Article by Larry Jock
Welcome to another year of the Coastal Fisherman. It is an exciting year as we are celebrating the publications 40th year anniversary.
One new feature this year that you will want to check out is the “How Old is Your...” chart on page 28. One of the most frequent questions we receive on the docks from anglers is, “How old is this fish?” We have put together a chart for several species and will be featuring one each week this season. We have started out with a chart for flounder and I hope you find it as interesting and useful as I do.
The big news so far this year is the World Record tautog caught on January 2nd by Ken Westerfeld during a trip aboard the charter boat, “Fish Bound”. Ken’s big tog weighed a whopping 28.8 lbs., shattering the old I.G.F.A. All Tackle World Record of 25 lbs. set back in 1998. Ken is known for targeting big tautog and traveled all the way down from Queens, New York for his trip with Capt. Kane Bounds. Ken hooked the fish on a Jonah crab (white crab) on an old wreck in 80-feet of water. Ken used a tautog/snafu rig with a 4/0 Gamakatsu red octopus hook on 50 lb. braided line and a 50 lb. leader. A snafu rig is basically a rig that has hooks snelled to each end of a strip of leader with a dropper loop in the middle. If you would like to make a snafu rig, you can find a good instructional video on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_zzaM_-4GQ.
The 35 3/4-inch world record tautog was huge, sporting a 25 1/4-inch girth. It was quite a catch!
The other news that came out over the winter was that after 34 years, the organizers of the Ocean City Shark Tournament have decided to pull the plug on the event. With changes in regulations, a greater emphasis on conservation, a change in the time of year that sharks are caught off our coast and several years of poor weather made it difficult to continue the tournament. Hat’s off to all those involved and a big thanks for bringing us many years of exciting tournaments.
This leaves Capt. Steve Harman’s Mako Mania Shark Tournament as the remaining big shark tournament left in Ocean City. This is a great tournament and I would expect it to become even bigger and richer in the years to come.
Unfortunately, this season is off to a slow start with unseasonably cold temperatures, both in the air and in the water, leaving anglers in the warm confines of their home and fish further south.
Luckily, tautog fishing has been good when the weather allowed anglers to get out on ocean structure. The Ocean City Reef Foundation continues to expand their reef system, creating habitats for not only tautog, but sea bass and flounder as well. There is no doubt that fishing on ocean structure will continue to be a fast growing segment of our recreational fishing community.
Right now, we have large schools of bunker migrating along our coast and some large, chopper bluefish are having a field day. Big bluefish are being caught by surfcasters, more so off Delaware than Ocean City and Assateague. I am not sure why this is, but my guess is that it may have something to do with the dredging being done off Ocean City.
Anglers fishing off Assateague are struggling right now. Bluefish and an occasional black drum are being caught, but the striper bite is almost nonexistent. Surf fishermen are baiting their hooks with the standard chuck of bunker or bunker head, looking for the big striper that is typically heading north this time of year. Reports are coming in from Chesapeake Bay anglers that the fish are starting to dump out of the rivers, so the migrating stripers should be heading this way, just a little later than we are used to seeing.
In the bay, very few flounder have hit the cleaning table. Those that have been caught have come from north of the Rt. 90 Bridge, from the Thorofare and a couple from the bay behind Assateague. Anglers fishing from the Rt. 50 Bridge are catching some bluefish and a few short stripers. Those fishing around the South Jetty are finding a limited number of tautog.
Upcoming Tournament
The first local tournament of the year is the 6th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Memorial Day Tournament on May 23rd and 24th. This used to be the OCMC Bluefish Tournament but organizers have added categories for tuna and makos, opening up possibilities for those looking to venture further offshore.
See you at the scales!
