DAY 1 RECAP — 2026 South Jersey Yacht Sales Offshore Showdown: Knife's Five Tuna Stake a 274-lb Lead as White Marlin Releases Open the Board
The pelagic season officially opened off Cape May on Thursday as the fleet fired out of Canyon Club Resort Marina for Day 1 of the 2026 South Jersey Yacht Sales Offshore Showdown — and it was the smallest boat in the fleet that stole the show. Team Knife, a 40-foot Cabo running against a lineup of 54- to 80-foot sportfishers, stacked five yellowfin on the scale to seize a commanding overall lead on the tuna board.
Knife stacks five tuna for a 274-lb lead
Knife’s crew put on a Day 1 clinic at the scale, weighing five qualifying tuna for a cumulative 274 pounds — more than the rest of the leaderboard combined. Fred Brandt led the charge with a 61- and a 57-pounder, Steve Morrison added a 58 and a 43, and Austin Weber rounded out the haul with a 55. Brandt’s pair also vaulted him to the top of the overall male angler points standings. The tournament’s official social feed summed it up simply: “Knife showed up for Day 1 with a 43, 61, 55, 58, and 57 lb tuna.”
Behind Knife, the tuna chase tightened into a pound-for-pound race. Runnin’ Down a Dream (a 64’ Viking) sits second on the overall board at 71 pounds behind Teddy Lavin’s 71-lb yellowfin, with Canyon Lady (65’ Scarborough) third at 61 on Sergei Moser’s fish and Good Chemistry (61’ Viking) fourth at 60 — the latter courtesy of Asha Chakrabarti, who also leads the overall female angler standings.
The single heaviest tuna of the day, however, came late: as the boards updated Thursday evening, Tommy Belansen aboard the 80’ Merritt Beast dropped a 108-pounder on the scale — the biggest individual fish weighed on Day 1, with standings still being finalized at press time.
White marlin releases open the billfish board
The bite wasn’t all tuna. The billfish side of the ledger opened early with a flurry of white marlin releases across the canyon. Canyon Lady led the release column with three whites — two for Ronnie Davis and one for Jesse Bowman — to pace the white marlin points category. Runnin’ Down a Dream (Micky Foster) and Allison’s Nightmare (Lou Tiernan) each added a release of their own.
No blue marlin, wahoo, or dolphin had scored by the close of Day 1, leaving the door open across several categories heading into the weekend.
Where things stand
With 45 anglers across 14 boats and 13 scoring catches logged on the opening day, Knife holds the early advantage on aggregate tuna weight while Canyon Lady controls the billfish release board. Friday, July 10 is a scheduled lay day — a dockside break with no fishing — before the fleet runs offshore one last time for Day 2 on Saturday, July 11, with awards to follow that evening at the Grand Hotel of Cape May.
Leaderboard and catch data via the tournament’s official Reel Time live scoring; results are unofficial until finalized by South Jersey Tournaments. Day 1 tuna sequence corroborated by the South Jersey Tournaments official social feed. Photos: South Jersey Tournaments.
