Article by Larry Budd
Normally we would be sharing some highlights from the Steve Harman's Poor Girls Open that benefits the American Cancer Society in this issue. Tournament organizes struggled with how to proceed this year in consideration of the pandemic and the participation in the tournament of many cancer survivors. Their underlying conditions would make them more vulnerable to the virus, so with trepidation the decision was made to cancel this year’s event. We wish the tournament great success next year for the ladies and the charity.
Some of the anglers decided to keep their charter dates anyway, including Pam Taylor. She saw this situation as an opportunity to bring those anglers together and keep the weekend for charity and awareness, thus the Rebels Release, Ladies Limited Billfish Release Tournament was born with 10% of proceeds going to Women Supporting Women (WSW) in Salisbury, MD. WSW is a local charity focusing on supporting cancer patients on the eastern shore, and this year's event raised over $5,000. Rebel's Release will be an annual event, however, while this year's event was on the same weekend at the canceled Poor Girl's event, future dates will be moved to later in the season. Congratulations to 1st place boat "Top Dog", 2nd place "Big Stick and 3rd place Reel Steel.
Well I guess we all knew the yellowfin tuna party would have to slow down eventually. After an amazing season of consistent action and some weeks of double digit catches the bite has finally slowed down, especially over the past week. Captains have returned to trolling versus the massive chunking of late July and early August, and while the Poor Man's Canyon still produces, some have returned to deep water (1000F) in the Baltimore and Washington Canyons as well.
Despite the slowdown there was a real highlight this week for a yellowfin tuna caught during the Rebels Release Tournament. Angler Trish Walsh was fishing on the "Big Stick" with Capt. Ronnie Fields when they connected with the 149 lb. allison/yellowfin tuna that is on our cover. They were in the Poor Man's Canyon in 1000F when the beast hit on a dink rod. Fortunately for Trish, the fish ended up tail wrapped and only took 45 minutes to get to the boat, otherwise she would have been fighting that monster for hours on such light tackle.
Bigeye and bluefin tuna fishing have been tough this summer. Some bigeyes made it to the docks in reasonable numbers in June and early July and only two bluefins have been reported to us that where caught in the 47th Annual White Marlin Open.
Last week has been all about billfish starting on Monday the 10th when the "Rhonda's Osprey" returned to the dock after releasing a billfish grand slam of a sailfish, blue marlin and white marlin in a single day! This was also a first for Capt. Joe Drosey. They started the day with the sailfish release, then connected with a blue marlin estimated at 300 lbs. Catching the white marlin took a little work, but by early afternoon they had their grand slam. Another sailfish catch was reported from the Poor Man's Canyon, both hitting on naked ballyhoo.
Overall the white marlin bite was solid last week but scattered. The Poor Man's remains the most reported spot, but also the Baltimore, Washington and Norfolk Canyons posted releases. Again, deep water and naked ballyhoo did the trick.
Lastly, blue marlin releases are on the rise with single releases mixed in with the whites being common. The "Last Call" with Capt. Franky Pettolina, fought a blue for several hours during the White Marlin Open in the Poor Man's Canyon and again in the same spot last week. The Washington Canyon also had reports of blue marlin.
Upcoming Tournaments
The MidAtlantic Tournament will be under full swing when this issue comes out. With over 110 boats fishing out of Ocean City and the forecast of nice weather for Tuesday through Friday, I think we are going to see some nice fish brought to the scales at Sunset Marina.
With the meat of the tournament season past us, the next one to look out for is the 62nd Annual Ocean City Marlin Club - Labor Day White Marlin Tournament from September 4th through 6th.
Until next time we will see you at the docks.
