Article by Larry Jock
For the better part of the week bad weather kept everyone indoors. Wind and rain created horrible conditions in the bay and offshore. Unfortunately, the NOAA weather forecast for the weekend was incorrect with rough conditions predicted for the entire weekend. Friday ended up being rough but Saturday and Sunday were more than fishable according to those who ventured out.
Mako Mania Tournament
This year, 37 boats and 168 anglers entered Bahia Marina’s Mako Mania Shark Tournament. It’s a shame that NOAA got the forecast so wrong because they probably would have had another dozen boats entered. Organizers told me that a lot of smaller boats got scared off and rightfully so with the forecast presented.
On Friday, despite rough seas, 33 boats ventured outside the Inlet and the first boat that arrived to the scale was the always dangerous charter boat, “Marli” with a 281.6 lb. mako on board. Joe Stein landed the monster after hooking it on a whole mackerel at the Hot Dog and the fish ended up holding onto first place in the Mako Division. “Talkin’ Trash” arrived close behind with a 183.3 lb. mako caught in 30 fathoms on a whole mackerel when the crew stopped short of the Washington Canyon. The mako took over second place in the Mako Division and that is where it ended up on Sunday. The “Reelentless” brought in a nice 146.5 lb. mako, caught outside the Fingers, to sit in 3rd place in the Mako Division as the scales came to a close on Friday. In the Release Division, “Keep Er’ Wet” and “Kylee’s World” each released 6 makos, but “Keep Er’ Wet” held 1st place honors based upon the time of their last release.
On Saturday, 34 boats fished and it was an exciting day to be at Bahia Marina. “Port-A-Bella” out of Lewes, DE weighed a 212.1 lb. thresher shark that was caught on a false albacore fillet close to Site 11. Although the fish took the early lead in the Thresher Division, it wasn’t long before it fell into 3rd place. “Reel Vibrations” had the crowd on it’s feet when they showed up with a 465.7 lb. thresher shark that was caught on a bunker fillet at the Fingers. Most people thought that this fish had a lock on first place until the “Hook’n Tail” arrived with a monster 500 pounder caught on a whole mackerel, 3 miles inside the Fingers where angler Jeff Green fought the shark for 2 hours and 40 minutes. Capt. Felipe Ordono and his crew were fishing in a 26-foot Mako so there was no way they were going to get the big fish in the boat. Around noon, they ended up towing the thresher 20 miles back to the dock while traveling at a mere 7 knots.
In the Mako Division, the only movement on the leaderboard came with Mike Mongiello on the “No Limits” showed up with a 173.9 pounder caught on a bluefish fillet in 34 fathoms outside the Hot Dog. Mike’s mako ended the tournament in 3rd place in the Mako Division.
Finally, a bluefish showed up to the scale, caught by Mike Cromwell on the “Lisa”. The 10 lb. chopper took the early lead in the Bluefish Division and never looked back.
In the Release Division, “Reel Vibrations” took over the lead with 7 mako sharks released during their 2 days of fishing.
With only 7 boats fishing on the final day of the tournament, the action at the scale was understandably quiet with only a couple of smaller makos weighed and 3 snapper bluefish. One of the bluefish did weigh 1.3 lbs. and ended the tournament in second place. This fish won the crew on the “M Keli Jeane” $1,764 in award money, or $1,357 per pound.
Tuna
Before the bad weather rolled in, yellowfins and mahi were caught in the Washington Canyon. Early in the week, the “Marli” returned with a half dozen and the “Boss Hogg” had 6 on Monday and 5 on Tuesday.
We also saw a few bigeye tuna at the scales last week. On Monday, the “All In” caught 2 bigeyes, weighing 77 lbs. and 178 lbs., while trolling at the Bigeye Hole. The following day, Capt. Josh Rusky and mate Will Wangel on the “Sea Slammer” were bringing the boat up from North Carolina on Monday and ended up catching a pair of nice size bigeye tuna in the Norfolk Canyon. The fish weighed 181 and 184 lbs. gutted.
Flounder
With most of the week being a washout, we didn’t see any good catches of flatties until Saturday when the charter boat, “Get Sum” returned with 12 keepers on their morning trip and another 7 in the afternoon. Capt. Nick had his anglers dropping 5-inch Gulp! Swimming Mullets in a honey hole on the outside of the South Jetty which is where the “Get Sum” headed out to again on Sunday and returned with 9 flounder in the morning and 11 in the afternoon.
The “Happy Hooker” and “Calico Jack” took a group out on Saturday and fished all over the bay before returning with 8 keepers caught on squid and shiners.
Also on Saturday, Jeff Pinca and his dad, Jack fished in the Thorofare and ended up with 6 keepers up to 19-inches.
On Sunday, Bob Telford caught a pair of nice flounder on an ocean wreck (probably the Great Eastern) during a trip aboard the headboat, “Angler”. Bob’s fish weighed 3 and 4 lbs.
Sea Bass
Sea bass fishing has been rough, but anglers have been able to offset it with some cod and tautog. Early in the week, the charter boat, “Fish Bound” had a boat limit of 12 tog at Kelly’s Reef.
Upcoming Tournament
There are no tournaments on the schedule this weekend. M.S.S.A’s Tuna-Ment will be held on June 19th, 20th and 21st. There are few weigh stations scattered along the coast, including Sunset Marina and Indian River Marina. On June 20th and 21st, the Ocean City Marlin Club will hold their 36th Annual Small Boat Tournament with weigh-ins each day at Sunset Marina.
In the meantime, if you have a catch that you would like to have a picture taken of, don’t hesitate to stop by our office or give us a call at 410-213-2200 and we will meet you at a local tackle shop or marina.
See you at the scales.
