Article by Larry Budd
Offshore was a blur last week as we saw the last major tournament of the summer take place. The MidAtlantic was held last Monday through Friday with 181 boats participating and 115 of them based in the Ocean City Area. Once again, our local boats made us proud earning a total of $4.499M of the $5.790M total prize money. That’s 77.7%!
There were also several records set this year:
• Payout for the White
Marlin Division of
$1,406,938 to the
“Boss Hogg”
• Payout for the Blue
Marlin Division of
$1,180,342 to the
“Pipe Dreamer”
• Most Points Overall
scored by the “Trashman”
with a total of 2,010
points including 26
white marlin released.
In total, 750 white marlin were caught with 735 released is the third highest in tournament history and a staggering 98% release rate. This equates to an average of 1.46 white marlin released per boat, per day. While Cape May had some fish place in the top three, I want to give some color on the local boats and their catches.
In the Billfish Division, the northern canyons were the hot spots. Since the tournament allows for fishing 125 miles from the Cape May sea buoy, the Ocean City boats were able to explore much further north than most OC based events that set the limit at 100 miles from the Ocean City sea buoy. The “Trashman” from Savannah, GA lead in white marlin releases with 26 for the week, including 15 last Wednesday for a total of 1,950 points. They spent the week fishing the deep water offshore of the Toms Canyon.
Speaking of billfish, it’s hard not to applaud the crew on the “Boss Hogg”. They spent the last good weather day last Thursday fishing 105 miles out, offshore of the Lindenkohl Canyon in 1,000 fathoms. For the day they went 6 for 7 on white marlin including one that was boated. The 73” roundscale spearfish was caught by Mike Dahl and tipped the scale at 76 lbs. taking 2nd Place. Roundscales are counted in the white marlin category in most tournaments. It earned the crew the tournament record payout mentioned above! The “Catch 23” rounded out the top 3 with a 75 lb. white and the “Reel King” took 4th Place with a 73 lb. white from offshore of the Spencer Canyon.
Big fish were also on display as 7 blue marlin made their way to the scales, all in Ocean City! The first fish on the first day was a blue caught on the “Pipe Down” by boat owner Tom Luke. His came up on the left teaser and took a pitch bait. The bar was set for blue marlin at 489 lbs. Another blue made it to the scales that day, but it included a story of hard luck. The “Amarula Sun” called in ahead of arriving to the scales to report their catch, but also that they were disqualifying the fish, as it had been cut by the boat’s 5 foot propellers. The MidAtlantic follows IGFA rules which clearly state mutilated fish are disqualified. The tournament did weigh the big blue that measured 126” and pulled down the scale to 808 lbs. The crew also released 2 whites that day also in the Toms Canyon.
It was Wednesday that saw the leaderboard change completely for blues. The “Tighten Up” was waiting at the dock for the scales to open at 5PM. They had a blue marlin caught by Jay Keller in the Baltimore Canyon in 500 fathoms. Theirs hit on a plug and jumped repeatedly during the 45 minute fight, and they also released 2 whites. At 528 lbs. it finished in 3rd Place.
Next was the “Pipe Dreamer” from Oceanport, NJ. Capt. Richard Fernandez headed north, in between the Carteret and Lindenkohl Canyons. First thing in the morning he saw a big bait ball holding big fish, and once the lines were in they trolled through, releasing a 67” white marlin. On the second pass the blue came up on the left long, and as the crew was reeling it in to toss a pitch bait, the big fish took the plug on the left short. At this point he was right behind the boat and was thrashing its head violently trying to spit out the plug for 5 minutes. Capt. Richard kept the line tight by moving forward and once the fish settled down, he backed down - hard - bringing the fish right to the transom door. The whole process took less than 20 minutes! They made several other passes and saw white marlin, but none came tight. It really didn’t matter though as the blue marlin measured 133½” and weighed in at 889 lbs., the 3rd heaviest in the tournament’s history, and took 1st Place in the Blue Marlin Division.
The 3rd blue to the scale that day was a form of redemption. It was the “Amarula Sun” returning to the scales with another blue marlin. This time they were offshore of the Lindenkohl in 1000 fathoms when the fish came up on the left teaser and then took on a pitch bait. Angler and boat owner Shon Craig was on the rod for just about an hour to get the 114¼” and 548 lb. blue to the boat. It took 3rd Place for event in the Blue Marlin Division.
Several others were weighed, including a 470 pounder that “The Zipper” caught in between the Lindenkohl and Spencer Canyons.
The Tuna Division was dominated by bigeyes. Of the 58 tuna weighed, over 2 dozen were bigeyes with 4 over 200 lbs. On top was the venerable tuna boat “Talkin’ Trash” with Capt. Chris Little at the helm. He brought two eyeballs to the scales with the first on Monday from the Washington Canyon at 195 lbs. It was however his second fish caught on Thursday that shattered the leaderboard. He started the day going about as far south as allowed to the Norfolk Canyon. He found no action so they pulled in the lines and burned some precious fishing time to run back to the Washington. The strategy paid off when angler Matt Weaver connected with a 253 lb. bigeye. It took 45 minutes to get the 73½” eyeball to the boat, it was their only bite for the day and easily slid into 1st Place where it finished. It was also a gift for mate Jacob Bialk as it was his birthday! The 3rd Place finisher hit the scales at Sunset Marina on Thursday. The “Taylor Jean” was way north in the Carteret Canyon when angler Tony Chieffo hooked into a 216 lb. bigeye.
The top 2 dolphin for the event were from Cape May boats however, 3rd place went to the gang on the “Too Many Martinis”. Angler Jeff Kogok caught the 33 lb. mahi with only 3 minutes left before lines out in the Toms Canyon. They also released 2 white marlin and boated a lot of smaller mahi. It was a similar story in the Wahoo Division with the top 2 slots from NJ boats. 3rd Place was secured by the “Water Damage” with a 51 lb. speedster they caught in 350 feet at the Poor Man’s Canyon when it hit on a marlin rig getting caught in the lip.
You can see our full coverage, leaderboard and payout starting on page 58.
Outside the tournament there were a couple of notable catches. The charter boat “Spring Mix II” caught over 50 mahi last Thursday from the Baltimore Canyon. The “Action Jackson” out of the Indian River Marina found a few marlin fishing inshore lumps. They also found a few under a floating boogie boat that they ‘caught’ as well!
Two new Heaviest Fish for the season were also set last week. The “Unreel” was deep in the Poor Man’s Canyon when Austin Brunley dove in and speared an 80 pound wahoo. Ralph Redden was out with “Bad Wind Charters” out of Delaware and caught a 43 lb. mahi at an inshore lump using light spinning gear. They also boated many other peanuts and a couple more gaffers.
Finally, we got a great report from the private boat “Milla Time” and their trip last Thursday. They were just east of the Hot Dog in 200 to 400 feet and released a white marlin, blue marlin and a mako! Both marlin hit on a Green Machine and some of the mahi took naked ballyhoo and Smokers while the remainder picked off some floating debris.
We still have one offshore tournament action to look forward to this summer before the fall schedule. The Ocean City Marlin Club is holding it’s 65th Annual Labor Day White Marlin Tournament this weekend from Friday through Sunday. Weigh ins will be at Sunset Marina from 6PM to 8PM.
Until next time;
I will see you at the scales! §
