Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
• The “Big Stick” with the Trappe Queens took the top spot for Billfish Release during the 39th Annual OCMC Canyon Kick Off. They released 2 blue marlin and a white in the Washington Canyon.
• Top payout for the Canyon Kick Off was to the crew of the “Kilo Charlie” for a 14.6 lb. mahi caught in the Washington Canyon. They had the only qualifying fish presented and took home over $8,000!
• The very hot tuna bite from the last 2 weeks of June slowed significantly with the top spot being the Poor Man’s followed by the Washington.
• Rory Badger caught a 458 lb. thersher shark using mackerel while fishing on the “Sea Hawk” at the Old Grounds.
It did feel like summer finally turned on this past week. We saw several hot sunny days and large crowds for the holiday weekend. It felt good to see our coastal communities hopping and so many people enjoying themselves. Offshore things also picked up, and captains are reporting water temperature in the 70° to 75° range in the Poor Man’s Canyon and below. The tuna decided to give up their picky ways from early last week and were hitting bait in earnest! We also got to see some species we haven’t seen in a while. We hope this is a good sign for the upcoming 35th Annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament hosted at the Ocean City Fishing Center this weekend.
Billfish were in the mix as well with a number of blue marlin and swordfish catches being reported. Lot’s of new entry’s for the Heaviest Fish this week too, so lets see who was catching what and where!
Tournaments
I only highlight tournaments in this report because the one schedule for last weekend was canceled due to low participation. It may be a sign of the times, but when the event was canceled last Thursday, the offshore action up to that point had been poor. It also doesn’t take an economist either to know that fuel prices are impacting peoples decisions to enter these events as well.
The good news however is that the tuna bite got hot over the weekend, just in time for the Ocean City Tuna Tournament this weekend. Lots of reports of double digit catches for yellowfin, as well as bigeyes and a bluefin. This is also the first big money tournament of the season and I expect we will see a crowded field and some good action at the scales.
Tuna
A group text must have gone out among the tuna last Thursday telling the yellowfins to bite! Both Thursday and Friday saw nice catches from the Washington Canyon, mostly on naked ballyhoo. The charter boat “Sping Mix II” started things off bringing in 10 good sized yellowfins from the Washington Canyon where Capt. Chris Watkowski found warm 73.4 DEGREE water, including an 85.5 lb. yellowfin that is currently the Heaviest for the season! The “Playmate” was there too, returning with 6 nice sized fish. Despite some ‘sporty‘ weather, Friday was even stronger. The “Marli” pulled in 9 yellowfin, the “Bar South” tagged 5 and the “Playmate” again hit 5 yellows as well as a stud 219 lb. bigeye! Only one of less than a dozen eyeballs reported this season. Capt. Jeremy Shadrowski reported that they had 10 more bites in addition to the fish caught.
Saturday saw most of the fleet at the docks as the wind picked up for the day, but when it settled down overnight, Sunday picked right back up with tuna catches reported broadly across the southern canyons and lumps. First to report was Capt. Joey Drosey on the charter boat “Rhonda’s Osprey”. He gave us a call at 10AM that he was already headed in with 6 chunky yellowfins for his 3 guest charter. They hit on 6 first thing after getting hooks in the water at Massey’s Canyon and said ‘that’s enough! 2021’s top tuna captain Chris Little on the “Talking Trash” came back with 8 good sized yellowfins to the Ocean City Fishing Center as did the “Spring Mix II” with 6 from the Washington. The big news was yet to come. I got a call from Jim Brinker on the “Carol’s Teakettle” that he was coming in with a large bluefin tuna. We haven’t seen one of those in weeks! While I was waiting for them at the scales at Sunset Marina I found the crew of the “Top Dog” hanging a 243 lb. bigeye on the scale! Teenage anglers Cash Stanton and Trent Dickerson took 45 minutes to get the newest Heaviest Fish Bluefin tuna to the boat. Jim found his bluefin at the Hambone after it hit on a naked ballyhoo. Once to the scales at Sunset Marina it registered at 132 lbs. As I said, lots of promise for the Tuna Tournament!
Billfish
Billfishing in general has been very slow this year. The warmer waters these fish crave has been elusive in our canyons, however we are seeing temps above 70 DEGREES as I mentioned above, and that has lead to several blue marlin releases and catches this week. The “Real One” is on our cover with a 340 lb. blue they caught in the Washington Canyon. The fish hit on a purple Ilander and took angler Stephen Newcomb 2.5 hours to get to the boat. The fish ended up being tail wrapped and did not survive the fight to the boat. Stephen will be warped however since this was his first offshore trip. Expectations will be high for his next adventure on the rip! Friday saw the first blue marlin release for a Delaware boat. The “Bill Slayer” released an estimated 650 lb. blue, and another DE boat, the “Miss Darline” released one as well. Both were caught in the Baltimore Canyon. We did not get any reports of white marlin releases.
The ‘other’ billfish action we saw was swordfish. Angler Steven Stallings on the “Big Stick” landed a monster 288 lb. sword in the Poor Man’s Canyon. It was actually a double hookup and the second one caught was 80 lbs. The “Boss Hogg” also got a nice sized sword. Dolphin belly seemed to be the bait of choice.
Other Notable
The first wahoo catch of the season was reported by Capt. Chase Eberle on the charter boat “Chasin Tides” and it was chunky. Angler Tim McCartney snagged the speedster after it hit on a Hoo Magic Trolling head at the Hot Dog.
The last shortfin mako shark caught in Maryland for the next couple of years was caught by anglers Tyler Enslin and Andy Swope. They tricked two makos on an overnight trip in late June, keeping the legal one. The retention federal limit for shortfin makos however changed as of July 5th, and the limit is now 0 for the foreseeable future. We have posted the NOAA announcement next to this article for details.
Until next week, I will see you at the scales! §
Upcoming Tournaments
• The 5th Annual South Jersey Yacht Sales Offshore Showdown is July 6th-9th. The Showdown is intended to be a relaxing time among boat owners, their family and friends. More at SouthJerseyTournaments.com.
• Our areas first big money tournament is the Ocean City Tuna Tournament. Held on July 8th - 10th with weigh ins at the Ocean City Fishing Center from 4-8PM on Fri. & Sat., and 4-7PM on Sun. More at OCTunaTournament.com.
• Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring runs from July 10th - 16th in Atlantic City, NJ. This is the 2nd year for this event in Atlantic City and it does draw big names and is quite an event. Details at FishHardEvents.com.
• The OC Marlin Club hosts it’s annual Kid’s Classic on July 16th & 17th to benefit the Wish a Fish Foundation. This 18th edition will have weigh ins from 3PM - 6:30PM on Saturday and 3PM - 6PM on Sunday at the tournament scale at Sunset Marina.
• The Paradise Bay Flounder Tournament returns after a 2 year hiatus on July 16th - 17th. Hosted by the Paradise Grill in Long Neck, DE and sponsored by Short’s Marine, it is the richest strictly bay & flounder fishing tournament in the world and benewwwfits the Oak Orchard Boys and Girls Club. More at BayTournament.com.
