Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
• The “Wrecker” caught a 276 lb. bigeye in the Washington Canyon. That one was the heaviest for 2022. Two others over 200 lbs. were also caught there.
• Chunking was in full swing with the Hambone being the hot spot followed by the Hot Dog and Fingers.
• The crew of the “C- Team” caught an 89.2 lb. yellowfin in the Massey’s Canyon using a 8000 class spinning rod.
• Bill fishing continued to be some of the worst in recent memory, however the “Billfisher” ran 90 miles out to east of the Washington Canyon to find blue water and did manage to release 4 white marlin.
We all enjoyed some beautiful weather this past week on Delmarva with our normal high heat and humidity though! This pattern did lead to a mix of conditions offshore that created some great fishing days, and of course some challenging ones, even on calm days. We had a nice range of fish reported to us last week with some record setting tuna catches in the mix as well as a pending Delaware State Record for king mackerel. Billfish remain elusive, but not absent, with a few white releases and several hits that did not come tight. A good sign as we head into the Big Fish Classic and the White Marlin Open.
Tuna
Key words for the week for this fish would be a combination of picky and consistent. Meaning they were consistently picky, but we still saw a consistent stream of yellowfins and some bigeyes hitting the cleaners! Our reports show most are still trolling, but more and more are switching to chunking butterfish as the fish move into the inshore lumps. Early last week we saw some good action at the 19 Fathom Lump. The “Finatic” brought back 5 yellowfin trolling as well as a couple tunnys from there. The “Bet-Sea” has a great story from their trip last week. They had a half day charter expecting to go for sea bass and flounder at some offshore wrecks and reefs. Instead Capt. Eric Mihaly headed to the Lump and got the boys onto 3 yellowfin tuna, 1 every hour, and then back to the dock by midday. An amazing trip for a half day charter for sure!
The “Spring Mix II” headed out Tuesday and found beautiful weather. Capt. Chris Watkowski trolled in the Washington Canyon where the crew hooked into a triple of bigeyes. Two of the three got off, but they got one, or most of one, to the boat. The 193 lb. eyeball had a big chunk out near the tail. We think it definitely would have been over 200 lbs. They also boated 2 yellowfin.
Things cooled a bit mid-week as the heat stirred up the atmosphere causing winds and some serious storms on Wednesday! The charter boat “Pumpin’ Hard” did slip out Wednesday, and after dealing with the storms they set the troll in the northern end of the Baltimore Canyon. The crew humorously called the South Bethany Yacht Club got 4 yellows in the box. As the weather moved in, it seems the tuna moved inshore or out, offshore out.
Saturday saw an amazing catch by the charter boat “Restless Lady”. Always known as a tuna slaying boat, Capt. Todd Kurtz did not disappoint. He headed to the 19 Fathom Lump and shortly after lines in they got a knockdown on 12 lines, all of them bigeyes! The crew made some fast choices and cut 4 lines. The anglers amazingly were able to get all 8 eyeballs in the box. They even had the presence of mind to pitch a bait to a mahi that came up with one of the big tuna! That will be a lifetime memory for those anglers.
The weekend saw Ocean City Marlin Club’s 19th Annual Kid’s Classic. While mostly a bay and inshore event, there were categories for tuna, wahoo, dolphin and billfish release. All the tuna reports from that event were from deep water, offshore of the Poor Man’s Canyon in 800 to 1100 fathoms. Naked ballyhoo and spreader bars were most common.
As we were at the scales at Sunset Marina on Sunday, I got a tap on the shoulder and was told about a yellowfin ‘I may want to take an interest in’! I could not leave the scales, so I texted my info to the gentleman and a few minutes later I got a report of a 156 lb. yellowfin tuna caught on the “Sea Hag”. This huge allison tuna was caught by Elmer ‘Junior’ Bass, also in deep water offshore of the Poor Man’s. This one hit on a ballyhoo skirted with a blue & white Ilander. It is now the Heaviest Yellowfin caught this season and will be a hard one to beat! The crew on the “Layin’ Lines” came back Sunday from an overnight trip in the Baltimore Canyon with an ~190 lb. bigeye.
Billfish
As mentioned above, reports on marlin releases were light, especially earlier in the week. Most at that time were second hand mentions of radio chatter of some white releases. The Kid’s Classic saw several release reports, all white marlin. Winning the Category for the event was the “Reel Chaos”. They released 3 whiteys outside the Poor Man’s in 800 fathoms. Second was the “Max Bet” who also released three that day, also outside the Poor Man’s. Sunday saw the “Bet Sea” lose a white in 875 fathoms and the “Kilo Charlie” released 2 from first time anglers Tyson Stouffer and Zach Maniskas. Again outside of the Poor Man’s.
We did not hear of any blue marlin releases, but the “Max Bet” reported a bite that did not come tight east of the Poor Man’s. Interestingly the “Salty Reel” caught a sailfish at the Hot Dog while chunking! Realtor Kim Simpler Hook (no irony to the name...) and her crew brought in a swordfish to Bahia Marina.
Mahi and Everything Else!
A review of last week would not be complete without a mention of the uptick in dolphin action. While anglers have been finding them for a while now, there were huge hits this week. Friday saw the start of it when the charter boat “Reel Chaos” returned to Sunset Marina with over 30 dolphin and a wahoo. They were also outside the Poor Man’s in 1000 fathoms finding lots of floating grasses. The “Bet Sea” was out on Sunday as part of the Kid’s Classic, again in 875 fathoms where they found a floating log and some fishing gear holding fish. They caught a 23 lb. bull to take 1st Place in that category.
Tilefish were still plentiful, with more goldens making an appearance. Most were from the Rockpile. Lot’s of king mackerel were also in the mix, including a pending Delaware state record for a 52.7 lb. king caught by Jeff McCoy. He was anchored at the Fenwick Shoals shark fishing when the big fish hit on a mackerel fillet. Some cannibalism there. The 56” fish beat a record set almost 30 years ago!
Lastly the “One More” brought in a nice 70” and 94 lb. spinner shark to the scales at Bahia Marina. They caught that one at the Great Gull Reef.
So until next time I will see you at the scales! §
Upcoming Tournaments
• Marina madness is headed to the Talbot Street Pier as they host the 10th Annual Big Fish Classic on July 28-30. Always a fun event with of course, big fish! This unique tournament allows for two 32 hour windows to fish. Friday thru Saturday or Saturday to Sunday. This allows the crews to stay overnight for more action or run in early if they have a big fish! Scales and the vendor village are open from 4-9PM on Friday and Saturday and 4-8PM on Sunday. Of course MR Ducks is right there too!
More at BigFishClassic.com.
• The weekend of August 4-6 will host two concurrent tournaments. The first will be a new event, the Marlins for Mason, a billfish catch and release tournament to benefit the Dravet Syndrome Foundation. More at MarlinsForMason.com.
The other is the Marlin Club’s 15th Annual Ladies’ Tournament - Heels & Reels on August 4 & 5.. This always fun filled event benefits the Marlin Club Crew of OC Scholarship fund. Weigh-ins will be at Atlantic Tackle from 5:30 - 7:30PM. More at OCMarlinClub.com/Tournaments.
