Fishermen find tuna, gator blues and whales in the Chicken Canyon

In their game of hide and seek, the big bluefish are in the Chicken Canyon. For now.

There is a good spread of fish from that canyon out east to the Atlantic Princess wreck. Most boat captains headed out there are after the bluefin tuna, though.

Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. of the Jamaica took a party of fishermen there on a Monday overnighter that did very well. Just after sunrise they saw whales, dolphin, tuna chicks and big readings of tuna and bait. He said the area was loaded with sandeels.

They had ample shots at the tuna on jigs and a few bites on bait. He said the 120g Streaker jigs were the most efficient on the tuna. By the end of the trip they had their limit of under 47-inch bluefin tuna. They also landed some of those big bluefish and a couple of bonito. He will be headed back out on Monday.

Inshore fluke fishermen persisted despite some less than ideal drift conditions. Greg Hueth on the Big Mohawk said they had a strong southeast current on Wednesday and a drift speed of 1 to 1½ knots. It made them have to work a little harder to keep their baits on the bottom but they got keeper fish in the boat. The fishing wasn't as good as Tuesday when many of his fares caught their fluke limits.

The breezes should be light this weekend for drifting and there should be a break from the south winds as the directions should rotate from north to south to west.

As far as the surf goes, there are fluke at most locales and Gulp baits, bucktails and teasers is what most surf fishermen are using. Judging from the weigh ins recorded at the tackle shops, the biggest brought in this week went around four pounds.

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Giglio's Tackle in Sea Bright reported a catch of a bluefish on a Super Strike red and yellow colored pencil popper on Wednesday morning. The tide was outgoing. The bluefish was around 3 pounds. The early risers also caught a couple of resident striped bass.

The kingfish are in the surf on Long Beach Island, The numbers seem to be better toward the south end of the island. The fish are running with spot and croakers. Surf City Bait & Tackle reported a surf fishermen filled one-third of a cooler with the kings while two others had 20 kingfish each. Jingles Bait & Tackle said one of their regulars observed an osprey swoop down and take a king right out of the surf.

Surf fishermen will have the top of high tides around sunrise and sunset this weekend.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.