Article by Larry Jock
As this report is being written on Monday night, the first day of the 2013 White Marlin Open has just ended with 202 of the 262 registered boats heading offshore, looking to win part of the expected $2,400,000 payout.
With no qualifying white or blue marlin weighed on the first day, the scales were dominated by bigeye tuna. The “Tar Heel” took the early lead in the Tuna Division with a 226 lb. bigeye. “Goin In Deep” is in 2nd place with a 200 lb. bigeye and “Over the Top” rounds out the top 3 with a 188 pounder.
Local charter boat, “No Quarter” is on the leaderboard with a 133.5 lb. mako shark and the “Incorrigilble” leads the Dolphin Division with a 29.5 pounder.
Four white marlin and no blue marlin were weighed on the 1st day, and the closest we came to a qualifying white marlin was the 69.5 pounder caught on the “MJ’s” that, unfortunately, came up 1/2 lb. shy of the minimum qualifying weight. Overall, billfish action on day 1 saw releases of 76 white marlin, 14 blue marlin and 2 sailfish.
With 4 days left, it is anyone’s tournament.
Marlin Club Ladies Tournament
Twenty boats competed in this year’s tournament, down from 28 last year (probably due to bigeye fever). On Friday, the “Grandé Pez” took the early lead in the Billfish Division and never looked back, releasing both a white and blue marlin in the Washington Canyon. Also on day 1, Katie Tyler on the “M.R. Ducks” landed a 174 lb. bigeye and held on to win 1st place in the Tuna Division.
On Saturday, the final day of the tournament, the lady anglers on the “Reel Fantasy” really took the scales by storm with 2 white marlin releases, good enough for 2nd place in the Billfish Release Division, and a 172 lb. bigeye that ended up in 2nd place in the Tuna Division. Also on Saturday, the “Slaughterhouse” captured 4 yellowfins while chunking at the Hot Dog, the largest weighing 54 lbs., good enough for 3rd place in the Tuna Division. Finally, the “Odinspear” released a blue marlin in 500 fathoms outside the Washington Canyon to take 3rd place in the Billfish Release Division.
It was another good tournament with a lot of smiling anglers.
Marlin
Although we saw both white and blue marlin caught last week, it is not close to being as hot as it was at this time last year. Looking at the results of last weekend’s Marlin Club Ladies Tournament, the top three boats this year combined for 3 white marlin releases and 2 blue marlin releases. Last year, the top three boats recorded 33 white marlin releases.
Most of the marlin action this year was found from north of the Washington Canyon down into the Norfolk Canyon, in waters from 200 to 1,000 fathoms.
With 262 boats looking to bag over a $1,000,000 in the WMO, by the end of the week anglers should have a good idea where to zero in on a marlin bite.
Tuna
Well, there is good news and there is bad news when it comes to tuna fishing. The bad news is that it appears that the bluefin tuna bite around the Hot Dog is over. Several boats ventured out to the Dog last week, but not many were caught. “Rhonda’s Osprey” managed to put a couple in the boat, but that was about it. Reports came in that the bluefins had moved north into Massey’s Canyon and the area around the Lobster Claw. Boats that were chunking around the Hot Dog were able to pick up a few yellowfins along the way.
Bigeye tuna continue to peak most anglers interest and boats are still heading down to the bigeye hole in the Washington Canyon in search of eyeballs. The largest bigeye came in on Wednesday from Cookie Halle on the “Cookie Monster”. Cookie’s bigeye weighed 265 lbs. gutted and was caught on a skirted ballyhoo in the Norfolk Canyon. Another notable trip came in on Thursday, when the “First Pull” hooked 6 bigeyes in the Norfolk, the same day the charter boat, “No Quarter” caught 2 in the same canyon.
Although those bigeyes were caught in the Norfolk Canyon, the vast majority of bigeye bites are still taking place in the Washington Canyon where, as mentioned earlier, Katie Tyler muscled in a 174 lb. eyeball on the first day of the Marlin Club Ladies Tournament. Also on Friday, the “Reel Addiction” arrived at the Ocean City Fishing Center with a 191 lb. bigeye caught in the Washington.
Boats trolling in the Washington Canyon are returning with some amazing catches of yellowfin, although the vast majority of fish are smaller than what most anglers would like to see. The fish are being caught on both the troll and on the chunk, and huge numbers are being caught by boats rigged with greensticks. Those without greensticks have had success trolling cedar plugs and ballyhoo. The number of boats who returned to the dock last week with double-digit catches are far too many to list, so lets just say the fish cleaners were very happy last week.
The largest yellowfin caught this year out of Ocean City was brought in last Monday on the “Canyon Girl” when a 99 pounder hit their skirted ballyhoo at the Hot Dog.
Wahoo
We saw a handful of wahoo caught last week in the Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons, but none created a bigger buzz than the 105 pounder caught on the “Why Not” with Capt. Wade Lober at the wheel. The speedster was hooked around 461 Lump and was only 6 lbs. shy of the current Maryland state record caught in 2003.
Flounder
It wasn’t a great week for flounder fishing with anglers continuing to battle water clarity problems. Anglers are having far greater luck heading out the inlet to offshore structure such as the African Queen or the Old Grounds.
A couple of big flounder came in on the head boat, “Morning Star” last week. Early in the week, Max Sontag boated a 25 1/2-incher that weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. and on Friday, the self proclaimed “Greatest Flounder Fisherman in the World”, Tucker Colquhoun landed himself a 6 pounder on a natural reef. We also saw some nice flounder catches on the head boat, “Angler” as well.
In the bay, the East Channel near the Cement Plant, the bay behind Harbour Island and the West Channel (when it isn’t being bombarded by sunbathers and clammers on the sand bars) continue to be the best spots for flounder fishing.
White Gulp! Swimming Mullets have been the best bait for attracting flatties, but small spot or finger mullet are certainly great baits if you can get a hold of some.
Sea Bass
Those looking for good sea bass fishing have been both excited and frustrated, depending on the day. One day, fishing for sea bass on ocean structure is good and flounder fishing a little slow, but the next day you could find just the opposite. It has been that way all season. Very unpredictable.
Tilefish
The “Reel Addiction” had impressive catch of tilefish, wreckfish and grouper last week, when they fished in 50 to 125 fathoms below the Poor Man’s Canyon and hand cranked golden tilefish up to 40 lbs., snowy grouper up to 12 lbs. and assorted other bottom dwellers. See picture on preceeding page.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is time for tournament fishermen to decompress from the weeklong White Marlin Open. The next tournament on the schedule starts on Thursday, August 15th when the 20th Annual Capt. Steve Harman Poor Girl’s Open takes place at Bahia Marina.
If you have never been to this tournament, you really don’t want to miss it, both as a participant or a spectator. Bahia Marina is a great place to watch the action at the scales, so if you get a chance, head on over. Weigh-ins run from 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Over the last 3 years, the tournament has donated more than $100,000 to the American Cancer Society, so come out and support a great tournament and a great cause.
See you at the scales!
