Article by Larry Jock
Well, a good part of the week was centered around the scales of the Ocean City Fishing Center, home of the 22nd Annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament.
Heading into the week, big bluefin tuna were hitting the docks on a daily basis, so it was no surprise that 60+ inch bluefins dominated the action at the scales. The interesting thing was how many fish were within an inch of each other. They really were “cookie cutter” bluefins, and although there was no official count, I would guess that we saw between 20 and 25 bluefins that measured between 61 and 64 inches. This made it a very exciting tournament, with the third place heaviest tuna weighing only 2 lbs. less than the 1st place fish.
Speaking of the first place fish, hats off to the “That’s Right” for not only weighing the heaviest tuna of the tournament (158 lbs.) but also weighing the heaviest stringer of the tournament (372 lbs.). Since you can only win either the Heaviest Fish Division or the Heaviest Stringer Division, the “That’s Right” was awarded 1st place in the Heaviest Fish Division.
The winning tuna was caught on the second day of the tournament by David Salvatore on a trolled ballyhoo just above the Chicken Bone. Interestingly, the next day Capt. John Oughton reported hooking a whopper, estimated at over 200 lbs., but had to release it since they already had the 110 pounder in the box.
Overall, it was another great tournament with 120 boats participating. This was only down 8 boats from the prior year, which in this economy, is quite an accomplishment.
Kudos to the staff of the Ocean City Fishing Center, the weighmasters, the dockhands, the MC Paulo McKenzie, and all the other folks that worked hard to put on a 1st class tournament. Job well done!
FLOUNDER
Over the last couple of weeks we have seen some large flounder being caught in Ocean City, primarily in the East Channel and on ocean reefs and wrecks. This past week was no exception, highlighted by Avak Khachadorian’s 9 lb. 2 oz. flounder caught on an artificial reef aboard the “Morning Star”.
Earlier in the week, also fishing on the “Morning Star”, Seth Gusman caught an 8 lb. 12 oz. flattie on an artificial reef using a bucktail tipped with sea robin.
We also saw some nice flounder coming in from the East Channel, with some over 5 lbs. Most of the flounder I saw from this area came from in tight to the bridge or up by Harbour Island.
Now don’t read this thinking that flounder fishing is red hot, because it isn’t. Anglers are needing to weed through a lot of throwbacks to get their keepers. Squid, shiners, minnows, Gulp! artificial baits and flounder belly are the baits to use.
YELLOWFIN TUNA
Unfortunately, yellowfin tuna have been scarce. I remember only seeing one or two at the scales of the Tuna Tournament over the weekend. Those boats that were able to locate them did so inshore of the Washington Canyon in 50-70 fathoms.
The best yellowfin catch of the week came in on Wednesday by anglers on the “Marli” who returned with 17 yellowfins from 65 fathoms inside the Poorman’s Canyon. The group also released another 20 yellowfins in addition to a white marlin.
STRIPED BASS
Anglers fishng around the Rt. 50 Bridge in the early morning hours and at dusk are finding striped bass more than eager to take their bait or lure. One striper fisherman told me that the stripers are in tight against the bridge pilings, so be ready to break off a few lines. I haven’t seen or heard of many stripers coming in from around the South Jetty.
For those of you who are interested in taking advantage of this early evening bite, the “Get Sum” is now running 2-hour trips from 6-8 pm for only $200 for up to 6 anglers. This is a really good deal, and that time of day is a wonderful time to fish.
BLUEFIN TUNA
As mentioned earlier, the big bluefins have arrived in good numbers over the past couple of weeks. The bites have centered primarily around the triangle formed by the Chicken Bone, the Hot Dog and the Sausages. A few were caught as far south as the Parking Lot and the Lumpy Bottom.
COBIA
Two big cobia were caught this past week, one by a spearfisherman on an ocean wreck and the other by a young angler at Winter Quarter Shoal. The spearfisherman snagged a 60 pounder while Matt McGuigan caught himself a 41 pounder on a chunk of clam.
SURF
Action from the suds has followed the same summer pattern we see each year with bluefish, flounder, skates, rays and kingfish dominating the action with the occassional striped bass or big shark thrown in to make life interesting.
BLUEFISH
We have seen some nice chopper bluefish being caught around the Rt. 50 Bridge, primarily from anglers fishing at night. My guess is that the anglers are targeting stripers, since they are using eels for bait, but it just shows you that gators will hit anything thrown their way.
Actually, fishing for bluefish with eels is a really fun thing to do. I love catching bluefish on eels in the fall. You can feel the chopper work its way up the eel and you have to time the set just right in order to hook the fish. It really is a blast!
This weekend is the famous Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic. This has turned into one of the premier tournaments in Ocean City with 327 young anglers participating in last years tournament. This obviously is a great tournament for kids, and it is an amusing tournament to watch at the scales. You can imagine the excitement on the kids face when he shows up with a nice catch. It really is priceless.
Anglers can fish 1 of 2 days on Saturday or Sunday with scales open at Sunset Marina from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Saturday and 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm on Sunday. If you are looking for an afternoon that is sure to make you smile, head on over the Sunset Marina this weekend.
See you at the scales.
