Article by Larry Jock
This Week Last Year
•In last years WMO, 382 boats competed for over $5,400,000. The tournament record is 449 boats set back in 2005.
•Marlin hooked outside the Poor Man’s, in the Baltimore and at the southern end of the Washington.
•Yellowfins caught in Massey’s, in the Baltimore and at the 19 Fathom Lump.
•Bluefins caught on the chunk in Massey’s, at the Hot Dog and 12 Fathom Lump.
•Cobia caught off the coast of Bethany Beach.
•Flounder, small stripers and sheepshead were caught around the South Jetty.
•Flounder fishing was best in the East Channel, Fish Bowl and at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor.
•Croakers showed up in the East Channel.
Well, White Marlin Open week has finally arrived and from the looks of things, it could turn out to be an incredible tournament. Billfish are snapping in the canyons and the weather looks fine. There are 404 boats entered in the event, competing for $6.1 million dollars. All of this adds up to what could be a lot of excitement at the Harbour Island scale.
Last weekend, there were a couple of tournaments on the schedule. The first was the Ocean City Marlin Club Ladies Tournament. The Billfish Release Division was a close one with the “Ringleader” just edging out the “No Quarter” by 50 points, the difference between their final fish being a blue marlin versus a white marlin. Most of the tournament billfish action came from deep outside the Baltimore Canyon in 1,000 fathoms, but the “No Quarter” went 6 for 6 in the Wilmington Canyon. A few boats ventured a little further south, but still stayed in deep water outside the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Tuna fishing has been tough lately, but Lauren Werner picked a good time to muscle in a 112 lb. yellowfin that held on to win the Tuna Division. She battled the fish for 2 1/2-hours after hooking it outside the Baltimore Canyon. We also saw a couple yellowfins come in from the Poor Man’s Canyon.
“No Quarter” also took the Dolphin Division with a 26.4 pounder that was caught in the Wilmington Canyon.
The other tournament last weekend was the Ocean Pines Chamber Flounder Tournament. Flounder were scattered all over the bay on Saturday with tournament fish caught from behind Assateague Island up to the Thorofare. John Grant caught his winning 21-incher on live spot in the East Channel.
Outside of the tournaments, the offshore bite was dominated last week by billfish. Early in the week, white marlin were caught around the Rockpile and on Thursday the bite moved to the Baltimore Canyon where anglers caught both blue and white marlin in 600 fathoms. “Let It Ride” had a great day, returning to Sunset Marina after releasing 13 white marlin. Blue marlin releases on Thursday came on the “Reel Joy” and “Lights Out”. On Friday, the bite was deeper outside the Baltimore Canyon where the “Ringleader” released 5 white marlin and a blue marlin and the “Cabana” released 4 whites.
On Saturday, the bite continued with both white marlin and blue marlin being hooked between 500 and 1,000 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon where the charter boat, “Reel Chaos” had a great day with releases of 7 white marlin and 2 blue marlin in 500 fathoms.
It was not a good week for tuna fishing. Besides the 112 pounder caught on the “MR Ducks-Lewis Team”, the only other yellowfins to mention were 2 caught on the “MR?Ducks-Drago Team” in the Baltimore Canyon and 2 caught on the “Tighten Up #2” deep outside the Poor Man’s. These 4 yellowfins weighed between 53.4 and 68.2lbs. We also saw a 100 lb. yellowfin caught by Chester Cernava in the Baltimore Canyon.
In addition to the marlin bite, the other bright spot for offshore boats was the noticeable increase in the size of dolphin being brought to the scales right now. It took a while, but we are really starting to see some big bulls being caught by anglers while trolling for marlin and tuna. In addition to their good marlin fishing day on Saturday, the “Reel Chaos” also returned with a 48 lb. dolphin caught by Eric Hackett. On Sunday, Hugh Thomas Cropper boated a 40 pounder in the Baltimore Canyon while fishing on the “Myra HT”.
Inshore, the ocean flounder bite continues to be sub-par compared to what we are used to seeing this time of year. That’s not to say you can’t go out to some ocean structure and really whack them, but there is a good possibility that you may also come back disappointed. The bite is definitely scattered. Several anglers told me that they had to hit many spots to even get close to their limit.
Unfortunately, the same can be said about sea bass fishing right now. I don’t think you could find many anglers bragging about their sea bass trips lately. The crazy thing is that anglers are marking them thick on their sounders, but they just can get them to take their offering of squid or clams.
On some of the close inshore lumps like Fenwick Shoal, anglers are catching bluefish and Spanish mackerel while trolling spoons.
Cobia are still quietly being caught off the coast from the Indian River Inlet down to Great Gull and Little Gull Shoal. Finding birds working over schools of bunker is the first step towards finding crusing cobia. Ayrton Pryor caught a beautiful 63 pounder last weekend at Great Gull Shoal during a trip with Jacob Lewis. We also saw a 38 pounder caught 1-mile out from the OC Inlet by an angler on the charter boat, “On the Run” and a 38 pounder caught by a team of 2 young lady anglers outside Little Gull Shoal. Last season, the coastline off Bethany Beach seemed to be where the “man in the brown suit” liked to hang out the most. Bucktails tipped with squid or some other strip bait always seems to do the trick.
In the bay, flounder fishing is good with most of the action coming from the East Channel and the Thorofare. We are also seeing flatties hooked around the South Jetty and at the north end of the bay behind Assateague Island. Be ready to deal with a lot of throwbacks! One of the nicest catches of the week came when Monica Sellers caught a 25-incher in the East Channel on Saturday while fishing with live bunker. Junior angler Evan Jackson also captured a nice one when he boated a 4 lb. 10 oz. flattie at the north end of the bay behind Assateague Island.
As always this time of year when the weather is warm, looking for those deeper holes in the bay will usually help you find flounder waiting for a Gulp artificial bait, some kind of strip bait, or even better, a live spot or peanut bunker. Right now, bunker and spot are outproducing any of the other typical flounder baits and you can usually cast net them or catch them on Sabiki rigs in the marina basins.
Around the Rt. 50 Bridge, anglers are hooking into flounder, striped bass and bluefish. The stripers are a mixed bag of mostly throwbacks, but some in the 30-inch range have been caught as well. Buddy Martin had a good night in the middle of the week, catching a pair of keepers (30 and 31-inches) on Zoom Super Flukes. Buddy said that there were also a load of snapper bluefish and shad around the pilings as well.
Good size croakers are still a no-show in the bay. Anglers are finding small fish in the East Channel, but they are in the 8 to 9-inch range. When they start to show-up in good numbers, we usually see them being caught at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor. Fishing with Fishbite artificial baits usually works fine, but this is the 3rd year in a row where the croaker fishery has been disappointing.
Upcoming Tournament
After White Marlin Open Week, we have a rare weekend off from local tournaments, but it won’t last long. The famous Capt. Steve Harman Poor Girl’s Open starts on Thursday, August 15th and runs through Saturday the 17th. Weigh-ins are at Bahia Marina.
Right after the Poor Girl’s Open, the MidAtlantic starts on Monday, August 19th and runs through Friday, August 23rd. Weigh-ins for this tournament are at Sunset Marina.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!
