Article by Larry Jock
Last week was dominated by The MidAtlantic tournament that rolled into town on Monday and lasted through Friday. This is kind of like a miniature White Marlin Open where the action is as intense but with fewer boats. When I say “fewer”, it is still a major tournament with 157 boats competing for over $3,159,000 in prize money. This year, there were 85 boats competing out of Ocean City and 72 out of Cape May, NJ. When it came to prize money, Ocean City has dominated over the last couple of years, but it was almost an even split last week with Ocean City winning 53% of the prize money and Cape May boats taking 47% with wins in the Blue Marlin and Tuna Divisions.
Because of the weather, the majority of boats fishing out of Ocean City turned it into a Wed/Thurs/Friday tournament with anglers searching for billfish heading to the Spencer and Wilmington Canyons and those looking for big tuna traveling south to the Bigeye Hole in the Washington Canyon.
Top honors for Most Points Overall and Most Points White Marlin was won by local boat, “Billfisher”. They ended up with 22 white marlin and 1 blue marlin after spending their 3 days up on the northeast corner of the Wilmington Canyon. Although the better numbers of white marlin were in the northern canyons, it did appear that the larger fish came from 800 to 1,000 fathoms from the Poor Man’s down to the Norfolk Canyons. Both the first place “MJOLNIR” and the third place “MR Ducks” landed theirs deep outside the Poor Man’s Canyon.
First place in the Wahoo Division was also won by an Ocean City boat, the “Moore Bills” who returned with a 75 lb. wahoo on the first day of the tournament, caught on a Drone spoon at the Bigeye Hole.
In the Dolphin Division, the “FFMD” were trolling a plug in 500 fathoms outside the Washington Canyon where they boated their winning 53 lb. bull dolphin. Good size dolphin were up and down the line with the “DA?Sea” capturing their 35 pounder between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons.
Tuna
The brightest spot of the weekend was the reemergence of yellowfin tuna in 100-200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon. Fish were caught by trollers, chunkers and greenstickers with greenstickers outperforming the others. The “Foolish Pleasures” and the “Marli” both had good days on Saturday, returning with 18 and 14 yellowfins respectively. Seas were rough on Sunday, so not many boats left the dock, but the “Marli” headed back there and boxed another 7 on Sunday. The fish are really a mix of sizes. The largest that came out of those catches weighed close to 70 lbs.
Cobia
Although we don’t see a whole lot of cobia caught off Ocean City each season, this year seems to be a little more active. Last week we saw that nice 65 pounder caught by Julia Keenan 8 miles south of the Inlet. This week, several cobia were hooked including an 81 pounder caught by Jim McDowell at the same location. This fish would have been a new Maryland state record if Emma Zajdel hadn’t caught that 94.6 pounder back in July.
Several other good size cobia were caught last week. Hugh Cropper caught a big cobia last Friday, with his tipping the scale at 60 lbs. Jeff Greenwood followed that up with a 47 pounder that he caught on Saturday. All of these fish are being found cruising around large schools of bunker or rays and are being caught on live spot or bunker.
Flounder
Capt. Nick Clemente on the charter boat, “Get Sum” told me that he had a steady pick on flounder throughout the week. The throwback to keeper ratio is still running high, around 10 to 1, but his customers have been very happy with all the action. Capt. Nick said that his best bites have come in the shallow water (3-4 feet) in the Fish Bowl and behind Harbour Island while drifting white Gulp! Swimming Mullets during the incoming tide. This is kind of interesting because this time of year, we usually see the better bites come from the deeper holes holding cooler water.
The better flounder bite for both numbers and size continue to come in from anglers dropping cut bait on ocean wrecks and reefs, such as at the Old Grounds and the African Queen.
Croaker
Hardheads are thick in the East Channel, at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor and behind Harbor Island. Boats are returning with upwards of 30 croakers after only a couple of hours of fishing, making it a great bite for taking kids fishing since down time is limited. Anglers are mainly using squid for bait, but some are finding success with Fishbites artificial baits and any cut bait they can find.
Bluefish
Small, snapper bluefish are being caught during the end of the incoming tide around the Rt. 50 Bridge.
Blowfish
Yes... blowfish. I think in 12 years, this is the first time I have ever mentioned blowfish (pufferfish) in the weekly Fishing Report, but they are really thick this year and have been a real pain in the neck for flounder fishermen. Blowfish bite extremely soft, so you won’t even feel them stealing your bait. Capt. Nick said that you will reel up your line and find a ring of Gulp! artificial baits that has been eaten right up to the hook.
Sea Bass
Capt. Nick reported that small sea bass are all over the bay right now. Clams and squid are the baits of choice.
Anglers on ocean headboats are also finding a few sea bass during their trips. We saw a nice 23 1/2-inch, 4 lb. 11 oz. fish come in from Kevin Kearney during a trip to an artificial reef on the “Morning Star” last week. This one was caught on a strip of flounder belly.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Labor Day White Marlin Tournament. It runs from Friday through Sunday with weigh-ins at Sunset Marina each night from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. There are tuna and dolphin divisions so there will be some action at the scale. As this column is being written on Monday, the weather forecast for next weekend looks hateful, so keep an eye on the daily Coastal Fisherman online fishing report for updates on the tournament schedule.
See you at the scales!
