Article by Larry Jock
The summer fishing season is in full swing with many boats heading offshore and the bay waters packed with boats drifting for flounder and other favorite species.
The big news of the weekend was the catch of a new Maryland state record cobia by Jon Henry of Fort Lauderdale, FL. Jon may never go back to Florida after having such a memorable summer, landing the first white marlin of the season back on June 11th and now the state record cobia. On Saturday, Jon was heading to the African Queen wreck with Matt and Steve Magassy for some spearfishing when they determined that the seas were too rough to continue in their 16-foot skiff. The guys ended up stopping just short of Little Gull Shoal and began tossing Spro bucktails on light flounder rods, the only ones they had onboard. They spotted 3 big cobia cruising on top of the water and Jon was able to hook one, fighting the fish for an hour and 10 minutes. Just as that cobia was going ballistic in the boat, Jon hooked up and boated his 2nd cobia. Jon’s fish, weighing 74.1 and 75.0 lbs., both beat the current Maryland state record of 72 lbs. set back on July 25, 2009 by an angler fishing with Mark Sampson on the “Fish Finder”.
Congratulations to Jon, Steve and Matt!
Flounder
Flounder fishing in the waters behind Ocean City and Assateague Island was hit-or-miss last week. Early in the week we saw excellent catches come in from the Sinepuxent Bay behind Castaway’s Campground and Frontier Town. Mid-week, the bite slowed considerably with dirty water hampering fishing conditions. The best bite did shift up to the East Channel, the West Channel and in the Thorofare for those who were lucky enough to find a keeper flattie.
East/northeast wind brought cleaner water into the bay on Thursday, and the flounder bite picked right back up with good size fish being hooked in the East Channel. On Friday, anglers on the charter boat, “Get Sum” had 8 keepers with their 2 largest each weighing 5 lbs. 7 oz. On Saturday, anglers kept picking at flounder, mainly in the East Channel and in the Thorofare. The headboat, “Happy Hooker” had 5 keepers during their morning trip, all caught on shiners in the bay behind Harbour Island. The best catch came in from Mark, Mike and Jaydon Shaffer who decked founder measuring 23, 25 and 26 1/4-inches, all on live spot.
The largest flounder caught in Ocean City this year was landed on Sunday by Jacob Cockman who was fishing in the Ocean City Inlet and caught the 29-inch, 9 lb. 8 oz. doormat on a white Gulp! Swimming Mullet.
Good catches of big flounder are starting to show up more regularly from anglers fishing ocean structure. David Steen, Jerry Shockley and Allen Baker caught their limit of 12 flounder on shiners, minnows and cut bluefish at Russell’s Reef on Sunday. Their largest weighed 4.4 lbs. In Delaware, also on Sunday, Danny Cox on the “Fish Whisperer” caught a 10 lb. 6 oz. flounder at Site 10. Danny’s flounder measured 30-inches.
Striped Bass & Bluefish
If you are interested in just bending a rod, or having some solid action to keep young kids interested, now is the time to toss spec rigs and bucktails around the Rt. 50 Bridge in the early evening. Small stripers and bluefish are there for the catching and although most of the linesiders and blues are on the small side, the occasional keeper striped bass and chopper bluefish are being caught as well.
Triggerfish & Spadefish
Quietly, anglers are returning from Fenwick Shoal and Winter Quarter Shoal with excellent catches of triggerfish and spadefish caught on squid, clams and Fishbites.
Marlin
With water temperatures hovering in the low-70’s, white marlin releases continue to get recorded from anglers trolling in the Washington, Poor Man’s and Baltimore Canyons.
We also saw a couple of blue marlin releases late last week. On Friday, the charter boat “Billfisher” released a blue marlin in the Washington Canyon and on Sunday, the “Blue Runner” released an estimated 600 to 700 pounder, also in the Washington.
Tuna
If you talk to most offshore tuna fisherman, they will tell you that last week was miserably slow for those searching for yellowfins. Boats that had been returning with double digit catches in previous weeks returned with only a couple or none.
Mid-week, the best catches came from the north end of the Poor Man’s Canyon. On Wednesday, the charter boat, “White Lightning” had 12 yellowfins and a couple of dolphin from 200 fathoms, the same location where the “Marli” ended up with 7. For the rest of the week, anglers picked at the yellowfins in the Washington and Baltimore Canyons usually returning with only a couple in the box.
A few bluefin tuna were caught last week. The “Grande Pez” caught a 110 pounder at the Hot Dog and on Sunday the “Reel Escape” boated a 106 pounder just south of the Tea Cup. Another boat out of Indian River also caught bluefin at the Tea Cup on Sunday.
With “Bigeye Fever” becoming an epidemic in Ocean City, most of the tuna action centered around the bigeye hole in the Washington Canyon last week. On Monday, the “Moore Bills” decked a 149 pounder in 120 fathoms. Friday was an extremely bad day to be a bigeye. Charlene and Francois Aldridge on the “Skattebol” returned from an overnight trip with a 170 lb. eyeball in the box and they had 2 others come loose during their trip. The “Boss Hogg” threw a 168 pounder on the Sunset Marina scale after it was caught on a blue and pink skirted ballyhoo. The “Marli” was right behind with a 178 lb. bigeye and the “Reel Fantasy” and “Tighten Up” also weighed eyeballs on Friday. On Saturday, the “Boss Hogg” decked another bigeye, this one weighing 198 lbs. The final bigeye we saw last week came in on Sunday when the charter boat, “No Quarter” captured a 211 pounder in 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon.
Wahoo
On Friday, the “Tighten Up” returned with a small wahoo from the Washington Canyon and on Sunday, the charter boat, “Spring Mix” boxed a 66.5 lb. speedster while trolling at the Hot Dog.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the Ocean City Marlin Club Canyon Kick-off. Fishing days are July 4th, 5th and 6th. The tournament is free to Marlin Club Boat Members and weigh-ins will be held each day at Sunset Marina from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
See you at the scales!
