The overnight chunk bite in the canyon isn’t hot and heavy but it is not that bad either. In 6 trips we did manage to chunk fishing on all but 1 of them with one night getting 8 yellowfin on the chunk and 4 other nights catching 3-6 tuna each night. We also added 3 swords and a mako and a bunch of mahi so there is clearly enough action now at night to make it interesting. Yes it is a far cry from the old days where we are use to chunking 20+ yellowfin every night but maybe things are starting to improve – you just have to work your tail off every night to get those bites.

48’ Canyon Runner 9/14-15 – 8 Yellowfin/Longfin/Bluefin/White Marlin/Lost Blue

Capt. Phil Dulanie, Mark DeCabia and John Timken had the 48’ Canyon Runner out Monday to Tuesday and went right to the chunk in the Hudson at the 100-square with the Todd Polumbo charter. They had an eventful night with 5 yellowfin nice yellowfin, a longfin and several mahi on the chunk and released a small mako. 2 of the yellowfin and the longfin were in the 50-70 pound class.

Up on the troll in the morning they added 3 more nice 50-70 pound yellowfin. They also had an interesting time with marlin. They immediately released a white marlin in the very early morning hours and then fought a 250 pound blue marlin to within 50 feet of the leader before pulling it off after 30 minutes on the fish. They missed another white later in the day and then had a bigger blue marlin follow a small yellowfin hooked up on a Canyon Runner spreader bar right to the back of the boat and follow us for a minute and a half. They first tried to feed it a pick boat Ilander/bally combo but it would not take it. They then tried to feed it the yellowfin but it only seemed to want to play with it and never jumped on. After that they ran inshore to the Atlantic Princess and added a 46 inch bluefin for 10 nice tuna on ice.


60’ Canyon Runner 9/14-15 – 3 Yellowfin/5 Longfin/Tiles/Mahi

The 60’ Ritchie was back out Monday/Tuesday on the third turn around in a row and had the Gene Petit charter out to the Hudson Canyon for the night bite. Their evening started slow but ended up with plenty of action at night as they chunked 3 yellwfin and a bunch of mahi. The real excitement came when they got dumped on a Penn International 50VSW with 800 yards on it even after coming of the ball and chasing down the fish. No idea what it was but it was big.

Up on the troll in the morning they got covered up by 7 longfin and pulled 5 nice 50+ pound longfin out of the bite. They finish off in the canyon pulling a nice catch of golden tilefish. They then ran the charter inshore to get a bluefin or two only to hear of a slow day of fishing among a ton of boats and did not stay too long in there and came home.


48’ Canyon Runner 9/13-14 – 8 Yellowfin on the Chunk Up to 70 Pounds

Capt. Mark DeCabia had the Victor Mata charter out on the 48’ Viking and had one of the better night chunking bites thus far this fall season with 8 yellowfin on the chunk. They did not spend any time trolling Sunday afternoon but as soon as they set up they had big yellowfin under the boat. By 9:30pm they had 3 big -60-70 yellowfin in the boat and 2 smaller 30 pounders. During the night they picked at a bunch of mahi and added another small yellowfin. At first light they had the big yellowfin under the boat and put another 2 more in the fish box to finish up with 8 for the evening. Up on the troll in morning they added some more mahi and ran into the bluefin grounds to pick another bluefin for the ground ending up with 9 nice tuna on ice.


60’ Canyon Runner 9/13-14 – Yellowfin/Bluefin/Mahi/Thresher

Capt. Mark DeBlasio had the John Deno and Rob Tambini charter out Sunday to Monday on the 60’ Ritchie and ran right out to the 100-square without stopping on the bluefin grounds. They set-up at the exact stop they had the 3 swords the night before and started chunking. Only this night they did not get their bites. They did chunk 2 smaller yellowfin and a bunch of mahi but that was it. Hearing that the inshore bit picked up they ran into the Chicken Canyon area and set up. They ended up fighting 2 threshers putting one in the boat around 150 pounds and releasing the other and boating a bluefin.


48’ Canyon Runner 9/12-13 – Tons of Mahi

The 48 Canyon Runner was back out Saturday/Sunday with the Richard Steer charter. They left the dock early and ran to the bluefin grounds only to find nothing there after 4 hours of fishing. They then ran off to the Hudson Canyon and started pot jumping picking a half a dozen mahi on each pot. After putting about 30 mahis in the boat they started chunking for the night up around the east elbow. Their night was not that productive except to add a bunch more mahis. They charter was happy to have a cooler full of 5-15 mahis and they headed home at sun-up.


60’ Canyon Runner 9/12-13 – ¾ Swords/Yellowfin/Longfin

Capt. Mark DeBlasio had the 60’ Ritchie Howell out Saturday/Sunday after a long week of east winds sitting at the dock and started inshore looking for bluefins with the Allen Schoen charter. Now were found so they ran off to the Hudson Canyon and put her on the troll around 2pm. They trolled until dark with only a bunch of mahi to show for it but they made up for it at night.

Anchored up in the 100-square they quickly had their first sword bite of the night that came un-done but made up for it by catching 3 more throughout the night. They kept two including one around 90 pounds and one close to 150 pounds. They also chunked a big longfin and a 30 pound yellowfin.

Up on the troll in the morning for an hour they had one shot of big yellowfin putting a 70 pound fish in the boat and pulling off two more