Article by Larry Jock
What a fantastic week of fishing. We had it all. A good offshore bite, a dynamite inshore bite on the reefs and wrecks and some really nice fish caught in the bay. Saturday was one of the busiest days we have seen in years with fish hitting the scales all over Ocean City.
FLOUNDER
As we first mentioned in last week’s column, the hot spot for flounder fishing continues to be in the East Channel, north of the Rt. 50 Bridge. Over the long weekend, we saw several fish coming in from that area that weighed over 5 lbs. with 3 fish tipping the scales at over 7 lbs.
These fish seem to be moving into the bay from ocean reefs and wrecks as the water in the bay continues to warm up. We even saw a big flounder caught by an angler fishing off the wall on the north side of the Inlet.
On the reefs and wrecks, Capt. Monty on the “Morning Star” is arriving at the dock with some nice flounder catches each day.
The heaviest flattie caught so far this year in Ocean City was landed by Adam Zarfoss on Friday. Adam caught the 7 lb. 15 oz. flounder in the East Channel on a bucktail tipped with flounder belly. Flounder belly is always a great bait to use, but anglers are also finding success using live spot, bull minnows, shiners and the Gulp! artificial baits.
BIGEYE TUNA
On June 19th we saw our first bigeye tuna in Ocean City, and this week we had 4 more hit the scales.
It started on Wednesday with the “Restless Lady” coming in with a 183 pounder, caught in 250 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s Canyon.
On Saturday, the ocean was loaded with boats and 2 more bigeyes hit the scale. The “Fish Bonz” had an 83 pounder, caught in 500 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s, and the “Press Time” brought in the heaviest one of the year, a 210 pounder from 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon. All were caught on ballyhoo.
On Sunday, the “Clear Shot”, with Capt. Bill Kneesi at the helm, had a 132.5 lb. bigeye, caught on an artificial squid in 150 fathoms in the Washington Canyon, where they also decked 3 yellowfins and a dolphin.
BLUEFIN TUNA
Catches of bluefin tuna have been scarce, but we have chalked it up to boats fishing for yellowfin tuna which have shown up in good numbers.
On Friday, the crew on the “Reel Toy”, pictured on the left, took a trip out to Massey’s Canyon and boated a 165 pounder, the heaviest bluefin we have seen this year.
On Sunday, Larry Bierley on the “Vitamin Sea” caught a 139 pounder on a trolled ballyhoo at the Hambone.
If the yellowfin bite stays as hot as it is, I don’t expect many bluefins to be caught in the next couple of weeks. If you have a desire to catch a bluefin, the Hambone, Chicken Bone and Massey’s Canyon areas would give you your best chance.
YELLOWFIN TUNA
The star of the offshore show this week was definitely yellowfin tuna, with several boats coming back with double-digit catches. We have seen smaller yellowfin for a few weeks now, but the great news is that the class of fish coming in this week were definitely larger, with several weighing in at over 40 lbs.
On Wednesday, the “Marli” caught 51 yellowfins, keeping 17, while fishing in the Poor Man’s Canyon. The “Ranger” caught 20 yellowfins, keeping 5, also in the Poor Man’s.
On Thursday, “That’s Right” headed to 300 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s Canyon and caught 30 yellowfins, keeping 10. Earlier in the week, they fished in 200 fathoms in the Poor Man’s and caught 6 yellowfins, with the heaviest three weighing 46, 48 and 52 lbs.
On Friday, the yellowfin bite slowed, with only a few boats coming back with single digit catches.
Saturday was insane! The “Pumpin’ Hard” came back with 5 yellowfins, totaling 202 lbs., all caught in 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon. The “Tide Up” also had 5 yellowfins and the “Cyntinory” landed 4 that totaled 164 lbs.
The big catch on Saturday came from the “Playmate” who returned with 14 yellowfins, after catching 20 while trolling in 60-200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon.
We saw a lot of catches coming in from anglers trolling green machines, although skirted ballyhoo was also a popular bait.
SHARKS
As with bluefin tuna, the arrival of good numbers of yellowfins has seen most anglers switching from sharking to tuna fishing, although we still saw a couple hit the docks this week.
We didn’t see any thresher sharks caught but on Saturday, the “Paradise” was on an overnight trip in 500 fathoms outside the Washington Canyon and they ended up boating a 195 lb. mako shark.
Also on Saturday, the “Wave Dancer” had a 155 lb. mako that was caught east of the Hotdog.
WAHOO
We haven’t seen a single wahoo hit the scales this year, but as the canyon waters continue to warm, I would expect to see one soon. Capt. John Oughton on the “That’s Right” told me that they had one hooked but lost it right at the boat over the weekend.
TRIGGERFISH
It was “Triggerfish City” on some ocean wrecks over the weekend. We saw most boats coming in with 2-4 triggers, but the big catch was made by anglers on the “Flat Calm” on Saturday. The crew ventured down to the China Arrow wreck, which they said was near Winter Quarter Shoals. This is a new wreck to me, but from the size of their catch it definitely needs to be loaded into the GPS. They had a cooler full of triggerfish, spadefish and tautog.
On Friday, Tessa Dobrow on the “Morning Star” landed herself a 3 lb. 5 oz. triggerfish on a chunk of clam.
BLUEFISH
The largest bluefish we have seen so far this year was caught on Saturday by Mike Osifat on the “Jezebel”. Mike landed a 13 pounder in 100 fathoms in the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Capt. Gary Stamm on the “Pumpin’ Hard” told me about finding loads of bluefish just outside the Lumpy Bottom. None were on top, but Gary said that if you were looking to fight choppers on light tackle, you would have had a field day.
SEA BASS
We continue to see catches of sea bass coming from ocean wrecks and reefs.
Capt. Monty Hawkins on the “Morning Star” had some interesting comments in his June 26th report regarding recent sea bass fishing. “For several days last weekend through Tuesday, while that low was stuck to our north, we had the lousiest, slowest fishing possible - and this over some of the biggest schools of sea bass this year. Cold water? Bellies full? Ripping current from the northeast had to be colder. Colors of male sea bass were very bright - spawning time coming or happening. Fish were at times 50 to 60 feet off the bottom - indicative of krill & plankton feeding.
Most customers barely caught dinner during the period. Glad that's over!
I hope...
Much improved, it's now sea bass with a few flounder. Except when there's more flounder than sea bass.”
IN THE SURF
Sue Foster at Oyster Bay Tackle reports, “We had reports of sharks and big rays from the surf. A few bluefish were biting on finger mullet. A couple stripers (mostly short) were caught on bunker and clam. The sharks were caught on box squid, bunker, and bluefish heads. Didn't hear of any kingfish (whiting), but the water temperatures have jumped up 3 degrees from last week, which should bring them around. Kingfish take bloodworms, little pieces of bunker, shrimp or artificial bloodworms.”
This weekend we have the 27th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Canyon Kick-off. The Captain’s Meeting is at 8 PM on July 2nd. Anglers are allowed to fish 2 of 3 days on July 3rd, 4th and 5th. Weigh-ins are at Sunset Marina from 5 PM to 7 PM.
See you at the scales.