Ocean City Fishing Report

Article by Larry Jock

This past week was dominated by the action at the 19th annual Capt. Steve Harman’s Poor Girls Open held at Bahia Marina. The tournament saw 499 anglers competing in 108 boats this year, an increase of 20 boats versus 2011. Although tuna fishing continued to be slow, there was still a lot of excitement and enthusiasm at the scales. If you have never had a chance to participate in the Poor Girls Tournament or witnessed the action at the scales, you really should make a point to do so next year. It is definitely one of the most jubilant tournaments on the schedule.

The Billfish Release Division was won by the anglers on the “Give It Away” who released 3 white marlin and 2 blue marlin in the Poor Man’s Canyon. On the final day of the tournament, the lady anglers on the “Pumpin Hard 66” ventured out to 50 fathoms inside the Poor Man’s and released 4 white marlin to finish in 2nd place, beating out the “Muff Diver” on a tie-breaker based on the time of their last release.
The “Evil Eye” caught 3 tuna on the second day of the tournament and held on to win 1st and 2nd place in the Tuna Division with 60.8 and 64.7 lb. yellowfins. Capt. Andy had his anglers in 300 fathoms in the Poor Man’s Canyon and hooked the tuna on trolled ballyhoo. Third place in the Tuna Division went to the “Fin-ness” with a 60.5 lb. yellowfin caught by Lisa Meyers on the second day of the tournament.
The Dolphin Division was won with an 18.1 pounder caught by Patty Link on the “Reel Desire”, also on day 2 of the tournament. Becky Johnson on the “Miss Kitty” won 2nd place with a 13.4 pounder hooked on a skirted ballyhoo at the Tea Cup and Krissy Baiocco on the “Second Chance” came in 3rd place with an 11.31 lb. mahi.

In the Top Junior Angler Division, Cheyenne Peet on the “Last Quarter” nudged out Ripley Thumma on the final day with 2 white marlin releases.

Tuna

We did see some nice size yellowfins at the scales of the Poor Girls Tournament with most weighing between 48 and 60 lbs. The bite was definitely scattered with fish caught in 40 to 75 fathoms inside the Poor Man’s on some days and out deep behind the canyons on other days.

On the bright side, there looks to be some cooler water moving towards us from the north in less than 100 fathoms. Hopefully, this will turn the yellowfin bite back on with bluer water and more bait.
Reports came in that there were at least 6 bigeye tuna caught by a commercial fisherman in 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon last week.

Marlin

We did see some blue marlin releases last week, mainly from the Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons. “White Lightning” released a blue marlin early in the week from the Washington. On Thursday, “Blood Money”, the “Marli” and the “Brenda Lou” each released blue marlin near the Rockpile and in the Washington. On Friday, “Give It Away” released 2 blue marlin in the Poor Man’s, as did “Reel Desire” and the “Espadon”.

White marlin releases were also reported during the week from the 000’s and Rockpile with bites also further north in the Spencer Canyon in 500+ fathoms.

Flounder

It’s that time of year when you have to hit the tide just right to get your keeper flounder, and we did see quite a few this week, especially off the charter and head boats. The rocks off Martha’s Landing seems to be fished out, with most of the keepers last week coming in from the East Channel, both north and south of the Rt. 50 Bridge.

Although we did see some fish early in the week, it wasn’t until Thursday that we started to see better catches of nice size flounder coming from the South Jetty, the Inlet and in the East Channel, mainly during the incoming tide. Fishing with live spot or mullet was key to getting good bites, but chartreuse Gulp! artificial baits also did pretty well. The best catch of the week came in on Saturday by anglers on the “Baron Sea” who landed 12 flounder near the South Jetty.

If you are looking for better action and bigger fish, then you want to venture off to ocean structure. The wrecks are really producing some quality catches both in numbers and size. Depending on the current, baiting up with 4 to 6 oz. bucktails or simply fishing a top and bottom rig tipped with squid or strips of bait are working great! Head out to Russell’s Reef, the African Queen or any of the other wrecks located off our shore and it’s a good chance you will get into some nice flatties.

Croaker/Red Drum/Trout

It looks like a good batch of croaker have finally arrived in the bays behind Ocean City. We saw nice catches coming from the Inlet and from behind 22nd Street. Anglers were also surprised with some red puppy drum and weakfish mixed in. Some anglers aren’t used to seeing red drum and are confusing them with other fish. The tell-tale sign is the black spot on their tail and they must be between 18 and 27-inches to keep. Anglers also need to remember that you are only allowed to keep one red drum and one weakfish per person/day.

Sheepshead

We haven’t seen a sheepshead in a while, but on Sunday, Josi Kennedy brought an 11 lb. 3 oz. beauty by the office for a picture. Josi hooked the fish on a sand flea by the South Jetty.

Striped Bass

This usually isn’t the time of year when we talk about striped bass, but I want to mention that a few were caught last week around the Rt. 50 Bridge and around the South Jetty, mainly by anglers tossing bucktails.

Bluefish

There are some small, snapper bluefish roaming the bays but better catches, and larger fish, can be found on the inshore shoals. Trolling around Fenwick and Isle of Wight Shoals is your best bet right now.

In the Surf

It sounds like a broken record, but Norfolk spot, kingfish, snapper blues, rays and a few flounder are being caught by surfcasters during the day and sharks at night. The surprise catch last week was the 5-foot hammerhead shark caught and released by an angler fishing off Assateague Island.

Upcoming Tournaments

The Mid-Atlantic $500,000 wraps up on Friday, so when this paper hits the streets on Wednesday, you still have a couple of days to view the action at the Sunset Marina scales. Weigh-ins are from 5:00 to 9:00 PM.

For those of you who love flounder tournaments, and there are a lot of you out there, the M.S.S.A. Beach N’ Boat Flounder Tournament will be held on Saturday. Registration is at Ake Marine on Saturday from 6:30 to 8:30 AM. Shotgun start is at 9:00 AM and weigh-ins are from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.
See you at the scales!