth plastics, steel jigs, and infrequently stickbaits received the fish to chew, giving New Jersey fishermen a second lights-out fall bluefin chew in a row.
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