Article by Larry Jock
It was a good week to be an angler with air temperatures on the water being much cooler than those experienced by us on land. The heat index for most of the weekend was over 100-degrees and the humidity unbearable.
The Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic was another success. This was the 7th year
of the tournament and even a little rain on Sunday couldn’t dampen spirits. Over 320?anglers participated and a lot of fish hit the scales. Kudos go out to all the volunteers who donated their time towards this tournament. Let me tell you, the action at the scale can be downright crazy and it takes special people to keep everything running smoothly.
Tuna
Yellowfin tuna action was on the slow side for most of the week, although the “Marli” did throw 17 on the dock when they returned from the Hot Dog on Sunday. Most of the fish were on the smaller side, in the 30-35 inch range. “Pumpin’ Hard” also caught 9 yellowfins at the same location. Most of the boats fishing in the Washington and Baltimore Canyons and around the Hot Dog during the week ended up with 2 to 3 yellowfins in the box.
A couple of large bluefin tuna were caught by anglers fishing around the Hambone on Friday, when “The Zipper” released a 61-inch bluefin and the “Foolish Pleasures” caught a 51-incher.
On Sunday, lady anglers on the “Moore Bills” had an exciting day, hooking up with 4 bigeye tuna at one time in the Washington Canyon. Lisa Graver did manage to get her 193 lb. tuna into the boat after a 2 hour fight.
Billfish
Billfishermen had a pretty good week of action with both white marlin and blue marlin flags seen flying at the dock. “Rhonda’s Osprey” had a terrific week starting on Wednesday when they released 2 whites in the Poor Man’s Canyon. On Friday, they returned to the Poor Man’s and released a white and a blue marlin. Then, on Saturday they recorded 3 white marlin releases and another blue marlin release at the same location. They finished off the week with 1 release on Sunday.
Outside of the “Rhonda’s Osprey” release mentioned above, several other blue marlin were released last week, starting on Tuesday when the “No Quarter” let one go while fishing in the Washington Canyon. The “Marli” released one on Thursday in the Baltimore Canyon and on Saturday, “Give It Away” released 2 blue marlin in the Washington Canyon in addition to a white marlin as well. Finally, on Sunday, anglers on the “Crush Em” released a blue marlin in 500 fathoms south of the Baltimore Canyon.
The white marlin bite was productive for anglers fishing in the Washington Canyon, Poor Man’s Canyon, Baltimore Canyon and even at the Hambone, where most boats released 2-3 whites during their trip.
Early in the week, the “Playtime” ventured out to the Hot Dog and released a sailfish.
A late report came in to the Coastal Fisherman office from the Hook’em & Cook’em tackle shop in the Indian River Marina. Deanna sent over a picture of Sandy Panik with a 49.8 lb. swordfish she caught while fishing on an overnight trip in the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Wahoo
A couple of wahoo were caught last week and the largest was Greg Calvert’s 78 pounder caught while fishing on the “Fair Lady” out of Sunset Marina on Saturday. The speedster was caught in 81-degree water at the 1st Sausage.
On Friday, anglers on “Island Time” boated a 48 lb. wahoo at the Hambone.
Dolphin
Dolphin continue to be caught in good numbers. Most of the ones we have seen have been the smaller, bailor dolphin but a few larger ones were hooked last week as well. They were hooked primarily on trolled ballyhoo and spreader bars right up the line from the Washington Canyon to Massey’s Canyon in 20 to 70 fathoms.
Sea Bass
The sea bass bite is typical for this time of year. Some good days and some not so good. Outside of the local headboats, we haven’t seen many sea bass arriving at the dock. Capt. Monty on the “Morning Star” came back to the Ocean City Fishing Center with good catches on a couple days last week. Most of the fish were caught by anglers fishing with clams.
Striped Bass
The striper bite around the South Jetty cooled when compared to weeks past, but some nice fish are still being caught. Anglers on the “Lucky Break” boated a 35-incher on Thursday and 2 more on Saturday with the largest measuring 36.5-inches. All were caught on live spot around the Rt. 50 Bridge.
Three other linesiders, up to 32-inches, were caught by anglers on the “Happy Hooker” while in the Inlet earlier in the week.
Flounder
This was one week when your success nabbing a flounder was almost solely dependent on the time of day you were fishing. The extremely hot weather really boiled our bay waters, so the outgoing tide produced very few keepers. Amazingly, on one trip to the bay behind Assateague Island, Capt. Bob Gowar on the “Bay Bee” reported water temperatures at 87-degrees.
Those fishing the incoming tide, when cooler ocean water funneled into the bay, had much better luck although anglers still had to wade through a load of throwbacks to get their keeper. To give you a feel on the throwback ratio, last Wednesday the “Bay Bee” had 120 throwbacks during their morning trip and another 157 in the afternoon.
Live spot or mullet have been the prime baits for landing keepers, but a white or chartreuse Gulp! Swimming Mullet has been holding it’s own.
The nicest catch of the week came in on Monday right after last week’s issue went to press when Frank Zeccola arrived with 2 flatties caught in the East Channel near Harbour Island. Frank hooked 2 keepers measuring 24 and 25.5-inches. The largest tipped the scale at 6 lbs. 1 oz.
Flounder are starting to be caught on a fairly consistent basis by those venturing off the beach to reefs and wrecks. Capt. Monty on the “Morning Star” brought back several nice size flounder last week. On Friday, Cross Ferrara boated three 19 3/4-inch fish at an artificial reef.
Sheepshead
A couple of sheepshead were landed last week, led by the 11 lb. 8 oz. fish caught by Kevin Javins while fishing off the tip of the South Jetty on Sunday. Kevin fooled the sheepshead with a peeler crab. A 6.5 lb. sheepshead was also caught by an angler on the “Happy Hooker” while fishing in the Inlet.
Bluefish
Chopper bluefish have been scarce this season but smaller, snapper bluefish are all over the shoals off the beach and around the Rt. 50 Bridge. Those being caught in the bay have been hooked by anglers tossing live spot in search of stripers. Snappers on the shoals were caught on live bait as well as spoons and other artificial lures.
