Article by Larry Budd
It was a good weather week for fishing inshore and off. While we did have to deal with some afternoon winds and one wicked storm that blew through Delaware on Friday, overall, lots of boats got on the water. We also had our first offshore tournament of the season, the 3rd Annual Tuna & Tiaras Ladies Tuna Tournament. While the tuna fishing has been sparse, there were some nice tuna hitting the scales, including some bigeyes. More on that event below. There were several sharks reported as well as one for the first swordfish of the season! Undersized cobias were found nearshore and triggerfish were on the reefs. So let’s get into some details.
We’ll start with the main event this past weekend, the 3rd Annual Tuna & Tiara’s Tournament mentioned above. 58 boats entered this year, almost double from last year and 291 lady anglers went out to try their luck. Day 1 was last Friday, and we saw 23 boats head to the canyons despite the gray conditions. Captains on this day reported the action was very slow, with most returning with 1 or 2 yellowfins in the 35 lb. range. Still, several boats found 5 or more qualifying fish to put together some decent stringers. The “Chain Reaction” put 5 yellowfins on the scale they caught trolling between the Spencer and the Wilmington Canyons weighing a combined 183 lbs. That put them in 1st Place in the Stringer Category at the end of Day 1. They also topped the Heaviest Tuna Division for the day with a 43 lb. yellowfin. Not a bad day for team Daddy Brad’s Hookers! They would however finish the event with a tie for 2nd Place Stringer with the “Playmate”.
Saturday saw beautiful weather and the remaining 34 boats heading out. The fishing improved and we saw more action at the scales. The early boats to the scales brought similar catches to the day before, but that changed around 5:45 PM when the “Roncito” arrived. The word on the dock was that they had a large bigeye tuna in the box, and indeed they did! Angler Courtney Grady hooked up around 2:15 PM and fought the eyeball in the Wilmington Canyon for almost an hour to get it to the boat. Once on the scales it weighed 183 lbs. and easily took to the top spot for Heaviest Tuna, besting the next one by almost 100 lbs! They remained unchallenged and won $38,153 in prize money. The next boat in also upset the leaderboard. The “Pumpin’ Hard” rolled in and put 5 chunky yellowfins on the dock. They actually had 9 in the box, and at one point had 5 on at the same time. They were fishing in the Baltimore in 66° water. Their 5 fish weighed 191 lbs. and slid them into 1st Place for Heaviest Stringer where they remained, taking home $30,142! You can see our full coverage of the tournament starting on page 58.
It was good to see bigeyes in the tournament and outside of it. The “Wrecker” found a 144 lb. eyeball in the Wilmington and had 3 bites for the day. Earlier last week the “Canyon Crew” slayed a 93” bigeye in the Poor Man’s. They had 6 bites and got 4 tight, but only landing one. Earlier last week the Poor Man’s was the place to be, but as the week progressed the tuna moved north with the Wilmington being the hotspot for bigeye and multiple yellowfin catches with the Baltimore second.
We did not get a lot of billfish reports, but of the ones we did were all blue marlin and one swordfish. The “Wrecker” set another first for the season landing a 100 lb. swordfish from the Poor Man’s Canyon. They tricked this one with a snakehead fillet. Charlie Horning on the famous “Fish Whistle” reported they released a big blue marlin in the Wilmington last Friday. Tony Nerosa released his first blue in the Poor Man’s. He hit on a ballyhoo skirted with a Sea Witch on the flat line. Interestingly, they saw the blue had a prior hook in a pectoral fin. The “Blood Money” also went marlin fishing, this time in the Baltimore. They released a blue, went 0 for1 on a white and bagged a dolphin.
Capt. Mark Sampson on the “Fish Finder” let me know that it is not uncommon for anglers to fly fish for sharks. This was news to me! It does involve a different technique however. He reports that they “chum them up behind the boat and then try to get them to take the fly (no bait, no scent, just a hook, fur, and feathers). Not all the sharks we cast to are willing to take a fly, but obviously, some will”, interesting. Charles Bowman from PA fished with Capt. Mark about 30 miles offshore and landed a 60” blacktip shark on a fly that was tagged and released. We also had a report from Richard Hoenes of a sand tiger shark they caught south of the Ocean City Jetty on Father’s Day using a circle hook with bluefish bait in 13 feet of water.
Finally, we get to report another big win for Capt. Charley Pereira on his charter boat “Sushi”! He took the top spot in the 65th Big Rock Tournament in North Carolina. His crew brought a 484.5 lb. blue marlin to the scales on day 5 of the 6-day event sliding into the top spot by just 4.7 lbs. While the final day of the event saw a larger blue brought to the scales, it had to be disqualified due to a shark bite. The “Sushi” took home over $2.7 million in prize money!
As a note, the disqualification of the other fish has raised a lot of commentary on its fairness. It was a fair call, as the IGFA rules clearly state that “mutilation to the fish, prior to landing or boating the catch, caused by sharks or other fish, mammals or propellers that removes or penetrates the fish” will be disqualified. This is because you cannot determine if the angler caught the fish, or the fish was injured by the event and otherwise might have gotten away. Heartbreaking for the crew, but fair.
Next weekend has 3 tournaments with something for everyone, so check out the detail in the Upcoming Tournament section!
So until next time, I will see you at the scales! §
