Parking Lot Lumpy Bottom Report

[Caveman Sportfishing]

Made the long run 80-90 miles south yesterday morning leaving Cape May at 1:00 am. Had some good reports that the Parking Lot had turned on with big tuna over 100 lbs and only a handful of boats were there on Friday. Ran down there with the Desilu a boat from Wildwood who fished the Lumpy Bottom on Friday and lost two brutes so we knew big fish were still there and that is what we were after. After we left Cape May Inlet the Desilu preceded to leave us in the dust and arrived 45 minutes before us at the the Parking Lot. There no other boats there and they were hooked up with 3 and 4 on when we pulled in. All their fish were on the small side in the 30 lb class and neither of us could get the big brutes down on the bottom to bite. We tried live spot and butterfishwith with no takers. Lots of action but not worth a 80 mile run. We then moved 11 miles south to the Lumpy Bottom and we only ended up with one 40 lb yellowfin chunking. We saw a decent number of boats on fish when we arrived but by 9:00 am and later it was just a pick on the bigger fish for most boats. Not anywhere near what it was like last weekend and the best of the this area is probably over now with these large fish moving north along with the bait. Some of the boats had their 3 bluefin limit in the early am and headed out to the deep for yellowfins and marlin and others had only one fish and some none. Quite a bit of radio talk by the local boats about the bait not being there like it had been last week. (Lumpy Bottom)
Their was a pretty decent troll bite on Yellowfins out on the two 30 fathom hills just inside the Tip of the Washington on bigger class yellowfins than what we have up in Cape May right now. Saw a few white marlin caught at the lumpy bottom by the chunkers using live spot for tuna also. Overall it is a lot of fuel to burn from any NJ port to get down there but it still is pretty much the only place where you have a chance on a big tuna over 125 lbs right now that I know of except in the deep where a few big eyes have been caught up in the Northern Canyons. There were a few 80-100 lb fish caught at the Hot Dog by some Ocean City, MD boats last Thursday but that did not last and have not heard of any since of that size. Overall this area is still your best bet for bigger yellowfin and bluefin but we probably will not be going back down this year because of the fuel expenses. Our game plan is trolling the 40-60 fathom lines inside the Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons with possibly a little time chunking the Tuna Lump (60 fathom Lump) or the Hot Dog. We may try trolling for the little 20-30 lb yellowfins using light tackle which are now located just beyond the 20 fathom line and points east.
They can be lots of fun and and you never know if a white or nice dolphin will be caught in the miz
Capt John
Capt John

[striper101]

Capt John,
Thanks for the update. Hopefully the fish start to move north!

[Admin]

Capt John,
Thanks for the update. Hopefully the fish start to move north!

Very nice report Capt John thanks for the info.
I wanted to go yesterday but had my sons b day party .

Hope to see them 40 0r 50 off soon i dont like the gas bill for 85 miles

[striper101]

Hope to see them 40 0r 50 off soon i dont like the gas bill for 85 miles

I know what you mean John! 85 miles sure leaves a whole in the pocket!

[Caveman Sportfishing]

John and Capt Tim try to get some GQ on big bluefin caught yesterday. Chuck has all the information and I am trying to verify how true these reports are at this time.
Fish were in 75-100 lb class and bigger and they were thick. Within range of all southern and Mid-Jersey ports. Is catching one big fish worth the ride will be up to the boat owner but at least we may have some bigger fish showing now.
Capt John