Article by Larry Jock
Unfortunately, the Branch Kreppel Memorial Blue Marlin Tournament scheduled for last weekend was cancelled. Heading into the weekend, the forecast wasn’t ideal and the bigeye tuna bite in the Washington Canyon had most boats interested in battling tuna.
Bluefin Tuna
With most boats having “bigeye” fever and heading to the Washington Canyon, some boats elected to stay closer to home and headed to the Hot Dog for some steady bluefin tuna fishing. The best bite was at first light with both trollers and chunkers picking up both their “over” and “under” fish before brunch.
I have received a few questions from readers regarding what we mean by an “over” or “under” bluefin. Charter boats are allowed to keep 1 “under” fish between 27-inches to less than 47-inches and 1 “over” fish between 47-inches to less than 73-inches. On the recreational side, there is no “under” or “over,” since recreational anglers are only allowed to keep 1 bluefin measuring 27-inches to less than 73-inches.
Trollers are having luck with both naked and skirted ballyhoo, although it seems like the tried and true blue and white skirt seems to be the most productive right now.
Yellowfin Tuna
Well, the good news is that anglers are picking up quite a few yellowfin tuna, mainly in the Washington Canyon. The bad news is that if you are looking for good-size yellowfins, you will need to weed through a lot of fish closer to 27-inches in order to get one in excess of 40-50 lbs, although I did hear that over the weekend the average size of the yellowfins being caught did improve with a reduction in the number of throwbacks going down considerably. Most of the fish caught on Sunday were in the 28 to 30-inch class with a few nicer 40-50 pounders in the mix.
On Sunday, the “Reel Chaos” (10), “Tighten Up” (18), “Warrior II” (18) and “Sushi” (24) all had a great day trolling for yellowfins in the Washington Canyon. This bite went on all week with most having single-digit days.
Anglers targeting bluefins at the Hot Dog also picked up a few yellowfins along the way, although those boats didn’t come home with double-digit yellowfins like their counterparts in the Washington Canyon.
Bigeye Tuna
A pattern seems to be forming for the epic bigeye tuna action experienced by local anglers this season. The bite is strong during the week and practically dies out on Saturday and Sunday. We have seen this occur ever since the Tuna Tournament and this past weekend was no exception.
Boats trolling the “hot” bigeye spot in the Washington Canyon consistently returned with big fish all week, with some boats taking home multiple eyeballs from along the ledge. Last Tuesday, the charter boat, “Marli” had 3 bigeyes weighing between 148 and 198 lbs. On Wednesday, the charter boat, “Tighten Up” returned with a pair of bigeyes, including a 286 pounder, the largest one we have seen so far this year. On Thursday, the charter boat, “Moore Bills” had a pair of bigeyes, as did the “Espadon” on Friday.
With the bite so hot, and an improved offshore forecast for the weekend, a lot of boats headed for the Washington Canyon on Friday for overnight trips. I heard estimates of 39 boats on overnight trips and only 2 or 3 bigeyes were caught. We will look to see if the pattern continues and the bite improves during the week.
Marlin
Just in time for the upcoming White Marlin Open, boats trolling in the Washington Canyon for bigeyes found both white and blue marlin interested in their spreads. Throughout the week, boats would hook one or two white marlin on the troll, but on Saturday, a few boats headed further south into the Norfolk Canyon, where they found an increase in the number of white marlin looking to eat. The “Wound Up” led the way with 12 releases, followed by the “Billfisher” and “Drillin’ & Billin’” each with 5 whites.
Several blue marlin were also released last week. On Tuesday, the “Reel Joy” released a blue marlin in the Washington. Later in the week, the “Espadon” released a blue marlin on Friday. Weekend action took off on Saturday, mainly in the Washington Canyon, where “Tighten Up”, “Pumpin’ Hard 58” and the “White Lightning” each released a blue marlin. The “Salt Shaker” and the “First Light” also released blue marlin, but they were in the Poor Man’s.
Mahi-Mahi
Bailor dolphin have been caught in the Washington Canyon and around the Hot Dog for the last month, and that bite continued over the weekend. Like the last couple of years, we really haven’t seen many big dolphin arrive at the scales, but the largest dolphin of the year was caught on the “Drillin’ & Billin”“ on Saturday when J.R. Smith landed a 50.2 mahi in the Norfolk Canyon.
Wahoo
We saw more wahoo caught last week than in any week so far this year. Most of the speedsters were hooked in the Washington Canyon and up at the Hot Dog.
Early in the week, the “Game On” caught a pair of wahoo, weighing 46 & 62 lbs., at the Hot Dog and the “Sushi” added one in the Washington Canyon.
On Saturday, “Wayne’s World” boated a 68 pounder at the Hot Dog and the “Cat Tales” and “Reese’s Piece” each caught a wahoo in the Poor Man’s Canyon. Also on Saturday, the “White Lightning” boated the biggest wahoo of the year with a 79 pounder caught in the Washington.
Black and purple looked to be the hot color for those chasing wahoo last week.
Flounder
Flounder fishing was pretty good last week. Fish were caught all over both bays, as far south as the duck blinds behind Assateague Island early in the week and further north in the bay behind Harbour Island and in the West Channel over the weekend.
Capt. John Prather on the “Ocean City Guide Service” had several good days drifting in the bay behind Castaway’s Campground, his home port. Capt. John had his anglers drifting white Gulp! Swimming Mullets, which is also the favorite bait for Capt. Nick Clemente on the charter boat, “Get Sum”.
Several boats had good days drifting in the East Channel, from the Rt. 50 Bridge up to Harbour Island, although anglers fishing off the 2nd Street Bulkhead have complained of slow bites so far this year. Many are wondering if the storm last fall impacted the bottom structure along the bulkhead and flatties aren’t liking what they see and moving on.
A new hot spot for flounder fishermen last week was the north wall in the Ocean City Inlet. We saw several nice flounder caught along the wall by anglers drifting from a boat and by those casting off of land.
The flounder bite on ocean structure is definitely on the upswing with nice fish being caught at the African Queen, the subway cars at the Jackspot and further north at the Old Grounds off Delaware. The largest flounder we have seen in Ocean City this year was caught by Bob Alexander while fishing on the head boat, “Morning Star” at an artificial reef. Bob’s 27-inch flattie weighed in at 7 lbs. 9 oz.
The hot baits right now are small, live spot, multiple live minnows on a hook and white Gulp! Swimming Mullet.
Sheepshead
On Friday, we saw 2 sheepshead caught around the North Jetty. Ronnie Hampton caught one weighing 9 lbs. 8 oz. and just a few hours later, Barry Meredith landed a 9 pounder. Both were caught while using crab for bait. These two are just shy of Chase Ebele’s 11 pounder speared on ocean structure.
Bluefish
The bluefish bite in the bay has been pretty inconsistent this year. Some weeks the bite is really strong, although the fish have been on the small side, and other weeks we see nothing.
On Saturday, Big Bird Cropper and Shawn Noel really tore up the bluefish, tossing Roy Rigs around the Rt. 50 Bridge. They caught numerous bluefish, with the largest measuring 28-inches and weighing over 8lbs. 6 oz.
Sharks
There really isn’t anything to report for shark fishing except for the interesting catch made by an angler on the head boat, “Happy Hooker”. While flounder fishing in the bay behind Ocean City, Dena Tadaro hooked a small thresher shark. It put on quite a show, leaping out of the water 2 times before they got it into the boat.
In the Surf
Surfcasters are in their normal summer mode with panfish dominating the action. Kingfish (whiting), spot, a few bluefish, blowfish and small sharks are the primary catches right now.
Upcoming Tournaments
We have a couple of tournaments on the schedule this weekend leading into Monday’s start of the White Marlin Open.
On Saturday, August 3rd is the 6th Annual Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce Flounder Tournament. This event has really grown, with 315 anglers participating last year. Weigh-ins for the tournament have been moved to Pines Point Marina. You must register by August 2nd in order to fish in the event.
Also this weekend is the 5th Annual Marlin Club Ladies Tournament. Weigh-ins will be held at Sunset Marina from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM on Friday and Saturday.
Starting on Monday, it’s the big one! The 40th Annual White Marlin Open will be held at Harbour Island, with weigh-ins each night from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. This tournament draws the top anglers on the East Coast and you could see some big fish arrive at the scales, including white and blue marlin. Get there early because the tournament draws big crowds.
See you at the scales!