Article by Larry Jock
It was another good week of fishing out of Ocean City highlighted by good flounder and tuna fishing. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to jump on one of our many charter boats or head boats to get in on the action.
Ocean City Tuna Tournament
The 25th Annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament was held over the weekend and the final day was as exciting as you could get. Almost the entire leaderboard changed with bigeyes and nice stringers of yellowfin arriving at the Ocean City Fishing Center dock on Sunday.
The last 2 boats at the scale on the final day were the “Reel Desire” with a 202 lb. bigeye tuna that briefly held on to 1st place in the Single Heaviest Tuna Division, until the “Absolute Pleasure” arrived with a 257 lb. bigeye tuna to win the tournament. Both fish, like all the bigeye tuna we have seen this year, came in from the Washington Canyon.
The “Lucky Duck II” had a great tournament, taking 1st place in the Heaviest Stringer Division with 489 lbs. of yellowfin caught during their 2 days of fishing. Angler Tina Boykin won 1st and 3rd place in the Top Lady Angler Division with a 52 pounder caught on the first day of the tournament and a 56 lb. yellowfin landed on the final day. Her son, Ben, caught a 48 lb. yellowfin on the last day to win 2nd place in the Top Junior Angler Division. They also won the Heaviest Stringer Division for a boat under 40-feet in length.
The Top Junior Angler Division was also won on the final day when Alex Grapes, on “Team Binnacle Tackle”, caught a 49 lb. yellowfin at the Rockpile aboard the “Partnership”.
“Cat Without a Handle” also had a good tournament, winning 2nd place in the Heaviest Stringer Division with 412 total lbs. and angler Mike “Sailfish” Glyphis landed a 35 lb. dolphin on the first day of the tournament to win the Dolphin Division.
Surprisingly, we didn’t see any bluefins weighed during the tournament.
Tuna
Early in the week, we saw a few bigeye caught in the Washington Canyon. The “Jade II” took an overnight trip and returned on Tuesday with 2 bigeyes and 6 yellowfins in the box. The bigeyes weighed 221 and 224 lbs. On the same day, “Pumpin’ Hard”, “That’s Right” and the “Samurai I” each caught a bigeye. On Thursday, “Tighten Up” returned with 2 bigeye tuna from 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon.
The bluefin bite around the Hot Dog fell off considerably but was replaced mid-week with good catches of yellowfins, especially on Sunday and Monday. Throughout the week, a lot of yellowfins were caught while chunking with butterfish and sardines, with most boats returning with a handful. However, a few ended their day with double digit catches. The “Restless Lady” boxed 12 yellowfins while chunking at the Hot Dog on Wednesday and on Monday, just before this issue went to press, “Rhonda’s Osprey” arrived at Sunset Marina with 17 yellowfins and the “Marli” threw 24 on the dock. Also on Monday, the “Grasshopper” ended their day with 17 yellowfins in the box. Most of the fish are in the 45 lb. to 55 lb. range, with a few going even higher in weight.
Since we had to go to press before we could get the photos of the Monday catches in the paper, keep an eye out in the next issue for these, and probably other excellent catches of yellowfins from around the Hot Dog. It should be like a parking lot out there this week!
Marlin
Throughout the week, white marlin were released around the Hot Dog and in the Washington Canyon.
Last week was a good one for blue marlin fishermen. Several were caught and released in the Washington Canyon, just below where everyone is hooking into bigeye tuna with the best bite coming right before the start of the Tuna Tournament.
Flounder
With incredibly warm water temperatures, it seems like wherever you can find cooler, deep holes with a rocky bottom, you will find good numbers of flounder hiding out, although we did also see a lot of fish caught in the Middle Channel, north of the Rt. 50 Bridge and in the waters surrounding Harbour Island. Anglers that wanted to get out of the congestion in the East Channel ventured south to the clam beds on the east side of the bay behind Assateague and were rewarded with nice catches.
Most of the bites are coming during the incoming tide on live mullet or spot, but the white Gulp! Alive Swimming Mullet continues to produce good numbers of fish.
The local charter boats and head boats are really having some good days on the water, so if you want to get in on this amazing flounder bite, give one of them a call and take home some flatties.
Sea Bass
Anglers heading to inshore ocean wrecks are returning happier than they have been in a while, with nice catches of sea bass in the box. The throwback ratio has improved greatly for anglers fishing with clams and squid. There’s also a good chance of coming home with some nice size flounder.
On Sunday, the “Morning Star” had an incredible day on an ocean wreck, returning with several sea bass over 4 lbs.
In the Surf
It’s your typical selection of fish when casting from the shoreline. Surfcasters are hooking into good catches of kingfish, snapper bluefish, flounder and large sharks.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the world famous Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic at Sunset Marina. Weigh-ins are from 3:00 PM to 6:30 PM on Saturday and 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Sunday. If you have the time and want to see more smiling anglers than you will ever see anywhere else, then head on over to Sunset Marina this weekend. You have to see it to believe it!
See you at the scales.
