Northeast - Giant tuna off Belmar?

So I was in the marine store today and this dude is talking about giant tuna right off the beaches in Belmar this week. I've heard reports of small bluefin over the last week or so storming the area. Someone took some pics of 20lb class bluefins. But he was going on about 300 lb fish in the area. Of course I told him he was full of you know what but he insisted. He says that guys were live lining 10 lb blues to get them. He didn't have tacke and didn't go for them on his boat. Is this just some guy spouting off or what?

I also heard that guys were getting SPOOLED on the beach
Steve is your boat still ready for the water?
I do not know if I can go with my foot the way it is


Jason

No. As of yesterday she's officially buttoned up for the winter. Changed the oils both upper and lower and she's getting shrink wrapped tomorrow. I winterized all the water lines 2 weeks ago and was waiting to head out again but the weather has just been too frigid. Of course the weather is now breaking and it looks like I could actually go fishing this week. It has just been too cold to go out. I need 40s and not 30s to take her out.

So how did you make out? Love that pic of your foot. Still out of work I guess?

Last reports I got were 100-200lb class bluefins at the rocks. ENTIRELY possible 300lbers in Belmar.

Happens every couple of years at the least.
Boat load of sand eels in the area would do it now for sure.

Last week there were 400 to 600 pound fish on the sea girt reef one afternoon. They are still coming down through Long Island today followed by a bunch of whales. There have been 20 to 100 pounders off NJ everyday for about a month now. The trick is to be there when they actaully feed. There have been alot of people chasing them with very few caught. I caught two 40 pounders 3 weeks ago purely by luck. I knew they were there just got in front of them at the right time. I think that they will be seeing fish move through the New Year

What did you catch them on??

8 oz diamond jigs with beefed up Owner 4X strong treblehooks with split rings on shimano baitrunner 6500 with carbontex drag upgrades

I was fishing 12/2 off Spring Lake and about 2 miles off the beach we had 100+lb bluefins chasing blues and bass. We had tackle onboard for them but could not get a hook up on live lined blues. We did have a smaller bluefin hooked up for a few on a diamond jig, but the hook pulled after it dumped about 300yards on a striper setup. The fish in that school looked to be 60-80lbs. The schools were moving super fast, some had large fish some had smaller fish. Usually it is hard to hook a large bluefin off NJ this time of year. Although large fish are seen on the surface almost yearly, these fish are just freight training it south, usually with full stomachs and usually are hard to catch. A few fish are always caught by mistake, or by the occasional seasoned fishermen who has some offshore gear onboard knowing the fish will move through. Most of the hook ups are by accident, only a few ever have luck actually targeting these fish and catching them this time of year. If they were easy to catch, you would see some charter boats target them, even with the bag present bag limit. They would make a ton of money playing catch and release with these fish if the fishing was good so close to shore, yet few if any target them this time of year.

tunatango,

I had a big tuna burn out my baitrunner 6500 drag this fall. Where did you get the carbontex drag washers for it?

smoothdrag?

I am trying Friday.. Will post results. Hopefully I can find the tuna and use my offshore jigs on 50's..

WME
Contender

Trolled the Rocks area today didn't see any Tuna. Tons of short bass though.

yes I bought them from smoooth drag in California.

Last week blue fin in the 100# class were reported in 55' off Long Beach LI.

Some folks I know were bassing when they saw them and gave it a go since they had gear aboard, but no takers.