Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
• “Sea Wolf” won the 62nd Annual Labor Day White Marlin Tournament with 12 white marlin releases. They however missed the award dinner due to engine problems!
• There were larger mahi being caught outside the Rockpile and in or just outside of the Poor Man’s Canyon, several over 25 lbs. “Fish On” took 1st place in the Labor Day White Marlin Tournament with a 26.2 lb. fish they caught in 100 fathoms in the Poor Man’s.
• Best white marlin bite was just outside the Poor Man’s or in the Wilmington Canyons.
• Several sailfish were caught, large one in the Poor Man’s and another in 30 fathoms inside of the Rockpile.
Last week saw a nice infusion of people down for the Labor Day Weekend, however you could feel the momentum of summer slowing down. Even with potentially less crowds, this is still the time of year for great marlin fishing. We expect lots of boats sporting blue and white release flags over the next few weeks.
Speaking of release flags ... the Ocean City Marlin Club held their 63rd Annual Labor Day White Marlin Tournament last weekend. This tournament focuses on white marlin of course, but also scores for blue marlin, sailfish and spearfish. New for 2020 is the inclusion of a Heaviest White Marlin Category (70" minimum length). The weather was not the best for Friday and Saturday, however, as Franky Pettolina summed up "it could be worse"!
The first day of the tournament saw 26 of the 36 boats registered head out. At the end of the day it was "Roll Grove" leading in the Release Division with 600 points, "A Salt Weapon3" leading the Tuna Division with a 50.4 lb. longfin and the "Buckshot" locking in a 1st place dolphin at 10.4 lbs., just over the 10 lb. minimum!!
Saturday was the worst weather wise with only 17 of 36 boats going out, several commenting on the beating they took! Still, the dock was active at Sunset Marina's tournament scale. "The Roll Grove" held onto 1st place in the Release Division and expanded their lead to 1,050 points. The Tuna Division saw all three top spots updated with yellowfin tunas with a 63.3 pounder from the "Blood Money" taking 1st and a 63.0 lb. tuna from "Fish On" close behind in 2nd place. In the tightest race of the tournament, the "Buckshot" held onto 1st place in the Dolphin Division with their 10.4 lb. fish, the only qualifying one weighed!
The weather broke and day 3 was beautiful. With 29 boats fishing we knew the leaderboard would be changing. The "Reel Joy" did just that when submitting their catch report of 7 white marlin and 1 blue marlin, vaulting them to 1st place in the Billfish Release Division. The "Tighten Up" put up a challenge earning 1,000 release points on that last day slipping them into 2nd place, and "Uno Mas" posted 11 releases to lock in 3rd place. "Buckshot" was the story of the day if not the tournament. They brought the only white marlin to the scale and it qualified at 70½ inches, weighing 70 lbs. On the same day they boated the 3rd place tuna at 60.2 lbs., and the little fish that could did just that. The 10.4 lb. mahi they caught on day 1 held on to win the mahi money of $13,230 bringing the "Buckshot" total prize money for the tournament to $41,841! Special note for the "Schedule Sea" who brought a 30.8 lb. and a 16.4 lb. mahi to the scales, but they had not entered any divisions. The tournament chairman did award them $500 for those nice fish. Our coverage begins in our tournament section, traditionally in the back of the paper on page 50.
Tuna & Mahi
The biggest update on tuna from the past week is the arrival of longfin! A rarity for most of this season, in the last week they are hitting the docks in volume. The Poor Man's is the go to spot. Russell Marsh on the "Not Right!" found a nice 49.9 lb. longfin in the south Poor Man's Canyon in 120 fathoms, making a new Heaviest Longfin for DE. Last Wednesday the "Reel Chaos" found 14 and on Thursday Capt. Mark Hoos on the "Marli" came back from a trip to the Poor Man's Canyon with their limit of 18 longfin, as did Capt. Brian Porter on the "Boss Hog" bringing 10 to the dock. Capt. Joe Drosey on the "Rhonda's Osprey" found 5 longfins in the Washington Canyon. Several were also weighed during the 63rd Annual Labor Day White Marlin tournament in the 30 - 50 lb. range.
Still good yellowfin action offshore and inshore with the Poor Man's Canyon still the hot spot. Tommy Hughes out of Lewes, DE landed a 59.9 lb. fish in the Poor Man's on a Nomad DXT 220 lure on the troll. The charter boat "Blood Money" with Capt. Anthony Pino and angler Bill "Squidnation" Pino brought a 63.3 lb. yellowfin from the Norfolk Canyon to the scales during the 63rd Annual Labor Day White Marlin Tournament. Clark Willis from West OC also reported a 72 pounder he caught at the tip of the Washington Canyon. So you can see it is a good time to still target tuna!
The mahi action is also strong inshore and offshore, but still mostly small or peanut sized. Inshore hot spots are the Twin Wrecks and Del-Jersey Reef. Look under the buoys for lobster pots or other floating items. Bluefish, squid and ballyhoo are all effective. These fish will push offshore soon with a weather event or colder water moving in, so now is a time to target these delicious fish.
Billfish
Outside of the great billfish action during this weekend’s tournament, we are seeing many reports of multiples releases of white marlin per trip. The "Buckshot" with Capt. Gary Stamm went out to the Rockpile early last week and had 5 releases. He returned on the 2nd and recorded 14! Also early last week were Capt. Joe Drosey on "Rhonda's Osprey" with 3 releases in the Baltimore Canyon and Josh Knaub released a white in the Washington Canyon in 500 fathoms. That white hit a pink Zacatak. The "Reel Chaos" also found success in the Washington last week releasing 6 white marlin. Naked ballyhoo is still the go to bait for whites.
Blue marlin releases are much fewer and singles. Aaron Brossman found a blue in the Baltimore Canyon that was measured with an estimated weight of 303 lbs., and "Fish On" also had a blue marlin release last week in the Baltimore.
A nice highlight from the week was on "The Zipper". They had a Billfish Grand Slam on Saturday releasing a sailfish, white marlin and a blue marlin in a single trip. Nice job!
Cobia & Wahoo
As you will see in the pictures in this week’s paper, the Man in the Brown Suit had made a strong return. Capt. Mark Sampson on the "Fish Finder" out of the Ocean City Fishing Center got one of his charter guests on a 40 inch, 31 lb. cobia. Mike Porter landed a 55 lb. biggie just 2 miles offshore of Bethany Beach, Pete McCoy likewise hit a 43" cobia just south of the Indian River Inlet and Bryce Huyett tagged and released a 60 incher just outside the Ocean City Inlet he caught on a jig.
Finally, a couple of noteworthy catches over the past week. Anglers on the "Not Right!" went out of the Indian River Inlet and boated a 48.8 lb. golden tile in the south Poor Man's Canyon and landed their first daytime swordfish. Brad Boyer also left the inlet, headed to the Baltimore Canyon where he caught a 73 inch, 69.3 lb. wahoo in 73 degree water on a skirted ballyhoo.
Until next time we will see you at the docks.
