Article by Larry Jock
I know it sounds like a broken record, but we had another incredible week of fishing out of Ocean City, especially for anglers chasing billfish.
Everyone thought that the weekend bite was spectacular until Monday, when the “Billfisher” ventured out to 700 fathoms outside the Washington Canyon and released 57 white marlin, crushing the modern day Ocean City record of 27 releases set by the “Cerveza” in September 2008. Unfortunately, the “Billfisher” arrived too late to get a photo in this issue. Look in next week’s Coastal Fisherman for a picture of their record catch.
The “Billfisher” wasn’t the only boat to post amazing numbers on Monday. Here are some others that we heard about before we had to send this issue to the press:
“Reel Joy” - 32
“Makara” - 32
“Legasea” - 27
“Rhonda’s Osprey” - 22
“Pumpin’ Hard 58” - 19
“Fish Whistle” - 15
“Sea Slammer” - 15
The incredible white marlin bite actually started last Monday when the “Billfisher” arrived at Sunset Marina with 26 white marlin releases. Capt. Jon Duffie ran to 1,000 fathoms outside the Baltimore Canyon and found a large school of white marlin with big yellowfins underneath. Also on Monday, the “Miss Annie” was near the same area and returned with 18 white marlin releases. Other boats recorded double digit releases as well.
Unfortunately, bad sea conditions prevented a lot of boats from going out the following day, and by Thursday the bite shifted to the Washington Canyon/Rockpile where the “Reel Joy” was high hook releasing 9 white marlin. On Friday, the white marlin bite exploded with quite a few boats posting numerous releases:
“Wave Paver” - 14
“Billfisher” - 13
“Espadon” - 9
“Last Call” - 7
“Pumpin’ Hard 58” - 6
There were several other boats that also recorded single digit releases as well.
The excitement didn’t stop on Friday. On Saturday, boats again ventured down to between the Washington and Poor Man’s Canyon and got into some excellent billfish action. “Foolish Pleasures” had a great day, hooking 24 whites deep outside the Washington Canyon. Capt. Dale Lisi said that he just kept heading east until he found birds. The “Wave Paver” and the “All In” also had a good day, with both releasing 8 whites, while the “Marlin Magic” and the “D.A.?Sea” each released 5 white marlin. Again, several other boats also recorded single digit releases.
Finally, on Sunday the bite continued in the Washington Canyon led by the “Billfisher” with 22 white marlin releases, followed by the “D.A. Sea” and the “Grand Pez” each hooking 10 whites.
There were also a few blue marlin and sailfish released during the week as well. The “D.A. Sea” released a blue marlin in the Norfolk Canyon on Saturday and a sailfish on Sunday. The “Marli” ventured down to the Rockpile on Saturday and released a sailfish and the “Legasea” released a blue marlin in the Washington Canyon on Sunday.
Last year, the best billfish bite took place in September, but this year the action is about two to four weeks earlier. To give you a feel for where things stand, last year the “Billfisher” was the top local boat with 130 billfish releases during the season. Through Monday, they are again leading the pack with 186 releases.
Hopefully, the hurricanes coming up the coast won’t mess things up and we will continue to see a lot of release flags flying at the docks. Best of luck to all of our local billfishermen!
Wahoo
The warm ocean water is producing catches of wahoo just in time for the new Wahoo Division added in the Branch Kreppel Blue Marlin Tournament that was rescheduled for September 9th-12th.
The “Playmate” caught 2 wahoo on Thursday in 45 fathoms inside the Baltimore Canyon. On Friday, “That’s Right” caught 3 wahoo between the Hot Dog and the Hambone. On Saturday, “Reel Desire” landed a speedster near the Rockpile and on Sunday, the “M.R. Ducks” returned with a 65.5 pounder caught in 60 fathoms near the Rockpile.
Tuna
Unfortunately, the excellent yellowfin tuna bite we saw earlier this season seems to have petered out, but some nice size fish are still being caught. We haven’t seen a double digit catch in quite some time, but billfishermen have found some nice fish under schools of white marlin.
When the “Billfisher” released their 26 whites earlier in the week, they also decked a couple of 65 lb. yellowfins and caught some larger tuna on Sunday. When “Foolish Pleasures” hooked 24 white marlin on Saturday, they never returned to the dock until 1:30 AM on Sunday morning because they fought a huge yellowfin for almost 3 hours, only to end up breaking it off.
A few yellowfins were also caught closer to shore near the Rockpile throughout the week.
We also saw a longfin albacore tuna caught on the “Cyntinory” on Thursday in the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Flounder
Anglers had trouble finding clean water last week, making it difficult to catch good numbers of fish. However, we are starting to see some larger flounder hit the scales, typical for this time of year when flatties can be found in deep holes as they start staging for their migration offshore.
The largest flounder decked this week came in on Saturday when Paul Rentzel arrived at Ake Marine with a 28.5-inch, 9 lb. 6 oz. doormat. Paul caught the fish on a peanut bunker in a 25-foot hole off the Coast Guard Station.
The East Channel, both north and south of the Rt. 50 Bridge, continued to produce some nice catches. Mandi Wells landed her first keeper flounder, a 24-inch, 6 lb. 12 oz. flattie, just south of the Rt. 50 Bridge and Madonna Metcalfe caught a 24.5-incher north of the span.
Anglers are still having to weed through a lot of throwbacks to get their keeper. On Thursday, the “Bay Bee” had over 130 throwbacks. That wasn’t a typo.
As these fish start to gather for their east/northeast migration, keep an eye on the Cement Plant, the wall on the north side of the Inlet, deep holes in the West Channel off of Gudelsky Park and around the South Jetty. These are all good flounder hideouts this time of year.
In the Surf
Sue Foster at Oyster Bay Tackle reported, “The surf picked up with some bluefish this week! Our friend "Gary" who fishes the Delaware State Park caught some up to 18-inches on finger mullet. Another angler reported small snapper blues right out front of Oyster Bay Tackle, also caught on finger mullet. Others are still catching kingfish, spot, and croaker with small hooks and bloodworms or artificial bloodworm combined with a little strip of bunker or box squid. We are probably looking at some surge from the offshore hurricanes which will give us some "hard to hold" fishing conditions by Thursday. Try using a sputnik sinker.”
We have also seen some cobia caught off the beach on Assateague Island and also from the beach in North Ocean City and Delaware. According to Sue’s report, “The fish (cobia) was caught in the surf at Fenwick State Park using bunker for bait. It was quite exciting and took 30 minutes to bring onto the beach. The fish appeared to be between 50 and 60 pounds.”
Sheepshead
A couple of sheepshead were caught on Thursday by anglers fishing around the South Jetty. Wayne McPartland caught a 9 pounder on a live spot and John Burkhardt landed a 9.5 pounder on a sand flea.
Striped Bass
Anglers fishing with live spot are still pulling some stripers out from the pilings under the Rt. 50 Bridge. Heavier leaders are a good idea for this fishery to prevent chafing on the bridge pilings.
Sea Bass
Headboats fishing ocean wrecks and reefs are returning with some nice size sea bass. The “Morning Star” had several this week over 3 lbs. and the “Angler” had a good day on Sunday. After our typical August lull, we should begin to see the sea bass snapping like crazy.
Croaker
Surprisingly, we still haven’t seen much of a croaker bite this year. Some small ones have been caught, but nothing in comparison to prior years. It seems like it isn’t just our fishery that has been slow. Further south, the bite is really just beginning.
Stay tuned!
