Article by Larry Jock
It was a great week for fishing in Ocean City, culminating with an epic bigeye tuna bite during the 26th Annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament. If you were lucky enough to be at the tournament scales on Friday, you saw something that we may never see again in our lifetime.
Ocean City Tuna Tournament
To say that this year’s tournament was exciting would be an understatement. It started off with a bang when 39 of the 85 registered boats fished on the first day, with most heading to the Washington Canyon in search of bigeyes and yellowfins. Others ventured to the Hot Dog looking for bluefins. Those that chose the Washington Canyon made the right decision, with 29 bigeyes weighed on day 1 of the tournament. “Reel Chaos” led the way with 4 bigeyes in the box totaling 687 lbs., which put them in 1st place in the Heaviest Stringer Division. Right behind with 3 bigeyes each was the “Warrior”(555 lbs.), “Goin’ In Deep” (575 lbs.) and the “No Quarter” (644 lbs.). The heaviest single fish on the “No Quarter” weighed 253 lbs. and ended the tournament in 1st place in the Single Heaviest Tuna Division.
Other boats may not have had a winning stringer, but they threw some big fish on the dock. Many were over 180 lbs. and a few topped 200 lbs. including the “Four Play” (212 lbs.), “Goin’ In Deep” (237 lbs.), “Jackel” (236 lbs.), “Stress Reel-ief” (238 lbs.), “Espadon” (206 lbs.), “Lady Luck” (227 lbs.), and the “Warrior” (203 lbs.).
On the second day of the tournament, 56 boats left the Ocean City Inlet and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guess where they were headed. Unfortunately, the bite was nothing like the first day. Only 5 bigeyes were caught, led by “Odinspear” with a 222 lb. bigeye. Others were caught on the “Espadon” (206 lbs.), “Tuna Dog” (111 lbs.), “Let It Ride” (201 lbs.) and the “Sushi”, with a 236 pounder. We also saw quite a few yellowfins caught this day in the Washington Canyon.
The third day of the tournament had everyone excited, looking for a shoot-out between the “Reel Chaos” and the “No Quarter” for the heaviest stringer. Unfortunately, neither got a bite all day and only 1 bigeye was weighed when the “D.A. Sea” arrived with a 188 pounder caught in the Washington Canyon. Sunday was so slow in the Washington Canyon that some boats gave up looking for bigeyes and headed north to the Hot Dog in search of big bluefins.
In the Heaviest Stringer Division, it is interesting to note that both the 1st place finisher, “Reel Chaos” and the 3rd place boat, “Grande Pez” accumulated all their pounds with only their catches on the first day of the tournament and the “Warrior” moved into 2nd place by only catching a 52 lb. bluefin on the final day in Massey’s Canyon.
There were no qualifying dolphin weighed in the tournament, so the $13,200 in the pot will be rolled over into the 2014 tournament. This should make things interesting.
Tuna
Outside of the tournament, there were several notable catches during the week. Bluefins were still in the area around the northeast tip of the Hot Dog and bigeyes and yellowfins were in the Washington.
Most of the charter boats that fished in 74 to 78-degree water at the Hot Dog were able to come home with their “under” and “over” bluefins during the week in addition to a few yellowfins.
On Monday, anglers aboard “Rhonda’s Osprey” caught a bluefin, a wahoo, a dolphin and a yellowfin, all in Massey’s Canyon.
The following day, the “Restless Lady” returned to the Talbot Street Pier with 2 bigeyes and 14 yellowfins in the box. Capt. Todd Kurtz found the fish in 250 fathoms in the Washington Canyon. Their 2 bigeyes weighed 169 and 203 lbs.
On Thursday, anglers on the charter boat, “That’s Right” caught their 2 bluefins early and spent the rest of the morning releasing fish under 47-inches.
Now that boat traffic won’t be as heavy as over the weekend, it will be interesting to see if anglers can get back on the bigeyes. Stay tuned to our daily online fishing report.
Wahoo
There were a couple of wahoo caught last week. As previously mentioned,“Rhonda’s Osprey” caught one early in the week in Massey’s Canyon. On Friday, “Dreaminon” caught a 53 pounder at the Hot Dog and on Sunday, “Rain ‘E’ Daze” boated a 63 pounder in the Washington Canyon.
Marlin
A couple of white marlin and blue marlin were hooked last week. The charter boat, “Marli” released a white marlin early in the week while trolling in the Washington Canyon. On Friday, the “Lady Luck” released a blue marlin, estimated at 600 lbs., while fishing in the Washington. The “Rip Tide” released a white marlin on Saturday while fishing further north towards the Hot Dog and finally, “Game Over” created some excitement at the Tuna Tournament scale when they arrived with a 368 lb. blue marlin that got tail wrapped at the Rockpile and died during the fight.
Flounder
Dirty water has hampered flounder fishermen for a couple of weeks and just when it looked like water clarity was improving we got hit with another storm. Luckily, it wasn’t so bad and anglers were able to catch some nice stringers of flounder.
There were a couple of hot spots last week. The East Channel yielded several nice catches. Anglers on the “Teaser” caught 12 flounder just north of the Rt. 50 Bridge on Sunday. Their largest fish measured 25-inches. On Saturday, Debbie Brockmeyer caught a 6 lb. 10 oz. flounder south of the bridge, right in front of the Coast Guard Station, otherwise known as “Snag City”.
Most of the head boat and charter boat action centered around the west side of the Inlet, at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor and in the West Channel in front of Martha’s Landing. Most of the flounder were caught on shiners or Gulp! Swimming Mullets. Capt. Jason Mumford had several nice catches last week and he told me his anglers were having the best luck with pink artificial baits.
If you get a chance to flounder fish in the ocean, head up to the Old Grounds. Delaware anglers are coming back with some awesome catches of big flounder.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the world famous Marlin Club Kid’s Classic. Last year, 334 anglers participated in the tournament and there were a lot of smiling faces around the dock, and I’m not just talking about the kids.
Weigh-ins are at Sunset Marina from 3:00 to 6:30 on Saturday and 3:00 to 6:00 on Sunday.
See you at the scales!
