Article by Larry Jock
The stars of the show this past week were definitely the yellowfin tuna that showed up in good numbers in the Wilmington Canyon. If you ever thought about chartering a boat to do some tuna fishing, now is the time to grab five friends and hit the water.
Inshore, anglers targeting mako sharks were somewhat frustrated with the size of the makos being caught. This doesn’t mean some nice ones weren’t landed, it just means that overall they were on the small side.
In the bay, flounder fishing was on the slow side, but some fat fish were caught. We also had a catch that I will leave as a surprise for you later in this report.
Mako Mania Shark Tournament
Well, after years of great tournaments, you are bound to have a year where the action isn’t as fast and furious as you are used to. Smaller than normal mako sharks dominated the action at the scales and everyone was surprised that no thresher sharks were weighed.
The “Blackjack” weighed a 171.1 lb. mako on the second day of the tournament and held on to win 1st place in the Mako Division. The “Tighten Up”, with new Captain Jason Genthner at the helm, weighed a 169.5 pounder on the first day and ended up winning 2nd place. Third place in the Mako Division was won by the “Moore Bills”, with a 168.8 pounder caught on the 1st day of the tournament.
Bluefish are drawn to the “Keep Er Wet”, and it’s a good thing for their crew since they won 1st and 2nd place in the Bluefish Division with fish weighing 11.9 lbs. and 12.7 lbs.
The W.W. Harman Award for most shark releases in the tournament was won by the crew on the “Moore Bills” who recorded 10 releases during their 2 days of fishing.
Overall, a good time was had by all, with Bahia Marina always hosting a fun tournament.
Tuna
We saw good numbers of yellowfin tuna brought to the scales this week and reports of bluefin tuna releases inshore.
With most of the action centered around the Washington Canyon/Rockpile area in previous weeks, “That’s Right” decided to head to some pretty water in the Wilmington Canyon on Wednesday and were rewarded with 13 yellowfins caught on the troll in 72.5-degree water. They followed that up on Friday with another good day, and returned with 17 yellowfins caught while trolling south towards the southern end of the Wilmington/northern end of the Baltimore Canyon. Fish were found in 60-100 fathoms. The “Wrangler” went on an overnight trip to the Wilmington Canyon on Friday/Saturday and ended their trip with 13 yellowfin tuna in the box.
The largest yellowfin tuna we have seen in Ocean City so far this year was the 79 pounder caught on the “Backlash” in the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday.
Bluefin tuna were abundant inshore of the canyons, primarily around the Hambone and the Sausages. Some boats recorded an incredible number of releases during their trip.
On Friday, the “Restless Lady” and the “Muff Diver” took a group of 11 anglers out to the Hambone and boated 3 keepers and released 55 other bluefins. The keepers measured 42, 43 and 55-inches.
Sharks
We haven’t seen many thresher sharks so far this year and the vast majority of mako sharks have been smaller than we are accustomed to seeing.
Outside of last weekend’s Mako Mania Shark Tournament held at Bahia Marina, we saw some big sharks weighed at the scales.
On Tuesday, Ray Upton on the “Local Hooker” impressively landed a 301.6 lb. thresher shark that he caught during a solo trip to the Fingers. The big thresher ate a whole mackerel and was towed to the scales by Ray.
On Wednesday, the “Jimbo” arrived at the Ocean City Fishing Center with a 280 lb. mako shark that was caught on a bunker fillet in the Washington Canyon.
Ron Hansen chartered the “Restless Lady” for 3 days and ended up with 2 nice makos in the box. One weighed 174 lbs. while the other tipped the scales at 183 lbs. Both were caught around the Hambone.
Dolphin
Mahi are starting to show up at the docks. Hopefully, they will have some size to them this year, since last year saw mainly small fish throughout the season.
Early in the week some dolphin were boated in the Washington Canyon. Later in the week we saw mahi caught in the Baltimore Canyon by anglers targeting yellowfin tuna.
Flounder
Anglers are still needing to show a lot of patience when looking for their keeper flounder. I’m still surprised by the large, and I mean large, number of throwbacks being recorded. The one thing you can say about the keeper flounder this year is that they are FAT!
The “Bay Bee” really had some good days last week, especially on Saturday when anglers had 9 keepers during their morning trip and 7 from their afternoon trip. On Thursday, they were kept very busy with 38 throwbacks.
Notable catches last week were Barbara Skelley’s 5 lb. 13 oz. flattie caught on Saturday behind Harbour Island and a 5 lb. 11 oz. flounder caught by an angler on the “Get Sum” on Wednesday. That fish was caught in the East Channel.
Most of the keeper flounder we see are in the 19 to 20-inch range and are being caught on minnow and Gulp! Swimming Mullet combinations. If you haven’t discovered the Gulp! Alive artificial baits, you are really missing the boat. Some really nice fish are being caught on these baits.
The East Channel, both north and south of the Rt. 50 Bridge, the Thorofare and in the bay behind Assateague near the Ocean City Airport were the best locations last week.
Weakfish
When Capt. Skip Maguire called me on Saturday, asking me to come over to take a picture of a weakfish, I couldn’t believe my ears. Sure enough, there was Paul Gillespie with a 4 lb. 6 oz. weakie that he caught off the 2nd Street Bulkhead on a bucktail. This is the first weakfish we have seen at the Coastal Fisherman since the 2009 season.
Striped Bass
Stripers are still hanging around the Rt. 50 Bridge and on the point of the South Jetty. Fish continue to run small, but a few keepers were landed during the week. Chuck Wenzel caught a 29-incher early in the week around the South Jetty and the “Get Sum” recorded some throwbacks in the same area. On Saturday night, there was a fantastic bite off the Rt. 50 Bridge with some larger fish thrown in the mix.
Action for surfcasters off Assateague Island has slowed since the incredible spring run, but a few are still being hooked. Stacy Till caught her first keeper, a nice 32-incher on Tuesday.
Bluefish
If you were looking for chopper bluefish, then the Hambone/Sausages/Fingers triangle was the place to troll.
These fish are hitting hoochies, spoons and probably anything else you want to pull. They typically aren’t picky.
Smaller bluefish are still roaming around the Rt. 50 Bridge, especially during the incoming tide. Again, anything metal is doing the trick.
Sea Bass
Anglers willing to head off to ocean wrecks and reefs are returning with nice catches of sea bass. The “Morning Star” had some beautiful catches over the last week but really had to work at it with the keeper ratio hovering around 20%. Unfortunately, trying to get the locations from Capt. Monty is harder than keeping him away from Mama Jock’s blueberry muffins.
We did hear reports of private boats returning with good catches from the Washingtonian (38-25.844 74-46.059) and San Gill (38-04.757 74-35.617) wrecks.
This coming weekend is tournament-free, so everyone will be going on fun-fishing trips. Don’t forget to give us a buzz or swing by the office for a photo of your catch.
