Article by Larry Jock
The week came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. Mother Nature wasn’t too cooperative on many days last week, keeping offshore anglers from getting to their favorite haunts and creating dirty water conditions for those fishing in the bay.
2014 Ocean City Shark Tournament
On Thursday, the 1st day of the Ocean City Shark Tournament saw nasty conditions keep all 18 boats at the dock. The following day, the “Sweetie” was the first to weigh a fish and made the most of it with a 314 lb. mako caught in 40 fathoms, just inside the Baltimore Canyon. Everyone knew this was going to be a tough one to beat, and it was, ending the tournament in 1st place in the Mako Division.
Most of the action on the 2nd day centered around blue sharks with only one other mako brought to the scale by anglers on the “Absolut Pleasure”. The “Nontypical” took the lead in the Release Division with an incredible 21 releases (9 sandbar, 11 blue sharks, 1 mako) during their trip to 25 fathoms inshore of the Washington Canyon.
Saturday was the final day of the tournament. The “Restless Lady” jumped into 2nd place in the Mako Division with a 170 pounder, but didn’t finish the tournament there, unseated by the final boat that arrived at the scale, the “Keep Er’ Wet” with a 193 lb. mako caught on a whole bluefish at the Sausages.
The Open Division saw a couple of leaderboard changes throughout the final day. The “Teaser” jumped into the lead with a 203 lb. thresher caught on a whole bluefish just inside the Jackspot, but their lead didn’t last long when the “Reel Instigator” pulled up with a 346 lb. thresher hooked on a menhaden at the Fingers. The “Nontypical” followed up their 21 release day with a stress filled trip to the same location, with the same conditions, but did not get their first bite until close to noon. For the day, they released “only” 3 makos and 2 blue sharks but held on to win 1st place in the Release Division. Even with their tough second day of fishing, the team on the “Nontypical” were still responsible for an incredible 24% of all releases recorded during the tournament.
Overall, it was great to see some nice sharks weighed at the tournament and over $43,000 awarded to some very happy anglers.
Sharks
Outside of the tournament, we saw some impressive sharks catches last week.
Early in the week, the “Magic Moment” returned with a 190 lb. mako caught near the 461 Lump. The weather turned foul until Friday when the “Blackjack” ventured to outside the Fingers and boated a 300 lb. thresher shark. Capt. Eric Schline reported water temperature hovering around 59.5-degrees. Also on Friday, the charter boat, “Marli” went down to the Washington Canyon and released 4 blue sharks and a mako.
On Saturday, anglers on the “Get Reel” pulled up to Ake Marine with an impressive 338 lb. thresher caught in 59.3-degree water at the Marine Electric.
Tuna
It was a very tough week for tuna anglers with rough sea conditions keeping most at the dock for the majority of days last week. Early in the week, before the blow, the 461 Lump and the Baltimore Canyon were the two “go to” spots for yellowfins and bluefins.
On Monday, the “Dawg Haus” headed to the 461 Lump and boated 10 yellowfins where the water temperature jumped from the high 50’s to the mid-60’s. The “Boss Hogg” also had a good day, capturing 8 yellowfins and 2 bluefins in the Baltimore Canyon.
On Friday, yellowfins and bluefins were caught in the Baltimore Canyon with anglers staying busy with double digit bluefin releases after catching their 2 keepers. Yellowfins were caught in 400 fathoms and bluefins were caught closer to shore in 100 fathoms.
Striped Bass
A red hot striper bite for surfcasters came to a halt after the blow last week putting a possible end to the spring striper run.
Early week reports came in from Capt. John Prather on the “Ocean City Guide Service” of incredible striper action around the South Jetty. The stripers were all too small to keep, but they were plentiful and loads of fun for anglers fishing with light tackle.
Larger fish moved in around the Rt. 50 Bridge for anglers casting Storm lures at night. Reports came in of several fish landed that measured over 35-inches. Capt. John witnessed a fish hooked that he said was every bit of 45-inches, which is a huge fish to catch in our bay.
Flounder
The week started off great with several flounder coming to the scale from anglers drifting in the Thorofare. There were also several flat fish caught in the bay behind the Ocean City Airport. Jim Smith landed a 25-incher that weighed over 6 lbs. while drifting a squid and minnow combination in the Thorofare and Bob Grady caught a 24-inch, 5 lb. 3 oz. flattie, also while drifting over the Thorofare flats.
When the bad weather rolled in, water conditions deteriorated in the bay, leaving flounder fishermen frustrated.
White Gulp! Swimming Mullet continues to be the top producer this flounder season and the standard minnow and squid combination is not too far behind.
Sea Bass
Headboats returned to Ocean City docks with several limits during the week when the weather allowed them to leave the Ocean City Inlet. The Old Grounds, African Queen and structure around the Jackspot all produced knothead limits for anglers. The headboats, “Fish Bound”, “Morning Star” and the “Angler” all had several nice catches last week. Clams are still the top bait to use when trying to hook a keeper sea bass.
Upcoming Tournament
The second, and final shark tournament of the year will be held at Bahia Marina on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 6th to 8th. Spectators can watch the weigh-ins up close from 3:30 to 7:30 PM on all 3 days.
See you at the scales!