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This Week Last Year
• 156 boats fished in The MidAtlantic Tournament with 94 from OC and 62 from NJ
• 2019 payout was $3,528,760 with the top boat “Stalker” at $802,275 for their 2 bigeye tunas, the only 2 of the tournament in OC.
• Ocean City boats earned 84% of the prize money
• Great Gull Reef was the place to be for spanish mackerel, some up to 20” and the occasional cobia was caught on bucktails and eels.
• The flounder bite inshore was frustrating in general, however the Old Grounds was the place to look for larger fish.
It seems every boat in the area was in the 29th Annual MidAtlantic Tournament last week! 286 anglers and 183 boats overall were registered, with 114 boats fishing out of Ocean City and 69 from Cape May. That was a 20% increase in OC boats over last year’s event. Unlike last year, the payout to local boats was just under $2 million or about 47% of the prize money.
Several records and notable events occurred in this year's event:
• New record for total payout of $4,074,430, 15% more than 2019.
• Record number of Ocean City boats at 114.
• A new tournament record single payout was set for the boat "MJ's" for their 1st and 2nd place heaviest tuna placements of $913,883.
• In total, 11 boats received payouts over $100,000.
While there are many highlights, two stand out for the week in the Heaviest Blue Marlin Division. Day 2 saw the boat "Shark Byte" waiting patiently at the Tournament Scales at Sunset Marina. Angler Pete Cherasia from Rumson, NJ had landed a large blue marlin and it was in the cockpit under heavy ice. Excitement was building at the dock as the scales opened and weighmaster Frank Ingram and crew began to hoist the monster out of the boat. It was at that time that a large wound was noted by tournament officials and the catch was put under review. While video of the catch was reviewed, the big 129 1/2 inch blue was weighed and tipped the scales at 791 lbs. Unfortunately, it was determined that a mako or tiger shark had taken a bite of the catch while it was in the water alongside the boat creating a disqualifying situation. Tournament President Rick Weber summarized the event with "Disqualifying a fish is never easy, especially a magnificent catch like this, but the "Shark Byte" team was polite and professional through the entire process. That shark may have cost them their prize, but the story and memories they’ll have forever".
The second blue marlin highlight came on the last day of the tournament when another boat was waiting for the scales to open. This time it was the "GRIFFIN" out of Ocean City, MD. They too had a large blue marlin they found in the Wilmington Canyon. This one took three dock hands to hoist out of the boat with block and tackle. Once on the scale the beast weighed 815 lbs. While most thought that number would be untouchable for heaviest, the "Is That So" attempted a challenge bringing an 803 lb. to the scales in Cape May just a few hours later. The "GRIFFIN" held onto the lead and was awarded $692,764.
On the white marlin side for Ocean City boats, there were many, many, many whites weighed at the Tournament Scale at Sunset Marina. Our first qualifying white at the tournament minimum of 65 lbs. came from the "Effie Mae" on Tuesday and was the only one for the day. Wednesday saw "Kilo Charlie" raise the bar for Ocean City boats with their 68 lb. white. Again only 1 qualifier for the day in OC. It was a little before 6PM on Thursday at the Sunset Marina Tournament scales when the "Blood Money" hit the dock with a chubby 71 1/2 inch marlin that set the bar to be beat at 91 lbs. Only 5 marlin over 90 lbs. have been weighed at the MidAtltanic Tournament in its 29 year history, and never two in the same year. The boys from the "Blood Money" were confident and were rewarded with $267,085 in prize money.
A very notable highlight in this category was the performance of the "Fish On". They brought a 77 lb. white to the scales late on the final day to slide into a 3rd place tie with "Big Oil" out of NJ. "Fish On' however ended up with a jumbo payment from a trifecta of being 3rd overall heaviest white marlin, 2nd for the Ocean City calcutta and 1st in the 50' and Under calcutta securing $523,987 in prize money.
Lastly for the tournament was the dolphin division. Here, local boats took the top 5 spots and 8 of the top 10. "Billfisher" took top honors with their 46 lb. mahi and $100,722, followed by the "Christine Marie" in 2nd with "Fishbone" at 3rd, both with 33 lb. fish and $22,983 apiece.
Outside of the tournament, there was not much to report as most of the boats were competing. We did get updates after the weekend that the Hotdog was hot with yellowfins again. On Sunday a few boats ventured out for chunking and got double digit catches. That bite does not seem to want to end this year! Also, large catches of bailer dolphins were reported on Sunday and Monday from both the Baltimore Canyon and the Poor Man’s Canyon. These catches were while trolling and not fish found under floating objects.
Until next time we will see you at the docks.
