When last Friday's column was written on that Thursday, there was uncertainty as to whether the shark tournaments would proceed due to an ever-changing offshore weather forecast. As those following my daily blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing found out later Friday morning, the Jersey Coast Shark Anglers had pushed their Mako Fever to this weekend, while the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association went ahead with their Mako Mania. The latter turned out to be the best decision as the marine forecast improved greatly by Friday afternoon -- and the biggest problem sharkers had Saturday morning was a lack of drift in very light winds.
Frank Dee's Lock Out from Brielle weighed a 301-pound mako that afternoon at Crystal Point Marina in Point Pleasant, but Tim O'Donnell said they didn't have a hit up to early afternoon when the south wind kicked in to provide a drift. A blue shark was finally caught, and when lines were quickly deployed again the mako hit. It jumped six times, almost landing on the bow, before Mike Costello fought it to boatside.
The Mako Mania field was diminished to 113 boats due to the initial one week postponement and uncertainty about the offshore weather, but there was decent fishing as Capt. Pete Grimbilis of the GPPCBA said 18 makos were weighed while others were released or not weighed in since they were short of the sixth place leader on the board. Sunday turned out to be an even better day or sharking.
Dee wasn't in all the Calcuttas, so his winning payout of $28,291 fell short of the second place 271-pounder that was weighed Sunday evening by Tin Knocker. Bob Pellegrino of Point Pleasant won $50,075 for that mako fought by Ed Lippert. Steve Martin of Forked River took $10,378 for the third place 251-pounder reeled in by Frank Kibitlewski on Black Gold.
Fourth and $6682 went to Steve Mallett and his family from Forked River on Tradition for a fourth place 184-pounder caught by Dave Mallett. Tom Orgo of Colts Neck was also among those shaking up the standings Sunday afternoon as he weighed a 178-pound mako fought by Billy Parella for fifth. The last scoring place went to the last boat in as Bill Deutschlanber's Caroli had a 176-pounder fought by Jason Chesla that just edged Kaitlin's 173-pound mako off the leader board. Others who were in the money for awhile included Reel Shark at 157 pounds; Gold Rush with a 147-pounder; and Vinyl Decision at 139 pounds. Jeff Crilly of Toms River weighed a 136-pounder on last year's winner, Big Nutz Required II. Anthony Arcabascio, Jr. took a break from promoting his father's Tony Maja bunker spoons to catch a 139-pound mako on Sligo.
Grimbilas passed out the awards at a Thursday night party in River Rock at Brick, and noted that donations of $3638 each were made to Deborah Hospital and to the Ocean Reef Foundation that is working with the NJ. DEP to place more ships on our artificial reefs.
My fishing time was restricted this week due to cleaning out a half-century of fishing tackle from my basement for Saturday's garage sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1552 Ospey Ct., Manasquan Park 08736. However, I did get out on Monday with Mark Roy on his Release Me for a half-day of local sharking at Monster Ledge along with his fellow Warren residents Jeff Sobin and Yaping Jiang. A south wind provided a good drift, but there was only one hit. Yet, that single blue shark created more excitement than we could have hoped for as Ping fought a stand-up battle with her 105 pounds against the similar-sized shark while Sobin held onto her harness to keep her in the boat. Ping was a little disappointed when Roy cut the leader on her first shark after I assured her it wasn't good-eating, but the magic of the internet allowed her relatives in China to view a video of the "epic fight". Though that was the first day of summer and sunny, we never took our jackets off.
The Raritan Reach fluke run that party boat skippers were calling the best fluking in years, with many limits being caught, finally dropped off on Monday after almost two weeks. It's been up-and-down there this week, as the passage of tankers turns the bite off for a while, and poor wind against tide drifting conditions have prevailed. Yet, some big fluke continue to be caught. Capt. Stan Zagleski, of Elaine B II at Bahrs in Highlands, weighed a near-doormat 9 5/8-pound fluke Wednesday for Tom Denman of Morris Plains, while Steve Smith of Guttenberg had two of 7 1/4 and 7 1/16 -- and Lisa Gormley from Uniondale, Pa. boated a 6 7/16-pounder.
The Elaine B. had a real doormat last Saturday when Jim Page of Interlaken boated one of 10pounds, 11 ounces, while Dennin Xoo of Little Ferry fell just four ounces short of 10 pounds.
The run of large migrating stripers continues along the Shore, though it's been best during Magic Hours trips rather than during the day. Bob Matthews is up to nine weighed at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina after weighing his largest so far -- a 53-pounder by Ray Smith of Neptune.
Capt. Lou Grazioso joined the crew on Michele Ann for the 118-mile run to Wilmington Canyon on Sunday, when there was non-stop trolling action with 30-to-40-pound yellowfin tuna from 6-to-8 a.m.
Though local sharking was decent over the weekend, there was an exceptional 730-pound mako boated by Thor III at the 31st annual Star Island Shark Tournament in Montauk that had 133 boats competing for almost a half-million dollars. That mako was worth $138,833, and edged a 398-pound thresher for first. Yet, due to Calcuttas, the the biggest pay-out was to a 200-pound blue shark worth $145,500.
The Freeport Hudson Anglers Shark Tournament drew 134 boats fishing for over $250,000 in cash and prizes in waters often shared by N.J. boats. As usual, that contest was dominated by threshers, with a 280-pounder beating a 274 for first as not many makos were weighed there.
