Article by Larry Jock
For most of the week, we experienced windy conditions that either kept anglers at the dock or closer to shore than they wanted to be.
The highlight of the weekend was the 5th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic. This tournament has turned into one of the top events in the area with 381 kids participating this year. The Marlin Club and all of the volunteers do a very good job showing the young anglers a good time, both at the weigh-ins and at the banquet on Sunday evening. This year, due to a generous donation from Val Lynch on the “Cyntinory”, every angler who participated in the tournament received a plaque, which was a very nice touch.
A lot of fish were weighed in the tournament, and I’m not just talking about the 275 spot that weighed .2 pounds (the folks at the weigh station are chuckling right now). The heaviest tuna weighed 150.6 lbs., which was more than angler Justin Layer weighed himself.
Another highlight was the crew on the “Reel Joy” coming back on Sunday after releasing a blue marlin and 2 white marlin. They just nudged the anglers on the “Cyntinory” out of 1st place who released 3 white marlin, also on Sunday.
Overall, there were a lot of smiling faces at the scales over the weekend and it really put in perspective what our great sport is all about. It’s all about having fun!
WAHOO
We have only seen a couple of wahoo this year, and this weekend we saw the heaviest one caught of the year. On Saturday, Keith Wolf on the “Gerri Lynn” caught a 53 pounder while trolling a ballyhoo / red & white Ilander combination outside the Hambone in 30 fathoms.
For those of you who enjoy wahoo fishing, don’t forget about the Wahoo Rodeo on September 11th-13th.
FLOUNDER
As it seems like every summer, flounder fishing in the bay was much better during the week than it was over the weekend. Most attribute this to the increase in boat traffic. With a good number of spot in the bay, anglers are spending time loading up before heading out to flounder fish. If you don’t want to catch or purchase live spot, we are still seeing a good number of flatties being caught on Gulp! Alive artificial baits.
The Assateague Tackle Double Trouble flounder rig has taken the area by storm, with nice catches coming in every week on this rig. Steve Hoffman recently picked one up, and headed right outside the cut at the Ocean City Fishing Center where he snagged a 7 pounder.
Most of the action in the bay continues to center around the East Channel and Harbour Island, although anglers who found clean water along the banks also found some flounder stacked up as well. We also saw a good bite in the water behind Bahia Marina. You still need to weed through an incredible number of throwbacks to find your keeper.
Anglers fishing on the ocean wrecks and reefs snagged a few really nice fish, and none were larger this week than the 8 lb. 6 oz. flattie caught by Howard Agnew while fishing on the “Angler”. The fish was caught on bunker at an artificial reefsite.
BLUEFIN TUNA
It’s “deja vu all over again” (thanks Yogi) with bluefins continuing to be caught by anglers trolling around the Hambone and the Chicken Bone. A few were also caught around the Lumpy Bottom. Quite a few boats are returning with their over and under fish, with most of the big fish ranging between 60 and 66-inches.
The majority of the bluefins we have seen have been hooked on trolled ballyhoo in back of blue and white Ilanders.
BILLFISH
We saw some white marlin and a blue marlin caught on Sunday in the stretch of water that has been moving between the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. The “Cyntinory” snagged 3 whites in this area while the “Reel Joy” had a blue marlin and 2 whites. Also in the Kid’s Classic, the “Predator” had 2 white marlin.
Other whites were caught by anglers on the “Fortune Cookie” in 40 fathoms on the 195 line and a private boat in 200 fathoms outside the Washington Canyon. There was also a blue marlin released by Tony Burch in the Poor Man’s Canyon in the middle ofthe week.
There was a decent bite on Friday and Saturday, 30 miles south of the Norfolk Canyon where some Virginia anglers had 6 to 7 white marlin bites. Some reports had the fish heading our way, but one boat returned to their “hot” spot the very next day and got into them again.
A reminder to all billfishermen. The first Branch Kreppel Memorial Blue Marlin tournament is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at?Sunset Marina. See the ad in this issue or call 410-213-9600 for more information.
CROAKER
We saw an incredible number of croaker caught over the weekend by anglers in the Kid’s Classic. Fish were caught anywhere between Harbour Island and the Assateague Bridge. Gulp!, Fishbites or squid all producing good numbers of fish. This is a great fishery for kids since the action can be fast and furious when you get into a school of croakers.
Most of the fish are small, under 1 pound. Croakers have a 9-inch minimum and you are allowed to keep 25 per person.
BLUEFISH
Bluefish have shown up in the surf and continue to be caught by anglers fishing off of, or near, the Rt. 50 Bridge. Live bait, shiny lures or even live eels have produced catches of gators.
IN THE SURF
According to Sue Foster at Oyster Bay Tackle, “The surf finally saw some snapper blues, Norfolk spot and croakers along with the sharks, skates and rays. A couple of kingfish were reported.”
OCEAN REEFS & WRECKS
Every year we see more and more anglers exploring the reefs and wrecks off our coast. Recently, we have seen a good number of flounder, sea bass and triggerfish being caught on the rubble.
YELLOWFIN TUNA
The yellowfin bite has been consistent again this year, consistently poor. A couple were caught over the weekend around the Hot Dog and also down near the Lumpy Bottom.
STRIPED BASS
Stripers are being caught around the South Jetty and by anglers drifting near the Rt. 50 Bridge. The fish around the South Jetty are very tight to the rocks. Most anglers are using spot for bait although some linesiders have been caught on bucktails tipped with bunker.
As mentioned early, this weekend is the 1st Annual Branch Kreppel Memorial Blue Marlin Tournament. Weigh-ins are at Sunset Marina from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
See you at the scales!
