August is here, can you believe it!!!! It is the half way point for my fishing season and the evolution of fishing styles continues! Yesterday (Tuesday) the bait fish were a challenge to find and when I got back to the river, the bluefish ate most of them in an hour! One striper measured 33 1/2"s and was released. These were mostly snapper blues approximately 15"s  so I converted to trolling and caught several on my bass rods. These fish will be in and out for the remainder of the season unless we get a major clod snap.

 The big stripers I was catching "outside" have moved out beyond the 3 mile line for now. They will come back with the bait but that style has dried up for the short term.

 I have seen more "spike" mackerel inshore than I've seen in years! Spikes are 3-4" mackerel and combined with our current crop of young and adult herring, this should be one amazing fall migration this year!! The term "fall" can be deceiving because the young herring can start dropping out of the rivers as soon as the second week in August. Then they move south and get trapped along the beach fronts. When that happens and the bass & bluefish find them, it can lead to great surface feeds.

 TUNA! I saved the best for last. Monday I put in my first day of dedicated tuna fishing. The magic worked and I caught a 62-63" tuna!!! I was fishing solo and frankly was not as prepared as I thought. My tape measure was at home where I left it after making a 59" marker line for the boat. 29" to less than 59"s is the slot size this year and the fish was over the limit and safely released. I have no photographic proof of my catch because I while leadering, measuring and releasing the fish, I realized I had left my 3rd and 4th hands at home too and could not get a quick picture!

 The good news is I caught my first tuna of the season. The BETTER news is that they were within five miles of the beach and will be feeding on the same spike mackerel and herring the striped bass & bluefish will be for the rest of our fishing season!! This is going to be one great year!!

Good fishing

Capt. Scott