Article by Larry Jock
What a weekend of fishing! Outside of the great turnout for the Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic, we saw excellent catches of yellowfin tuna in the ocean and solid catches of flounder in the bay.
Marlin Club Kid’s Classic
Over 330 junior anglers competed in this year’s 6th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic over the weekend. You can find a complete listing of winners on page 23.
Although most of the kids hit the scales with nice catches of spot, croaker and other small fish, there were some notable catches during their 2 days of fishing:
• Matt Boyle caught a 5.4 lb. flounder on the north end of the East Channel on a squid and shiner combination.
• Noah Good caught a 4 lb. flounder on live spot near the Rt. 50 Bridge.
• Courtney Grady landed a 25 lb. dolphin in 50 fathoms inside the Baltimore Canyon.
• Makaela Mitchell reeled in a 70.6 lb. yellowfin tuna in the Poor Man’s Canyon.
• Ben Hild captured a 54 lb. wahoo in the Baltimore Canyon.
• Brody Fields actually got a 30.6 lb. skate into the boat after a tough fight.
• Connor Campbell landed a 70.4 lb. yellowfin in between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons.
Overall, it was another good Kid’s Classic, with a lot of smiling anglers. As you can imagine, it is a tough tournament to organize at the scales, so kudos go out to Boz?Jefferson, Amanda Shick, Sharon Rittmeyer, Pat Svehla and Jim Giles.
Yellowfin Tuna
The big news over the weekend was the tremendous catches of yellowfin tuna that hit the docks on Saturday and Sunday. Several boats got into them, but none had a better weekend than Capt. Brian Porter on the “Marli”. The bite moved south over the past week into the south end of the Baltimore Canyon down to the north end of the Poor Man’s Canyon. This is where Capt. Brian boxed 16 yellowfins on Saturday and another 18 on Sunday. The catch on Sunday totalled 994 lbs. for an average weight of 55 lbs. per fish. All were caught on trolled ballyhoo and spreader bars. The fish were feeding deep, according to Capt. Brian, in approximately 130 fathoms.
The yellowfin bite started late in the week when, on Thursday the “Billfisher” returned with 8 yellowfins, the “Ranger” had 6, and “Blood, Sweat & Tears” had 4 yellowfins, all caught in the Baltimore Canyon.
The bigger numbers showed up over the weekend when on Saturday, in addition to the “Marli” catch, “Fish Bonz” and “The Zipper” each returned with 13 yellowfins. Then on Sunday, “Rhonda’s Osprey” put 14 yellowfins in the box and the “Playmate” returned to the Ocean City Fishing Center with 12 yellowfins.
Several other boats returned smaller catches of yellowfin tuna over the weekend, all from the same area between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons. In the Kid’s Classic, Makaela Mitchell caught a beautiful 70.6 pounder in the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday.
Billfish
We did see some white marlin releases over the weekend.
On Thursday, the “Reel Joy” released 2 white marlin in the Baltimore Canyon. On Friday, the “Lil’ Man” had an impressive day, releasing 3 sailfish and 3 white marlin in 500 fathoms outside the Baltimore Canyon. On Saturday, “The Zipper” and “Mugger” each recorded a white marlin release and “Game Over” released 3 in the Baltimore Canyon.
Finally, on Sunday the “Billfisher” released another 2 white marlin east of the Poor Man’s Canyon where they also caught 6 yellowfins and some dolphin.
Bluefin Tuna
We only saw a couple of bluefin tuna caught last week with both coming in on Thursday.
“Salty Sons” weighed a 92 pounder (56”) that was caught behind the Jack Spot and a couple of anglers on a private boat, “Mohler’s Money”, landed a 78 lb. bluefin at the Hambone where they reported water temperatures hovering around 77-degrees.
Dolphin
For a while, all we were seeing were mostly small dolphin arrive at the scales, but recently some larger, bull dolphins have arrived on the scene. The largest dolphin we saw this week was the 32.4 pounder caught on the “Goodtime” in Massey’s Canyon on Saturday. A 32 pounder was caught on Thursday by an angler on the “Reel Joy” in the Baltimore Canyon.
Warm water continued to push inshore, where even headboats are hooking some stray dolphin. Both the “Angler” and the “Morning Star” each boxed a mahi this past week while trolling towards their fishing grounds.
Wahoo
Warmer waters are producing a few catches of wahoo for offshore anglers. On Thursday, “Blood, Sweat & Tears” hooked into one in 80 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon. On Saturday, Ben Hild on the “Espadon” caught a 54 lb. speedster, also in the Baltimore Canyon.
Flounder
A couple of places were hotter than most this past week when it came to catching flounder. We continue to see a decent number of keepers caught in the East Channel, but the West Channel is coming on strong. It’s shallow over there, so anglers need to be careful. We also saw some fish being caught in the channel off Gudelsky Park, on the West side of the bay across from the Talbot Street Pier. As always during this time of year, finding deep holes is the key to hooking keeper-size flatties.
The big news in flounder fishing is the tremendous results anglers are getting by using Gulp! artificial baits. The Swimming Mullet is definitely hot right now with chartreuse working slightly better than white.
The “Get Sum” had some nice trips this week highlighted by their catch on Saturday, when they returned with 6 keepers from their afternoon trip. The largest weighed an even 6 lbs.
Striped Bass
Anglers fishing with live peanut bunker and spot tied into some linesiders around the Rt. 50 Bridge over the weekend. “Big Bird” Cropper was tossing his famous “roy rig” around the South Jetty on Saturday night when he hooked into a 41-incher. The stripers can be found roaming under schools of bluefish that have been spotted mainly in the East Channel.
Croaker
We started to see croaker showing up in our bay waters this past week. Nothing big. Anglers fishing with Gulp! or Fishbite artificial baits were able to snag a few.
As this heats up over the upcoming weeks, it is a great way to introduce young anglers to our wonderful sport because the action can be fast and furious.
In the Surf
Sue Foster at Oyster Bay Tackle reports, “Sharks are still the talk of the beach. There's big ones for anglers using big baits, and little tiny dogsharks for anglers using small hooks.
Kingfish, spot, and croaker were biting. The croaker were biting mainly at night. A few anglers reported bluefish, while others say they haven't seen a one. Anglers fishing for kingfish and spot should use small hooks and bloodworms or artificial bloodworm combined with a little strip of clam, mullet, bunker, or squid fillet. For sharks, bunker fillet or whole squid on a larger hook. Finger mullet for bluefish. Croaker and Sea Trout take a small to medium sized hook with any kind of cut bait. Croaker also like clam. Trout take worms. I like a combination bait of worm (real or fake) and cut bait.”
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the 2nd Annual Branch Kreppel Memorial Blue Marlin Tournament at Sunset Marina. Fishing days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a Benefit Auction at 6:30 on Sunday.
Although it is a blue marlin tournament, there are divisions for tuna, wahoo and dolphin. Weigh-ins are from 4:00 to 9:00 pm each day.
If a big blue marlin is caught, it could be very exciting at the scale, so head on over to Sunset Marina and Sunset Grille and have a good time.
See you at the scales!
