Article by Larry Jock
If Mother Nature will cooperate, we should see some incredible fishing over the next couple of weeks, primarily for those chasing billfish in the canyons and for anglers dropping bucktails for big flounder on ocean structure.
Flounder
You can tell that the flounder in the bay are preparing for their move to ocean structure because we are seeing more larger fish being caught, primarily in the East Channel. Look for this bite to get better in the next week or two, especially around the South Jetty, the Rt. 50 Bridge and along the North Jetty.
Last week, Jeff Schmidt caught a 24-inch flattie on a live spot while fishing in the East Channel off the 2nd Street Bulkhead. Also on Wednesday, an angler aboard “Skip’s Charter & Guide Service” boated a 25 3/4-inch, 7 lb. 5 oz. flounder while fishing with live spot in the East Channel. The following day, Jerry Gray caught a 24 1/2-inch, 5 lb. 14 oz. flounder in the West Channel, north of the Rt. 50 Bridge while drifting minnows.
On Saturday, another angler on “Skip’s Charter & Guide Service” captured a 26-incher that weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. This fish was also caught on live spot in the East Channel.
Although the East Channel was the hot spot last week, anglers also caught fish in the Middle Channel, north of the Rt. 50 Bridge and in the inlet.
The flattie bite on ocean structure continued it’s torrid pace with good quantities of fish landed from Winter Quarter Shoal up to the Old Grounds off Delaware. Anglers seemed to gravitate towards the African Queen, the Bass Grounds and the Great Eastern Reef, looking to catch flounder while dropping Spro jig heads tipped with flounder or dolphin belly. There has been some confusion over Maryland regulations regarding fishing with these baits. Contrary to what some folks believe, fishing with flounder or dolphin belly is not illegal in the state of Maryland. The only regulation that could pertain to fishing with these baits is the one that states that it is illegal to have over 15 lbs. of cut, legally kept fish on your boat at any given time. That would be a lot of dolphin belly, so just keep it under 15 lbs. and you are going to be OK.
The bite on ocean structure should continue to improve, so if you don’t have your own boat, now is a good time to jump on a charter or headboat that ventures outside the inlet.
Billfish
The billfish bite in 60 to 100 fathoms has been outstanding with boats returning to local docks with numerous blue flags flying. Early in the week, most of the action centered in the Poor Man’s Canyon where on Tuesday, the charter boat, “Billfisher” released 12 white marlin and a blue marlin. On Wednesday, several boats returned from the Poor Man’s and ended up with 6 to 9 white marlin releases. Thursday saw rough conditions, keeping most boats at the dock, but the “Miss Annie” did record 6 white marlin releases and a blue marlin release in the Poor Man’s.
Friday was the first day of the Marlin Club Labor Day White Marlin Tournament, so a lot of boats headed to points between the Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons. The “D.A.?Sea” took the early lead with 13 white marlin releases, but the “Billfisher” stayed close behind with 11 releases in the Washington Canyon. Quite a few other boats had releases numbering between 6 and 8.
On Saturday, boats headed back to the same location where the “Billfisher” took over 1st place in the tournament with 14 white marlin releases and a blue marlin release, just beating out the “D.A. Sea” who added 13 white marlin releases to their total. The “Espadon” also had a great day, recording 12 white marlin releases in the Washington Canyon. Earlier in the day, “Moore Bills” and the “Miss Annie” both returned from overnight trips to the Washington Canyon with 18 white marlin releases on the “Moore Bills” and 25 on the “Miss Annie”. The “Miss Annie” also had a blue marlin release during their trip.
Sunday saw fewer boats leave the dock and most returned with 3 to 4 releases from the Washington Canyon although the “Billfisher” (10), “Rhonda’s Osprey” (9), “Reel Joy” and the “D.A. Sea” (8) each had a better day than most . The “Fin-ness” also had a good day, recording releases of 3 white’s and a blue in the Washington.
Dolphin
Outside of billfish, dolphin dominated the offshore activity last week. Although we saw catches of mahi overflowing fish boxes all week, several large bull and female dolphin were also caught, primarily on trolled ballyhoo.
One of the largest dolphin last week was caught on the overnight trip aboard the “Moore Bills” when a 41 pounder leaped out of the water and hooked itself on a ballyhoo dangling off the outrigger. On Saturday, the “Boss Hogg” returned with a 40 pounder caught in the Poor Man’s and the “Fin-ness” had a 31.4 pounder landed on Sunday in the Washington Canyon.
Tuna
Yellowfin have been scarce recently but on Saturday, chunkers had good results in the Wilmington Canyon. Other than that, a few boats were able to hook-up yellowfins in the Washington Canyon over the weekend.
Bigeye tuna stole the show last week, with catches still coming in from outings in the Washington Canyon. On Wednesday, the “Foolish Pleasures” boated an eyeball and on Friday, the “Marli” showed up after an overnight trip with 3 bigeyes in the box. The big tuna catch of the week came in on Saturday morning when the “Restless Lady” returned from an overnight trip to the Bigeye Hole with 4 eyeballs and 8 yellowfins. Also after overnight trips, the “Moore Bills” and “Skattebol” each had bigeyes caught right before dark on Friday night. “Moore Bills” ended their trip with 3 bigeyes in the box and the “Skattebol” had a 173 pounder that was their 8th of the season.
Wahoo
A couple of speedsters were caught last week. “First Light” caught one on Wednesday in the Poor Man’s Canyon and on Saturday, both the “Hammy 5” and “Carol’s Teakettle” each returned with one from around the Rockpile.
In the Surf
We continue to see some kingfish, sharks, rays and skates dominate the surf action but snapper bluefish have shown up lately for anglers fishing with any type of cut bait.
Upcoming Tournament
The next tournament on the schedule is the 1-day, Bahia Marina Flounder Pounder on September 7th. For more information, please call 410-289-7473.
See you at the scales!
