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Inshore ocean chumming for a variety of species has been generally very good recently, and some party boats are advertising trips for albacore -- which I can just about guarantee you will not catch. Albacore are an oceanic species rarely encountered inshore of the canyons. When I was just getting into party boat fishing as a kid on Long Island, I heard of an "exotic" species called the false albacore which a few pros would try to catch by trolling Japanese feather jigs from the 10-knot party boats of the day on the way to bottom fishing grounds at this time of year. If there was a strike, there would a lots of screaming at the captain to stop the boat before the reel was stripped. Though the fish was certainly some sort of tuna, the anglers of that era only knew of albacore as a Pacific species and came up with the name of false albacore. That was long before anyone realized that there were real albacore a lot further offshore right in the Atlantic canyons that hadn't yet been explored. In actuality, the inshore species could never be mistaken for an albacore with its distinctive long pectoral fins that reach almost to its tail and earned the nickname of longfins. The American Fisheries Society and the IGFA settled on little tunny as the  as the official common name, for what had been false albacore, but that great fighting fish still is regularly called by the name of the fine-eating and much bigger albacore. To add to the confusion, the little tunny is commonly called bonito in the south -- though that name belongs to the good-eating Atlantic bonito that are commonly caught along with little tunny. There may be no better inshore fighting fish than the little tunny, but they're also the the poorest table fare in the family with coarse, bloody meat. Those who like strong-tasting fish may enjoy them, but for most it's important to blanch out the blood. When I had charter customers who wanted to try them, I bled the fish right away and as soon as possible filleted them -- eliminating all the dark meat. The remaining fillets were then dropped into a bucket of clean seawater with lots of ice. When later removed from that brine, the meat was white and made a good tuna salad. Unfortunately, the yield from even fairly large little tunny isn't good. The best bet is still enjoying the sport and releasing the fish, though that's not always easy to do because they may literally fight to the death on light tackle. Both little tunny and bonito prefer small baits and lures. Very small hooks tied directly to the mono or on light leaders are best in the chum line, while small metal and plastic lures may be even more effective. The Tsunami Split Tail Minnow works very well in chum slicks, as do the smallest Run-Off metals. Little tunny have their most dedicated followers among surfcasters. Getting a shor at them requires a lot of time and patience as they rarely continue feeding as bluefish often do. There may be just one shot, and you'll need a perfect cast that enables you to run the lure past the mouth of the fast-moving target at the high speed needed to draw a strike. The dedicated, such as Allen Riley of South Plainfield, tie their lures directly to light line and take their chances with the bluefish that often chasing the same small bait fish.   This is prime time for little runny to show along the beaches, but I haven't heard of any sightings so far. Big bluefish have been hitting lures at times in Point Pleasant Canal, but when I made my first just before dawn Thursday morning right across the canal at the at the full moon just over the Marine Police Station, it was a 5-pounder that got hooked on and destroyed a 6-inch Tsunami Shad -- and that was it! A good run of albacore has been developing in the canyons, and yellowfin tuna are finally turning on for a night bite, according to Adam La Rosa of the Canyon Runner fleet at Point Pleasant. The Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club Offshore Open concluded Sunday with Miss Mikayla Ann the big winner by taking the tuna division with a 143.50-pound bigeye tuna. Low Bid was second at 84.60 pounds that also won the Ray Catena Yellowfin Award -- and Canyon Runner finished third with an 80.20-pounder. The small boats division (35 feet or less) went to Miss Tress with a 69.80-pound tuna. Pepper ran away with the Costa White Marlin division by releasing five, and Flying Tiger had the only blue marlin release. Goin In Deep didn't match their big win at the MidAtlantic, but took the swordfish money with a 143.50-pounder. Water Proof won the Crystal Point Mahi with a 15.55-pound dolphin, and Envelopus collected for a very impressive 75.60-pound wahoo. The heaviest "stringer" award for tuna went to Canyon Runner with 150.70 pounds that edged out Low Bid's 143 pounds. to With the fluke and sea bass seasons closed, many party boats are switching to bottom fishing for porgies and the one blackfish per man presently allowed. Others are finding plenty of chub mackerel chumming along with bonito and little tunny plus a few blues at times. The Golden Eagle from Belmar also had a 20-to-25-pound yellowfin tuna last week, and the Jamaica from Brielle weighed a 14-pound dolphin. Bob Matthews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina, weighed his last two big fluke last weekend as Steve Germann had a 9 11/16-pounder, and Tim Hulse a fluke of 7 11/16 pounds. Matthews felt that it wasn't a particularly good fluke season with a poor start and then the closure just when it was getting good. He's looking forward to the mullet leaving Shark River to get the local stripers hitting lures along the beaches, though it's much too early for migrating stripers with the present watm waters. Don Marantz of Clarksburg had a charter to close out the fluke season on Barb-Gail VI from Point Pleasant, and said Capt. Chris put them into a boat fluke limit as they cast jigs from the boat anchored over mussel bottom. One fluke was just under 10 pounds. Inshore ocean chumming for a variety of species has been generally very good recently, and some party boats are advertising trips for albacore -- which I can just about guarantee you will not catch. Albacore are an oceanic species rarely encountered inshore of the canyons. When I was just getting into party boat fishing as a kid on Long Island, I heard of an "exotic" species called the false albacore which a few pros would try to catch by trolling Japanese feather jigs from the 10-knot party boats of the day on the way to bottom fishing grounds at this time of year. If there was a strike, there would a lots of screaming at the captain to stop the boat before the reel was stripped. Though the fish was certainly some sort of tuna, the anglers of that era only knew of albacore as a Pacific species and came up with the name of false albacore. That was long before anyone realized that there were real albacore a lot further offshore right in the Atlantic canyons that hadn't yet been explored. In actuality, the inshore species could never be mistaken for an albacore with its distinctive long pectoral fins that reach almost it its tail and earned the nickname of longfins. The American Fisheries Society and the IGFA settled on little tunny as the  as the official common name, for what had been false albacore, but that great fighting fish still is regularly called by the name of the fine-eating and much bigger albacore. To add to the confusion, the little tunny is commonly called bonito in the south -- though that name belongs to the good-eating Atlantic bonito that are commonly caught along with little tunny. There may be no better inshore fighting fish than the little tunny, but they're also the the poorest table fare in the family with coarse, bloody meat. Those who like strong-tasting fish may enjoy them, but for most it's important to blanch out the blood. When I had charter customers who wanted to try them, I bled the fish right away and as soon as possible filleted them -- eliminating all the dark meat. The remaining fillets were then dropped into a bucket of clean seawater with lots of ice. When later removed from that brine, the meat was white and made a good tuna salad. Unfortunately, the yield from even fairly large little tunny isn't good. The best bet is still enjoying the sport and releasing the fish, though that's not always easy to do because they may literally fight to the death on light tackle. Both little tunny and bonito prefer small baits and lures. Very small hooks tied directly to the mono or on light leaders are best in the chum line, while small metal and plastic lures may be even more effective. The Tsunami 5-inch Split Tail Minnow works very well in chum slicks, as do the smallest Run-Off metals. Little tunny have their most dedicated followers among surfcasters. Getting a shot at them requires a lot of time and patience as they rarely continue feeding as bluefish often do. There may be just one shot, and you'll need a perfect cast that enables you to run the lure past the mouth of the fast-moving target at the high speed needed to draw a strike. The dedicated, such as Allen Riley of South Plainfield, tie their lures directly to light line and take their chances with the bluefish that often chasing the same small bait fish.   This is prime time for little runny to show along the beaches, but I haven't heard of any sightings so far. Big bluefish have been hitting lures at times in Point Pleasant Canal, but when I made my first just before dawn Thursday morning right across the canal at the at the full moon just over the Marine Police Station, it was a 5-pounder that got hooked on and destroyed a 6-inch Tsunami Shad -- and that was it! A good run of albacore has been developing in the canyons, and yellowfin tuna are finally turning on for a night bite, according to Adam La Rosa of the Canyon Runner fleet at Point Pleasant. The Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club Offshore Open concluded Sunday with Miss Mikayla Ann the big winner by taking the tuna division with a 143.50-pound bigeye tuna. Low Bid was second at 84.60 pounds that also won the Ray Catena Yellowfin Award -- and Canyon Runner finished third with an 80.20-pounder. The small boats division (35 feet or less) went to Miss Tress with a 69.80-pound tuna. Pepper ran away with the Costa White Marlin division by releasing five, and Flying Tiger had the only blue marlin release. Goin In Deep didn't match their big win at the MidAtlantic, but took the swordfish money with a 143.50-pounder. Water Proof won the Crystal Point Mahi with a 15.55-pound dolphin, and Envelopus collected for a very impressive 75.60-pound wahoo. The heaviest "stringer" award for tuna went to Canyon Runner with 150.70 pounds that edged out Low Bid's 143 pounds. With the fluke and sea bass seasons closed, many party boats are switching to bottom fishing for porgies and the one blackfish per man presently allowed. Others are finding plenty of chub mackerel chumming along with bonito and little tunny plus a few blues at times. The Golden Eagle from Belmar also had a 20-to-25-pound yellowfin tuna last week, and the Jamaica from Brielle weighed a 14-pound dolphin. Bob Matthews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina, weighed his last two big fluke last weekend as Steve Germann had a 9 11/16-pounder, and Tim Hulse a fluke of 7 11/16 pounds. Matthews felt that it wasn't a particularly good fluke season with a poor start and then the closure just when it was getting good. He's looking forward to the mullet leaving Shark River to get the local stripers hitting lures along the beaches, though it's much too early for migrating stripers with the present watm waters. Don Marantz of Clarksburg had an end of the season fluke charter with the Barb-Gail out of Point Pleasant as Capt. Chris put them on a boat limit of fluke, including one just under 10 pounds, while anchored on mussel bottom. Marantz, who's on the JCAA Youth Education Committee, is providing a great opportunity for children with special needs. The free Kids Wish'n to go Fish'n Outdoor Fun Day will be held on Sept. 30 at Lake Julianna on the Ponderosa Estate Farm in Millstone Township. Special needs children from 6 to 16 are invited to catch and release fish from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. by owner Vito Cardinale. Call Danielle at 732 747-7846 to register groups.

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