Article by Larry Jock
The highlight of the week was the inaugural Big Fish Classic held at the Talbot Street Pier on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament was a 32-hour event with lines in the water at 7:00 AM on Saturday and lines out at 3:00 PM on Sunday. If you were lucky enough to be around the scales on Sunday, you saw some incredible action with 18 bigeyes, a swordfish, 2 white marlin and some yellowfins hitting the scales over the course of 4 hours. It was definitely a day to remember!
The tournament saw 32 boats competing for the top prize given to the angler who catches the heaviest fish, no matter what species. On Saturday, we saw only 2 boats come back early to weigh fish. The “Lil’ Angler II” out of Lewes, DE weighed the first fish of the tournament, a 21 lb. dolphin caught by Bill Via. Right behind was the first of 18 bigeyes weighed in the tournament when John Giresi decked a 218 pounder after hooking it in the Baltimore Canyon on a Joe Shute Candy Apple Red Lantern lure.
From talking to captains, it looks like the best bite occurred between 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM in the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons on Saturday night and with worsening weather on Sunday, several boats decided to cut their fishing short and were at the dock, waiting for the scales to open at 4:00 PM, all with bigeyes in their box. One of the earlier weigh-ins was the 243.5 lb. bigeye caught by Matt Jenkins on the “Reel Intents”. Matt hooked his first ever eyeball in 200 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday night, around 9:00 PM. The fish held on to win 1st place for being the heaviest fish caught in the tournament. In total, 17 of the 18 bigeyes were weighed on Sunday:
Wilmington Canyon
Playmate (168.5 & 170 lbs.)
Fourtuna (136 & 174 lbs.)
Marli (168.5 lbs.)
Backlash (211 lbs.)
Restless Lady (235.5 lbs.)
Rebel (202.5 lbs.)
No Quarter (144 & 185.5 lbs.)
M.R. Ducks (171 & 225 lbs.)
Baltimore Canyon
Research (218 lbs.)
I-Cart-er (157, 174 & 188 lbs.)
Alyson Rose (191 lbs.)
Reel Intents (243.5 lbs.)
Later in the day on Sunday, Rachael Davanzo brought some excitement to the scale when she arrived with a 167.5 lb. swordfish caught on the “Backlash” in the Norfolk Canyon. Rachael hooked the swordfish on a tinker mackerel at 12:15 in the morning.
Also from the Norfolk Canyon came the only 2 white marlin killed in the tournament. Both came off the “Rebel” who had an incredible tournament, catching a 202.5 lb. bigeye on a trolled, skirted rubber shad in addition to releasing 12 white marlin hooked on live bait.
Overall, it was a fantastic tournament and I would be surprised if it didn’t grow to become one of the top tournaments in Ocean?City. Hats off to Brian Roberts, Sean Welch, the Lewis Family and staff at the Talbot Street Pier for a well run, fun tournament!
Flounder
The highlight of the week for flounder fishing was junior angler, Haley Betz’s 27-inch, 7 lb. 8 oz. flattie caught in the West Channel near Hoopers Crab House. When the rest of her family was fishing with Gulp!, Haley decided to use live minnows for bait and was rewarded with the big flounder.
The West Channel was the hot spot last week, producing quite a few keepers. It was also an area that generated an incredible number of smaller fish as well.
Those looking for an improved chance of catching a big flounder ventured out to the reefs and wrecks off the Maryland and Delaware coast. The Bass Grounds, Old Grounds, African Queen and even the subway cars at the Jackspot are all holding good size flounder right now. David Steen has been tearing up ocean structure this season and on Saturday he caught a 28-inch, 7 lb. 1 oz. flattie at the Bass Grounds. David, along with Jerry Shockley and Steve Thompson ended their day with another limit of flatties in the box. They reported the current really moving fast, requiring 8 oz. of lead to hold bottom their custom made tandem rigs.
Local headboats, “Morning Star” and “Angler” returned to the dock last week with catches of nice size flounder mixed in with some sea bass weighing up to 4 lbs.
When it comes to bait, this time of year flounder belly, cut bluefish, croaker and even dolphin belly are all excellent baits to use for big flounder.
Croaker
Anglers are finding croaker all over the bay, hooking hardheads on spec rigs and small hook set-ups tipped with Fishbites or squid. The mouth of the Commercial Harbour, the West Channel and down south in the bay behind Assateague will give you your best shot, although most fish are on the small side, measuring up to 12-inches.
Weakfish
On Saturday, Rich Daiker and his crew boated 4 weakies while fishing around the South Jetty. Their largest fish measured 28 1/2-inches. All were caught on bunker.
In the Surf
Surfcasters are seeing the typical summer menu of kingfish, spot, snapper bluefish and croaker during the day and sharks and skates at night.
Tuna
The patch of blue water that we wrote about a couple of weeks ago finally made its way down from the Lindekohl and produced good tuna action in the northeast corners of the Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons.
As you read in the Big Fish Classic summary, bigeye tuna were caught almost equally between the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons last week by boats on the troll.
Longfins were also caught on the north end of the Poor Man’s Canyon and down in the Washington Canyon where the “Marli” picked up 5 early in the week.
Not much is happening inshore for those chasing bluefins around the Hot Dog and the Hambone.
Yellowfins are scattered with larger fish found in the Wilmington Canyon. On Saturday, the “Boss Hogg” did have an excellent catch of 13 yellowfins in the Washington Canyon where boats out of Virginia Beach also got into them.
Marlin
The white marlin bite was good from the southern end of the Wilmington Canyon down to the Poor Man’s Canyon over the weekend. Some boats reported seeing 10-plus fish per trip. As mentioned earlier, the “Rebel” had 12 releases and 2 kills in the Norfolk Canyon.
Mid-week, Brandon Solomon released a blue marlin at the Rockpile while fishing on the ‘Partner-ship”.
Upcoming Tournament
This Saturday and Sunday is the 6th Annual Marlin Club Ladies Tournament with weigh-ins held at Sunset Marina from 5:00 to 7:30 PM.
Also on Sunday, the 7th Annual Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce Flounder Tournament will be held at Pines Point Provisions. Anglers are allowed to fish from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. This is a really fun flounder tournament and usually has a very good turnout. For more information, call 410-641-5306.
On Monday, August 4th, the big boy rolls into town when the 41st Annual White Marlin Open is held at Harbour Island. Weigh-ins are from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM daily. If you are looking for a great place to relax and watch the boats venture offshore, head on down to the Frog Bar at the Ocean City Inlet Village where you can enjoy a great view along with a nice cup of coffee and breakfast.
See you at the scales!
