Article by Larry Jock
Tuna Tournament
Sometimes you have a tournament where the winning fish comes in at the wire on the final day and others where the leader is one of the first fish weighed on day one. Well, this year it was definitely the latter as the “Crush Em”, with Capt. Josh Ruskey at the helm, arrived at the scale on Friday with a 259 lb. bigeye tuna that had almost everyone changing their strategy for the next two days. In addition, their stringer weight was a whopping 594 lbs. Everyone knew that both would be tough to beat. The only saving grace was that a boat cannot win both the Single Heaviest Tuna and the Heaviest Stringer categories.
“Crush Em” ended up winning the Single Heaviest Tuna Division by a healthy margin of 104 lbs. and would have won the Heaviest Stringer title by 425 lbs. Quite a performance by the captain, mate and crew!
There was some excitement on the final day when J.L. Cropper threw a 128 lb. bluefin on the scale to win 3rd place in the Single Heaviest Tuna Division and Top Lady Angler honors. Also on the last day, the “Tarheel” arrived with 3 tuna that swept the Junior Angler Division and won Lia Chrysanthopoulos 2nd place in the Top Lady Angler Division.
Overall, as predicted, a bigeye tuna took center stage and some nice stringers of yellowfin tuna hit the scale.
Bigeye Tuna
Several bigeye tuna were caught last week by anglers fishing in the Washington Canyon. In addition to the 259 pounder that took 1st place in the Tuna Tournament, the “Crush Em” also included a second, almost identical bigeye in the stringer weighed on Friday. Both were caught in 300 fathoms.
Also on Friday, the “First & More” weighed a 155 lb. eyeball that was hooked in 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon.
Earlier in the week on Wednesday, the “No Quarter” returned to Sunset Marina with a 145 lb. bigeye and on Monday, the “Marli” boated a big 235 lb. bigeye while trolling in the Washington Canyon.
Yellowfin Tuna
The best yellowfin tuna bite we have seen in years just keeps motoring along. Outside of the Tuna Tournament, where anglers threw a good number of yellowfin on the scale, we saw some outstanding action running from the Washington Canyon up to the Hot Dog in 70 to 100 fathoms.
On Monday, “That’s Right” threw 14 yellowfins on the dock after spending the day trolling in the Washington. The “Marli” also had 8 yellowfins from the same area. The following day, “Moore Bills” ventured to the Hot Dog, where they ended up with 12 yellowfins in the box.
The big day in the Washington Canyon was on Wednesday when the “Espadon” caught 18 yellowfins, the “White Lightning” boxed 13 yellowfins and the “Marli” ended their day with 7.
Bluefin Tuna
The heaviest bluefin of the year came in on Sunday when J.L. Cropper landed a 128 pounder at the Hot Dog. On Saturday, her husband Hugh Cropper caught himself a 114 lb. bluefin at the Dog. The “Fishomatic” weighed a 117 lb. bluefin on the 1st day of the tournament that was caught at the Hambone and on the same day and in the same area, the “No Limits” boated a 107 pounder.
Wahoo
The heaviest wahoo of the year was caught on Saturday by Jason Andrews on the “Fin Chaser”. Jason caught the 81 lb. speedster while trolling ballyhoo in 65 fathoms at the Poor Man’s Canyon. Water temperature was reported at 76.5-degrees.
Dolphin
Dolphin continue to be caught in the same locations as yellowfin tuna, from the Washington Canyon up to the Hot Dog. The largest mahi-mahi this week was the 34 pounder caught on the “Playtime” during the first day of the Tuna Tournament. The fish was caught on the troll in the Washington Canyon. On Saturday, the “Reel Chaos” caught a 25 lb. dolphin in the Washington and won 3rd place in the Dolphin Division. The “Salt Lick” came in on the final day of the tournament with a 31 lb. dolphin to scoop up 2nd place. This fish was caught in the Norfolk Canyon.
Billfish
White marlin were primarily hooked in the Washington Canyon last week, although the “Momma T” did release one in the Baltimore Canyon on Friday. The “Sea Slammer”, also on Friday, recorded 3 releases in the Washington Canyon.
Mako Shark
The only mako shark that was hooked last week came at the hands of Justin Healey on the “Last Call”. Justin caught and released the mako while
fishing at the Hot Dog on Wednesday.
Flounder
Dirty water for most of the week contributed to a slow week of flounder fishing. Anglers continue to be frustrated with the high number of throwbacks, which is surprising everyone since the minimum size was reduced by an inch this year.
The West Channel and the water surrounding Harbour Island were the top spots for those seeking flatties.
The largest flounder we saw this week was caught by Preston Walls on Saturday. Preston was drifting a live spot in the East Channel, south of the Rt. 50 Bridge, when he captured a 23.5-incher.
It is also good to see that the inshore wrecks and reefs are starting to produce good numbers of flounders for those fishing with Gulp! Swimming Mullets or live spot.
Sea Bass
Both the “Angler” and the “Morning Star” brought back some nice sea bass last week. The heaviest came in on Saturday when Albert Parish captured a 4 pounder while fishing with clams at a natural reef on the “Angler”.
Striped Bass
A few nice size stripers were caught last week, led by the 37-incher caught by Larry Turner on the “Lucky Break”. On Sunday, Larry used live spot to fool the linesider in the Ocean City Inlet.
In the Surf
Sue Foster from Oyster Bay Tackle reported, “The surf is seeing a lot of small panfish early in the morning such as spot, kingfish, sand perch and croaker. At night, sharks and skates abound along with a few croaker and flounder.”
Upcoming Tournaments
This weekend is the famous Ocean City Marlin Club Kid’s Classic. This is the 7th year for the tournament and it has grown every year. Weigh-ins are at Sunset Marina from 3:00 to 6:30 PM on Saturday and 3:00 to 6:00 on Sunday.
This tournament is a great experience for kids, capped off with a Carnival and Awards Banquet on Sunday from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Every angler receives an award!
If you want to see a lot of smiling faces, then head on over to Sunset Marina.
See you at the scales!
