Canyons showing signs of life

Published: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 8:53 PM     Updated: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 9:33 PM

Al Ristori
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The Jenny Lee from Manasquan ran a crew trip to Hudson Canyon Saturday, and trolled two 45-pound yellowfin tuna plus four dolphin up to 30 pounds. Erik Villalobos(11) of Brick got into his first canyon action, including a shot at a blue marlin that was raised, but didn’t hit.

Capt. Lindsey Fuller of June Bug from Beach Haven took a party including artificial reef developer Bill Figley to Lindenkohl Canyon where they trolled a 160-pound bigeye tuna before catching small yellowfins, and then some larger ones.

Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach joined Dave Migliore on Blackbeards Revenge to fish Chicken Canyon — where only bluefish were found. They moved into the Glory Hole and watched 150-to-200-pound tuna crashing, but weren’t able to troll them.

Much further inshore, I joined Dave Lilly of Hazlet today for some deepwater fluking in Ambrose Channel from his center console out of Anglers Marine in Sea Bright. Lilly had enjoyed a decent bite of keepers the two previous days, but Anthony Altobelli of The Tackle Box in Hazlet and I couldn’t provide much help today. It was just a slow pick in a strong current, though we ended up with enough fillets from fluke up to 4 pounds  –  but not the doormat that Lilly was looking for.

Jack Gilligan of Sea Gills from Snipe Boat Club in Carlstadt did find the fluke he was looking for Monday as he drifted off Hoffman’s Island. He boated an 8.3-pounder, only to be upstaged by his cousin Larry who hooked a 10.3-pound doormat. They also caught a 5-pounder and over 60 shorts, though many of them were over 18 inches – not big enough in N.Y. waters where the minimum is 21 inches.

The Sea Devil from Point Pleasant had slower bluefishing Monday, but choppers up to 13 pounds were boated.

Capt. John Koegler of the Starfish from Beach Haven had good fishing for sea bass at Little Egg Inlet on Monday, when he was shocked to see a 21 1/2-inch cod caught.