Article by Larry Jock
It was a heckuva week of fishing out of Ocean City with loads of flounder being caught on ocean structure, an improved yellowfin bite, bigeyes and good numbers of white marlin releases.
Bigeye Tuna
Quite a few bigeye tuna were caught over the weekend. Just as this report was being written on Monday, the “Restless Lady” returned from an overnight trip to the Washington Canyon with 3 bigeyes weighing between 158 lbs., 168 lbs. and 217 lbs. Sunday saw the most bigeye action for local boats, especially for those fishing in the Washington Canyon, but the Wilmington Canyon also produced a nice catch for anglers on the “Lady J” who had 5 bigeyes during an overnight trip. Boats fishing out of Delaware and New Jersey reported an incredible bigeye bite in the Wilmington Canyon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Eyeballs were also caught in the Baltimore Canyon on Sunday as well.
Yellowfin Tuna
There was a lot of excitement throughout the week with boats returning with big catches of yellowfin tuna up and down the line. Early in the week, the Washington Canyon produced catches of 20 yellowfins for the “Reel Chaos” and 24 yellowfins for the “Marli”. The “Restless Lady” was trolling around the 800/800 on Wednesday and ended up with 15 yellowfins with the “Marli” boxing another 8 in the Washington Canyon.
Over the long weekend, the numbers really started increasing, mainly in the Washington, where the “Sushi” greensticked 16 yellowfins on Friday, followed by 15 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. Also on Sunday, the “Restless Lady” caught 24 yellowfins, all between 4:00 PM and 11:00 PM. Five of the yellowfins were caught on the troll before dark and the others were caught while chunking in the Washington Canyon which is also where the “Muff Diver” caught 23 yellowfins on an overnight trip before returning on Monday morning.
Longfin Albacore Tuna
Last week saw the best longfin bite of the season with fish caught in the Baltimore, Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons over the weekend.
On Friday, “Tighten Up” picked up 4 in the Washington Canyon and the “Billfisher” decked 4 in the Baltimore where the “Restless Lady” also picked up a pair. The weekend saw a good bite, mainly in the Baltimore Canyon, where “Rhonda’s Osprey” caught 2 on Saturday and another 2 on Sunday, and in the Wilmington Canyon where the “Billfisher” caught another 4 long fins.
Marlin
Starting on Thursday, numerous white marlin releases were recorded right through the weekend in the Baltimore, Poor Man’s, Washington and Norfolk Canyons. The “Billfisher” recorded 9 releases on Thursday in the Baltimore Canyon with boats picking off a few others in the Washington. On Saturday, quite a few releases were recorded, mainly in the Baltimore Canyon where the “Billfisher” and the “Tighten Up” led the way with 5 white marlin releases each.
Quite a few boats took overnight trips on Saturday/Sunday and one of those was the “Reel Joy” who released 11 white marlin while trolling in the Baltimore Canyon.
A couple of blue marlin were also released last week when the “Evil Eye” set one free in the Poor Man’s Canyon on Saturday and the “Te Que” released one in the Washington Canyon on Sunday.
Dolphin
Anglers trolling for white marlin in the Baltimore, Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons over the weekend also found some dolphin eager to take the bait with the top spot being the north end of the Baltimore. Several boats recorded double-digit catches of mahi with the “McKenna Jane” leading the way with 27 dolphin caught in the Poor Man’s Canyon on Saturday.
Flounder
Those who have been fortunate to get out on ocean reefs and wrecks this summer have discovered what a fantastic flounder fishery we have so close to our shoreline. The ocean wreck, “African Queen” continues to get pounded, but doesn’t seem to be letting up, with numerous anglers limiting out on flatties from that location. David Steen, Jerry Shockley and Allen Baker took their limit of flounder from the Queen on both Saturday and Sunday. The Great Eastern Reef and even Russell’s Reef have also been top producers. Fishing with strips of cut bait, especially flounder or dolphin belly, has produced a good number of flounder for local anglers.
The Bahia Marina Flounder Pounder was held on Sunday and some really nice fish were caught in the bay. Nancy Cox won 1st place with a 5 lb. 9 oz. flattie caught on a live mullet along the wall on the north side of the Inlet. Nancy said they had just drifted around the corner by the Oceanic Pier when the winning flounder attacked.
The West Channel seemed to be a hot area on Sunday with several quality fish arriving at the scales. Drifting in front of Martha’s Landing or anchoring just south of the Rt. 50 Bridge looked to be productive spots for anglers fishing with bunker, spot or Gulp! artificial baits.
As flounder move from the bay to the ocean, look for fish stacked up around the Rt. 50 Bridge, where Big Bird Cropper and Neighbor Dave pounded them on Sunday with Roy rigs. Also check out the deeper holes along the wall on the north side of the Inlet, at the tip of the South Jetty and also around the corner by the Oceanic Pier. Finally, if you think the bite has been good on ocean structure, I have a feeling we haven’t seen anything yet. It should only get better over the next month.
In the Surf
According to Sue Foster at Oyster Bay Tackle, “The surf is still seeing kingfish, spot, small sea trout and small croaker being caught on bloodworms or Fishbite bloodworms. This action seems to be best in the morning. Bluefish have started biting on finger mullet baited on whole finger mullet rigs or cut into 1-inch chunks on a high/low surf rig. The blues are running 12 to 15 inches. Larger sharks were also caught last week.”
Until next week, see you at the scales.
