Article by Larry Jock
With 3 tournaments over the weekend, an incredible tuna bite for the majority of the week and the arrival of more flounder in our bays, it was a very good week for fishing in Ocean City.
Yellowfin Tuna & Mahi
As Capt. Brian Porter on the charter boat, “Boss Hogg” said to me last week, “We haven’t seen this good of yellowfin fishing in a long, long time.”
Early in the week, the strong yellowfin bite centered on the area in 100 to 150 fathoms between the Poor Man’s and Baltimore Canyons, and moved closer to the Poor Man’s as we headed into the long weekend. Double-digit catches were not uncommon with several in the upper teens and low 20’s showing up at the scales.
Rough seas made things challenging, especially when a storm barrelled through the fishing grounds on Thursday that was strong enough to break outriggers off a couple of boats, but that didn’t stop the yellowfins from snapping. Even with a broken outrigger, the charter boat, “Marli” returned to Sunset Marina with 16 yellowfins, 2 mahi and 4 bigeye tuna from 150 fathoms between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons.
On Friday, the bite really heated up just north of the Poor Man’s Canyon. There were some incredible catches, led by the “Marli” with 23 yellowfins followed by the “Tighten Up” (22), “Odinspear” (20), “Boss Hogg” (20) and “Foolish Pleasures” (18). Several other boats returned after a great day that produced low double-digit catches.
On Saturday, seas were on the rough side but that didn’t stop the “That’s Right” from putting 21 yellowfins in the box after trolling in 100 to 300 fathoms in the Poor Man’s where Capt. John found water temperatures hovering around 74-degrees. The “Boss Hog” and the “Marli” continued to slug it out, returning with 17 and 14 yellowfins respectively.
On Sunday, fishing slowed considerably for boats trolling in the Poor Man’s.
Most of the fish we are seeing have been in the 35 to 40 lb. class, but several last week pushed into the upper 40’s and low 50’s.
Bluefin Tuna
With the yellowfin bite being so strong, we just aren’t seeing boats chasing after inshore bluefins. Surprisingly, anglers on the headboat, “Morning Star” boated 3 bluefins last Friday while trolling Zuker lures between stops for sea bass and flounder. It would be easier to get nuclear codes than the exact location of the bluefin catch from Capt. Monty Hawkins.
On Sunday, anglers on the “Jezebel” decided to put the lines out just east of the Twin Wrecks and ended up boating a 43.6 lb. bluefin and on Monday, Capt. Dave Black’s anglers on the “My Cin” boated a pair near the Chicken Bone.
If the yellowfin bite softens, and with charter boats currently allowed to keep 4 bluefins, I expect to see more boats looking at the inshore lumps for bluefins in the coming weeks.
Bigeye Tuna
Last week started off strong with the “Boss Hogg” throwing 5 on the dock on Monday after trolling in the Wilmington Canyon. That same day, “That’s Right” returned with 3 eyeballs from the Baltimore Canyon. As stated earlier, the “Marli” came in on Thursday with 4 eyeballs, also from the north end of the Poor Man’s. On Monday, the “Triggerfish” headed out on an overnight trip to the 800/800 and ended up returning home that night after catching a pair of bigeyes weighing 144.5 and 149.9 lbs.
Wahoo
We saw a few wahoo hit the scales last week, highlighted by the 67.6 pounder caught by junior angler, Jace Conrad while trolling in 150 fathoms in the Poor Man’s on Sunday. Also on Sunday, the “Loose Knot” came in with a 38.9 pounder from the Poor Man’s. On Monday, anglers on the “C-Boys” returned from the Poor Man’s with a 61 lb. speedster.
Marlin
A few boats trolling in the Poor Man’s and Baltimore Canyons last week hooked up on white marlin in 70 to 74-degree water and on Friday, anglers on “Rhonda’s Osprey” released a blue marlin, also in the Poor Man’s.
Sea Bass
Sea bass fishing on ocean structure has really been hit or miss, with anglers having to weed through small fish to catch their keeper. We did see several fish come in last week that weighed over 3 lbs. including the winning 3.2 pounder that won the Small Boat Tournament. That fish was caught on the “Jezebel” and was one of a number of nice size knotheads they caught on Sunday while fishing at the Great Eastern Reef and at the African Queen. Sea bass aren’t real picky, but squid, clams and bloodline have been the top producers.
Striped Bass
We haven’t seen many large striped bass caught in quite some time, but anglers looking to have fun catching smaller fish have been having a blast tossing lures around the South Jetty in the early evening. Fish were also caught around the Rt. 50 Bridge as well, with larger fish hitting lures better throughout the night.
Please remember that the striper regulations in Maryland have changed. You are only allowed to keep 2 fish per person, measuring between 28 and 38-inches or 44-inches and above, in any combination.
Flounder
Anglers heading to ocean structure for sea bass are also having a good time catching flounder. The bite has improved dramatically over the last few weeks with the better action to our north at the Old Grounds. If you don’t want to make that long trip (20 miles), then hitting the Bass Grounds, the Great Eastern Reef, the African Queen and other inshore structure could give you a shot at a large flattie.
If you don’t want to break the Inlet, then you will find the flounder bite improving in the bay. The action is really spread out with most of the fish we saw last week coming from around Harbour Island, in the East Channel, at the South Jetty and in the bay behind Assateague from just past the entrance down to the Duck Blinds past the Ocean City Airport.
In the bay, Gulp! Swimming Mullets have been very productive and deadly when you combine them with a live minnow. The same is true on ocean structure, but flounder or mahi belly always seems to be the best choice.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the 34th Annual Marlin Club Canyon Kick-off on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Anglers can fish 2 of 3 days with weigh-ins at Sunset Marina from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM on each day.
See you at the scales!