Article by Larry Jock
What a fantastic week of fishing in Ocean City, capped off by an incredible Memorial Day offshore bite.
Marlin
We had a couple of surprise catches over the weekend, including the first white marlin caught on Sunday by angler Dale Downey. Dale hooked the white marlin in 300 fathoms on the east side of the Baltimore Canyon. Since 2008, this was the earliest a white marlin has been caught and released. The next closest was on May 27, 2012. Typically, we don’t see the first white marlin hooked until the second week in June.
Tuna
The batch of water that produced good catches of yellowfins a couple of weeks ago moved its way down to the Baltimore Canyon early last week and to the area between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons over the weekend. Most of the action is in 70 to 90 fathoms where water temperatures fell between 66 and 68-degrees.
Early in the week, the “Boss Hogg” headed to the Baltimore and returned with 17 yellowfins from 90 fathoms. On the same day, the “Nontypical had 12 yellowfins in the same location.
On Thursday, the “Reel Fantasy” went out to 90 fathoms in the Baltimore and hooked into a dozen yellowfins, with most in the 40 lb. class.
Saturday morning was windy, keeping most offshore boats at the dock. The “Magic Moment” headed to 80 fathoms between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons and caught 4 yellowfins weighing up to 42.6 lbs.
Sunday was a bad day to be a tuna but a good day to be a tuna fisherman. There was no shortage of tuna flags flying as boats returned from the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons. Most had 4 to 7 yellowfins in the box, but a couple of boats really mugged them up. The “White Lightning” had 15 yellowfins and a mahi from 70 fathoms in the Baltimore. Right behind them was the “Triggerfish” with 14 yellowfins caught a little further south.
In addition to the yellowfins, we saw the first bigeye tuna of the season, caught on Sunday by Josh Thompson on the “Over Billin” in 200 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon. This 190 pounder beat last years first bigeye by a couple of days and is the earliest bigeye catch since at least 2008, the first season we started tracking it. There was also a bigeye caught out of the Indian River Marina during an over night trip last weekend to the Baltimore Canyon.
Sharks
Mako sharks continue to run on the small side, coming in between 100 and 120 lbs. Most have been caught in the Baltimore Canyon and a couple have come in from around the Sausages. Numerous blue shark releases were reported by anglers shark fishing in the canyons.
Thresher sharks showed up throughout the week, mainly from the area around the Fingers. Mackerel and bluefish fillets have been the hot ticket. On Wednesday, seas were snotty but the “Jimbo” returned with a 337 pounder and the “Restless Lady” had a 270 pounder, both from around the Fingers. On Sunday, the “Playtime” had a 302 lb. thresher from just outside the Fingers and “Stretchin Lips” pulled in a 275 pounder at the Fingers after hooking it on a bluefish fillet. “Reel Attitude” also had a 275 pounder that they caught south of the Fingers on a mackerel fillet.
Also on Sunday, Jamie Romero reported releasing a tiger shark, estimated at 600 lbs., while trolling in 100 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon.
Sea Bass & Tautog
This wasn’t a great week for sea bass fishing. It wasn’t a week of skunks, but the majority of anglers had difficulty getting their 15 fish limit. We did see a few fish at 4 lbs. or better, mainly caught while using clams for bait.
A few tautog were landed by anglers searching for sea bass. One interesting catch was Capt. Kane Bounds on the charter boat, “Fish Bound”, who after hearing that “there are no tautog on this wreck” proceeded to drop a line himself and hooked a 15.4 pounder on a green crab.
Flounder
There wasn’t much going on with flounder fishing in the bay until Friday when the charter boat, “Get Sum” returned with 11 flatties from their morning trip and another 4 in the afternoon. The fish were probably there all week, we just didn’t see many anglers on the water until the weekend.
On Saturday, Pete Renzi, Chuck Wenzel and Capt. Nick Clemente had 9 keepers, all from around the South Jetty. This was where the hot flounder bite was all weekend and you had to get right up close to the rocks to catch your flattie. There was a fine line between those who got them and those that got skunked.
On Sunday, we saw flounder coming in from all over the bay. Fish were caught by the Rt. 90 Bridge, in the Thorofare, the East Channel and at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor. Anglers also hooked many more throwback flounder than we have seen over the last few weeks. Minnows, shiners and either pink or white Gulp! Swimming Mullets were the baits of choice, but on Sunday John Johnson caught a 6 pounder on a squid and minnow combination just off the East Channel.
Sheepshead
On Monday morning, Hugh Cropper caught the 1st sheepshead of the season on a peeler crab around the South Jetty.
Bluefish
Chopper bluefish are still lingering in the area but the bite has definitely slowed down since last week. Blues have mainly been found around the Rt. 50 Bridge for anglers casting bucktails and metal lures.
In the Surf
Last week was one of the better week for surfcasters looking for stripers off Assateague. It had been a pretty dismal spring for surf fisherman, but last week anglers tangled with a good number of stripers up to 49-inches. Black drum and bluefish were also caught by anglers fishing with bunker or peeler crabs.
Upcoming Tournament
We have a rare weekend off this week, so the next tournament on the schedule is the Bahia Marina Mako Mania Shark Tournament on June 5th to 7th. Bahia Marina always puts on a good tournament and I would expect to see more participants since the demise of the Ocean City Shark Tournament this year. Spectators can get close to the action at Bahia Marina, making it a great tournament to bring kids to.
See you at the scales!
