Article by Larry Jock
As this report is being written early on Monday morning, the White Marlin Open is underway and it has the potential to be incredible. This year, 382 boats are competing for a record $5,450,000. That’s a lot of lettuce! The number of boats isn’t a tournament record since back in 2005 we saw 449 boats entered. President Trump just has to keep things moving in the right direction and I’m sure that number will be flirted with in the next couple of years.
Speaking of President Trump, in an incredibly cool move, he sent a shout-out to Ocean City via his Twitter account after seeing a picture of all the boats lined up at the Ocean City Fishing Center proudly flying their “Trump - Make America Great Again” flags. It was a great picture! I’m sure we are going to see quite a few boats pulling into the White Marlin Open scales flying Trump flags this year. I never remember seeing any Obama flags. Just sayin’.
The weather forecast for the entire week looks good and with that many boats in the tournament a lot of ground will be covered.
Mother Nature made things tough last week, but when boats could get out, we saw both white and blue marlin hooked in the Baltimore Canyon, deep outside the Poor Man’s and down towards the southern end of the Washington Canyon.
Congratulations to the lady anglers who fished on the “MR Ducks” in the Marlin Club Ladies Tournament and took first place in the Billfish Release Division when they racked up a blue marlin, a white marlin and 2 spearfish in snotty seas on Friday while trolling in 1,200 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s Canyon. They also added a 68.4 lb. yellowfin to the mix to give them first place in the Tuna Division as well.
The tuna bite has been slow the last couple of weeks and the windy weather and nasty seas didn’t help. Yellowfins have been scarce with fish scattered up and down the line. Some were caught around Massey’s Canyon, in the Baltimore Canyon and near the 19 Fathom Lump last week.
We have seen more bluefin tuna than yellowfin tuna lately, primarily from boats chunking in Massey’s Canyon, at the Hot Dog and the 12 Fathom Lump.
The dolphin bite has continued it’s trend with mostly small bailers coming in from anglers chasing tuna at the locations listed above. Every now and then we will see a “decent” size gaffer hit the scale, but they have been rare.
Closer to the beach, flounder fishing continues to get better on ocean structure. Again, it was tough getting out last week but some boats returned with really nice catches. Anglers on the charter boat, “Fish Bound” continue to tear it up. On Sunday, they fished in 80-feet of water and had a boat limit of 32 flounder measuring up to 23-inches. Capt. Kane’s anglers have had good luck with Otter Tails and squid combinations. We haven’t seen Otter Tails used very often in our area and with Capt. Kane’s success using them this season, I have had my fair share of questions from readers. Here’s what Otter Tails look like:
Although it looks like headboats have switched over to mainly flounder fishing, their anglers are still picking up a few sea bass and even a couple of mahi. Some of the mahi are hooked while moving between fishing locations and others are just tossed cut bait.
An interesting bite came in on Sunday when Ray Campbell returned from the Jackspot with a 12 lb. barracuda, a pair of mackerel and a couple of dolphin. All were caught on the troll.
We haven’t seen a lot of cobia caught so far this season, but on Sunday, Cross Ferrara was fishing only a 1/2 mile off Bethany, Delaware and hooked a beautiful 59.5 pounder on a live eel. What made this catch even cooler was that Cross was fishing from his rigged-up jet ski. It took him an hour to get the fish into the net.
On the lumps not far from the beach, such as on Fenwick Shoal, anglers are still finding good numbers of triggerfish interested in their offerings of cut bait, clams, sand fleas and Fishbites.
Around the South Jetty, flounder, small stripers and sheepshead are the main targeted species but we even saw a 24-inch, 10 lb. black drum caught over the weekend by Jeremy Noel. It must have been one hungry black drum since it ate Jeremy’s 4-inch Gulp artificial bait.
Anglers fishing in the bay have been battling dirty water conditions for some time, but when the water clears up, the fish are snapping. The bite is scattered with fish being caught mainly in the East Channel, the Thorofare, the West Channel and at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor. We also saw an improved bite come in from the Fish Bowl, which is located in the middle of the bay, just north of the Rt. 50 Bridge. As always this time of year, finding clean AND cooler water is the key. On Monday morning, with only about an hour left of the outgoing tide, water temps were hovering around a warm 78-degrees.
The conditions on Saturday didn’t stop 160 anglers from competing in the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce Flounder Tournament. Bubba Triplett took 1st and 2nd places with flounder measuring 20 3/4” and 21 1/8”. Both were caught on live bunker in the East Channel. Most of the fish weighed came in from the East Channel or the Thorofare by anglers fishing with white Gulp Swimming Mullets, minnows or bunker.
In addition to flounder being caught in the East Channel, croakers are beginning to show up. Fishbites and cut bait are two baits that will get you a shot at a hardhead.
Small stripers are roaming all over the inlet with reports coming in from anglers catching them at night in the West Channel. Most are having luck just tossing lures.
Upcoming Tournament
With the White Marlin Open ending on Friday, the upcoming weekend is free from tournaments. The next one on the schedule is the famous Capt. Steve Harman Poor Girls Open at Bahia Marina. The tournament, known as the World’s Largest Womens Billfish Tournament, starts on Thursday, August 16th and runs through Saturday the 18th. It is definitely one of the best tournaments of the year, and you have to see the weigh-ins to believe it. The excitement is amazing and each year the tournament makes a donation to the American Cancer Society for Breast Cancer Research. I believe this season could throw them over the $1,000,000 mark in contributions.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!
