Yellowfin jig bite at night goes off finally within range of Cape May

[Caveman Sportfishing]

It finally started at night with some pretty impressive Yellowfin catches

Jigging for Yellowfins at night goes off big time. We will be running some overnight trips targeting tuna and swords but no trolling on these shorter jigging and popping trip. We will try to offer the best possible price but that will depend on which canyon has the best night bite and how far we have to run.

Well the Yellowfins have finally showed up at night within range of the faster southern NJ fleet. As we move into mid-October and early November the weather windows to spend the night in the canyons becomes fewer and fewer but we plan to go starting as soon as we can get out as this time of year can provide some of the very best jigging of the year on Yellowfins and even possibly a few longfins.

Over the last few days there have been some great catches of Yellowfins on jigs mostly with some boats limiting out. We have been waiting for two years now for this to happen and finally feel the fishing is well worth making a trip overnight. In addition there has been a some very nice swordfish and Mako’s caught that added to the night’s catch but catching a trophy sword over 200 lbs is difficult with their south mouths which have resulted in some marathon 2-3 hour fights with only 22 lbs of drag maximum but they are out there and we will be fishing for them as well as possibly a true giant Bluefin that do show up in limited numbers in the local canyons this time of year. It is time now and over the next few weeks the fish will be moving towards the southern canyons closer to Cape May and in other years we had nothing short of awesome tuna fishing at night and I do believe we will see this happen over the next few weeks. We plan to run as long as the fish are within range and the weather allows but will be leaving our trolling rods home as this is now jig and chunk time unless the longfins (true Albacore tuna) show up in numbers as the ocean waters cool down. These fish should be moving south closer to the canyons off Cape May over the next few weeks and provide some great night time jigging and possibly the opportunity to throw some poppers at daybreak if the fish are up top feeding.

Here is a copy of an e-mail I received yesterday from one of the captains that works on our boat that he received from friends that overnighted this past Sat-Sun.

John,
Some buddies of mine came back this morning with a nice catch. They were at the Lindy. Bite started as soon as they set up at 8pm. They went 5 for 7 until around 9. Then everything died when the squid disappeared. They got a 125lb. Mako around midnight. All hell broke loose at 4am. They went 13 for 15 for the next hour and a half.
Final total 17 yellowfins (40 - 60 class), 1 mako, and 1 Dolphin. They cleared TI at 8am. Most of Strathmere is having fresh tuna tonight.
Jimmy
PS, apparently the fish were larger up in the Toms

[Sea Draggin]

Thanks for the update and report.

Limits of YFT sounds good.

[FLATLINER]

AT LEAST SOMEONE'S GETTIN UM! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVENT SEEN UM ALL SEASON!!!!!

[Dads Dream]

What's the run time out of Cape May.....I grew up in Jersey....can't remember the canyon runs......the Mud Hole....and Baltimore Canyon??

80 miles ~ more?

[juicyhook]

Thanks for the report, mabe they will make a showing south in a few weeks.

[Rainmaker 1]

What's the run time out of Cape May.....I grew up in Jersey....can't remember the canyon runs......the Mud Hole....and Baltimore Canyon??

80 miles ~ more?

Tom's Canyon is a 103 mile from Cape May and the Lindy is about 90 miles. Well worth it if the fish are there