Article by Larry Budd
Last weekend was highlighted by the 16th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic with scales at Sunset Marina. Given this year’s craziness it was great to see 54 boats and 220 anglers participate. Those numbers were actually very close to last years 'non pandemic' event! While the heat on Sunday no doubt had an impact on who wanted to go fishing, both days were well represented at the scales. Day 1 on Saturday showed the most action with 26 boats coming to the dock with a wide diversity of fish. The Tuna Division got off to a hot start when "Reel Fin Addict" got in a little before 5PM. Their heaviest of 3 yellowfin tunas set the bar at 56.2 lbs. Given there have not been many bigeye tuna reports in days, this was a solid number and did hold off competition to win that division. Other first day notables included "C-Boys" and their 5.0 lb. flounder they landed on Gulp at the Winter Quarter Shoal wreck. This one too would hold for the tournament and place 1st in the Flounder Division. Boat "Fishizzle" also came in strong with their 9.4 lb. spanish mackerel earning them 1st place in that division. Day 2 proved to have interesting weather. A thick fog set in offshore in the morning, not really clearing until the early afternoon and it was hot from the start. That did not deter the action however, while there was a slow start at the scales the day finished with a showdown in the Billfish Division. Two boats, the "Fish On" and the "Griffin" ended the day with 400 points each in this category. "Fish On" released 4 white marlins and "Griffin" 2 blue marlins and a spearfish. Both were fishing in the Norfolk Canyon. This is very consistent with our reports over the past 3 weeks. After review of the times for the releases for each boat it was "Fish On" that earned 1st place in the Billfish Division.
It was great to see so many kids across the age spectrum excited to share their catches. All in all a great tournament for the kids and for raising money for the Wish-A-Fish Foundation. Our coverage starts on page 52 of this issue. Thanks to the Marlin Club for hosting us at the scales and to Sunset Marina for hosting the event.
The offshore news from last week would have to be headlined 'tuna tuna tuna'! Yellowfin tuna specifically. This year has been outstanding for yellowfin tuna fishing, ranging from consistent to white hot, and this past week was no exception. Earlier last week solid single digit catches were common among the charter fleet as well as private. Most were reported inshore with the Hotdog being the “hot”spot, followed by other inshore locations like Elephant Trunk and the 19 Fathom Lump. There were still hitting in the canyons as well like the Poor Man's. This changed up starting last Thursday when several boats switched to chunking butterfish. Capt. Todd Kurtz on the "Restless Lady" out of the Talbot Street Pier was one of the first to report on Thursday a 17 yellowfin catch on their first chunking trip of the season to the Hotdog. The "Magic Moment" report a similar catch at the Hotdog later the same day. Friday and Saturday slowed a little bit, back to single digits, then ripped wide open again on Sunday and Monday. All reports still chunking and now reporting 4 at a time hookups and even up to 6 at once. The crew of the "Rhonda's Osprey" went out Monday morning and caught 18 yellowfin tuna in an hour and 20 minutes. Even having 6 on at once with 2 anglers on the bow! Charter boat "That's Right" also came back early after hitting them hard while chunking and getting their limit. Interesting turn of events from last year when the tuna bite was slow. Joe Drosey of the "Rhonda's Osprey" recalled he didn't chunk once last year.
Billfish
While the tuna action has run up and down, the billfishing has been very consistent for white marlin. Our latest reports seem to show captains are heading further south to the Washington and Norfolk Canyons to get the bite. Naked ballyhoo and spreader bars are the common bait. The 7 billfish of the 1st and 2nd place winners in the Ocean City Marlin Club Kid's Classic were all caught and released in the Norfolk Canyon. A spearfish was caught in the tournament and the charter boat "The Zipper" landed a 335 lb. blue marlin on Saturday, most of the reported action has been white marlin.
Dolphin
Lastly, the dolphin catch is picking up with many juveniles being caught and a few bulls. Interestingly, many mahi reported this week were caught while chunking. We expect this category to improve as the water warms.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the docks.
