Article by Larry Jock
Welcome back to another season of the Coastal Fisherman. It should be an interesting year with the mild winter we experienced. Water temperatures never got as low as we typically experience and we are already starting to see catches come in weeks earlier than normal.
It will also be interesting to see who catches the first white marlin of the season. This year, it will be rewarded with the richest prize money ever, giving the angler a cool $15,000 for the catch in addition to some prizes from An Optical Galleria and All Tackle. Historically, the lucky angler receives $10,000 for the first white marlin of the season, $5,000 from the Town of Ocean City and $5,000 from the Ocean City Marlin Club. This year, the Ocean City Town Council voted to stop awarding prize money for the first white marlin, so a group of local businesses calling themselves Fishermen United of Ocean City (Bank of Ocean City, Sunset Marina, Atlantic Tackle, Bahia Marina, Ocean City Fishing Center and the Coastal Fisherman) came up with the $5,000 to take the place of the Town Council’s pullback. After an incredible backlash from the fishing community, the Town Council saw the error of their way and reinstated their $5,000 contribution, but the FUOC group decided to maintain their contribution as well, so this years winner will be $15,000 richer. With the increased prize money and some warmer water within reach, I wouldn’t be surprised if the first white marlin is caught in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned to our daily online Fishing Report on www.coastalfisherman.net. It is updated throughout the day.
After a very mild winter that saw another absolutely atrocious striper bite (on the heels of a horrific bite in the fall/winter of 2015/2016), warmer water temperatures are definitely causing earlier bites that we normally see.
The first mako shark of the season was caught last Friday, April 28th. This was 17 days earlier than last year. The 147 lb. mako was caught by angler Andy Smelter on the “Nontypical” in 55 fathoms northeast of the Rockpile. Capt. Terry reported beautiful blue water where he found a 16-degree temperature break with 68-degree water on the warm side. The anglers battled 12 blue sharks during their trip in addition to losing another mako right at the boat that Capt. Terry estimated at 250 lbs.
We also saw some good offshore action on Sunday. Anglers aboard the “Wrecker” had a memorable day, returning from near the Triple 0’s with a 147 lb. mako, a 49 lb. bluefin tuna, 3 yellowfins up to 40 lbs. and 3 mahi. All of the action took place where they ran across a 9-degree temperature break with 67-degree water on the warm side. Conditions were different compared to those found a couple of days earlier by the “Nontypical”. Capt. Jeremy Blunt reported very green water loaded with weeds.
Also on Sunday, anglers fishing on the “Tunafowl” returned to Sunset Marina with 3 yellowfins weighing up to 48 lbs. Two of the yellowfins were caught while trolling spreader bars and one hit a trolled ballyhoo, all in 130 fathoms near the Triple 0’s where their first bite was at 9:30 in the morning.
We also saw a good size mako arrive at the Ocean City Fishing Center when the “Finatic” rolled up with a 249 pounder that Rob Griggs hooked on a bluefish in 400 fathoms outside the Triple 0’s. This is the early leader for Heaviest Mako Shark of the Year.
Inshore, anglers continue to chase tautog on ocean structure while using green crabs and white crabs for bait. Site 10 has also popped up recently as a hot spot for tog. As you will see in this issue, some real bruisers were caught this past winter, led by the 19 1/4 pounder caught by Sam Furest while fishing on the “Morning Star” back on February 20th.
Black sea bass season doesn’t open until May 15th and anglers are allowed to keep 15 fish that are 12 1/2-inches or larger.
In the surf, anglers have been spending most of their time battling big, chopper bluefish. Earlier in April, small striped bass and an occasional black drum keep surfcasters busy with keeper size striped bass being few and far between. It is kind of interesting that surf fisherman are not seeing many large striped bass hit their offerings and commercial fishermen are finding plenty in their nets set not far off the beach. One interesting theory I heard last weekend was that the stripers are feeding on sand fleas and crabs right now and are just not interested in the typical bunker chunks being soaked by surf fishermen.
Switching over, at least for a short period of time, to peeler crabs and sand fleas may be the ticket to getting those long poles bending.
In the bay, bluefish are everywhere and I’m not talking about little snappers. Many big bluefish in the 10 lb. range are being caught everywhere from The Ditch in Fenwick Island down to the Assateague Bridge. Late last week, there was a great bite in the bay behind Assateague. The action was so fierce that Capt. Jason Mumford on the charter boat, “Lucky Break” reported having a big bluefish come up and attack a trolled Rat-L-Trap, only to have another 10 pounder come up and hit the same lure, snapping the line in the process. The 2 choppers continued thrashing on the surface, both connected to the same lure. Capt. Jason said it was quite a sight and one that not too many anglers get a chance to see.
Fishing for big bluefish can be some of the most challenging and fun times you can have on the water. They will hit anything, but sometimes you have to vary your retrieval to maximize success. For example, Capt. Jason told me that when the bite was on in the bay behind Assateague, retrieving your bait or lure as fast as you could gave you the best shot at hooking a chopper. Anything slower and your chances dropped.
Prior to the bluefish invasion, small stripers were being caught all around the bay and mainly around the bridges, but that bite has died off.
The flounder bite really picked up late last week, especially in the Thorofare. Mike Johnston on the “Hellbent” had good results on Thursday and Friday, ending his days with 3 and 4 keepers. Mike went back out on Sunday with Nate Gregory, Katie Thatcher and Courtney Ritter and the group returned with 7 nice size flounder up to 22 1/4-inches and 3 lbs. 11 oz. Mike said that the best results came while trolling rigs tipped with either Gulp! Swimming Mullets or bellies.
One final note I would like to make this week is that it would be great for everyone to consider joining the Ocean City Reef Foundation this season. This is a volunteer organization that works incredibly hard to build reefs off our coast. Sure, some of the reefs are further offshore, but there are many that are within site of the coastline and can be fished by many anglers in various size boats. The cost to join the Reef Foundation is only $50 and for your contribution you receive their detailed Reef Charts giving you the coordinates of every piece of structure in their reef system. This is some of the best money you could ever spend and wreckfishing will continue to be the fastest growing segment of local fishing for many years in the future. You can join the Reef Foundation right online by logging onto their website, ocreefs.org. All of their money goes towards the building of reefs, so the more contributions they receive the better fishing we all will have right off our coast.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!
