Article by Larry Jock
The fishing out of Ocean City continues to put a lot of smiles on angler’s faces, especially those chasing flounder, tuna and now, marlin.
Branch Kreppel Memorial Blue Marlin Tournament
The Blue Marlin Tournament continues to grow, up from 15 boats last year to 18 boats this year. Although the slowdown of the offshore tuna bite put a damper on the Meatfish Division, the excellent marlin bite we saw on Saturday and Sunday really made the Billfish Release Division exciting.
The Meatfish Division was won by the crew on the “Wave Paver” when, on Sunday, they showed up at the scale with the largest yellowfin we have seen so far this year. The tuna weighed 83 lbs. and was caught in over 1,000 fathoms outside the Washington Canyon by angler Jerry Owens.
We didn’t see any qualifying dolphin caught during the tournament and the only wahoo, a 35 pounder, was weighed by the “Partner-Ship” on Saturday.
No blue marlin were killed in the tournament, but the Billfish Release Points Division certainly had some excitement. Everyone was playing for second place after the “Wound Up” recorded 3 blue marlin releases, with one coming in on Saturday and another two on Sunday. Capt. Dave “Big Wave” Warren reported finding the blue marlin in ugly, green water with whales and a good amount of bait.
Boats that ventured further offshore, to over 1,000 fathoms outside the Washington and Poor Man’s Canyons, got into good catches of white marlin over the weekend, led by the “D.A. Sea” on Sunday with 10 releases in one day. Right now, this is the most white marlin released by a boat in a single day. The charter boat, “Billfisher” was right behind them on Sunday with 9 white marlin releases.
Second place in the tournament went to the crew on the “No Quarter”, who racked up 6 white marlin releases on Saturday and another 8 on Sunday. The white marlin were not easy to get hooked, with several boats seeing hook-up ratios of less than 50%.
Third place in the Billfish Release Division went to the crew on the “Reel Joy”, with 10 releases during their 2 days of fishing, 4 coming on Saturday from deep in the Washington Canyon and another 6 on the final day of the tournament. Although they tied the “D.A. Sea” with 10 white marlin releases, they took 3rd place honors based on the time of their last release.
Blue Marlin
Outside of the tournament, we did see several other blue marlin released during the week.
On Monday, “Rhonda’s Osprey” released 2 blue marlin and the “Cookie Monster” released 1 in the Washington Canyon.
On Saturday, “Siren’s Song” released a blue marlin in the Baltimore Canyon and “Blood Money”, “Game Over” and “Reel Fantasy” each released 1 in the Washington.
On Sunday, the fishing world was stunned when Boz Jefferson on the “Polecat” released a blue marlin. A big congratulations goes out to Boz!
Tuna
The yellowfin bite was red hot early-to-mid week around the Hot Dog, but the catch that had everyone talking was the 304 lb. bigeye tuna caught on Saturday aboard the “Bill$ 4 Bills”. The big tuna was hooked on a trolled ballyhoo in the Washington Canyon and took 90 minutes to get to the boat.
Unfortunately, the excellent chunking bite we saw during the week around the Hot Dog, and a few miles north of the Hot Dog, petered out over the weekend, with most boats returning with only a couple of fish. Up until Thursday, it was not uncommon to see double-digit tuna flags flying from the riggers of offshore boats. Wednesday saw a particularly excellent bite at the Hot Dog, where the “White Lightning” boxed 19, “Restless Lady” landed 16 and “That’s Right” caught 15, all on the chunk. Several other boats returned with excellent catches as well.
Over the weekend, with a dramatically slower bite at the Dog, several boats resorted to trolling around the chunking fleet and fared as well or better than those tossing butterfish to finicky tuna. Those that did better than average chunking for tuna said that switching to lighter leaders with smaller hooks was the ticket to better hook-ups.
Wahoo
In addition to the wahoo caught in the Baltimore Canyon on the “Partner-Ship” during the Blue Marlin Tournament, we also saw a 41 pounder caught by a junior angler on Saturday while trolling at the Hot Dog.
Swordfish
On Sunday, the “Gettin’ Jiggy” returned from an overnight trip to the bite of the Baltimore Canyon with a 93 lb. swordfish caught on live mullet.
Cobia
On Saturday, Allen Fadely caught a big, 69 lb. cobia on a live bluefish while fishing at Great Gull Shoal. The “Man in the Brown Suit” measured 59.5-inches and took 20 minutes to get to the boat.
Sea Bass
Capt. Monty on the “Morning Star” reports that the ocean structure is inhabited with both sea bass and flounder right now, and it’s tough to predict exactly which one will bite on a given day. When the sea bass are snapping, anglers are returning with a healthy bag of fillets. The keeper ratio has improved greatly since the early spring but it is strictly “summer fishing”, with most days finding anglers having better luck hooking flatties than knotheads.
Flounder
I had to laugh this week when I received an email from a reader asking me “what I am smoking” by reporting that the flounder bite this summer has been the best in the last 8 years. I replied to the reader that I have taken more pictures of anglers with their limit of flatties than I ever have and it looks like the bite is continuing, especially for those choosing to venture out of the inlet to ocean reefs and wrecks. The Bass Grounds, African Queen and Russell’s Reef have all been producing good catches of flounder for those drifting bucktails tipped with cut bait.
In the bay, the East Channel and the rocks along Martha’s Landing gave up good catches of 18 to 22-inch flounder last week. The charter boats, “Get Sum” and “Lucky Break” both had several good days drifting along the rocks off Martha’s Landing and around the South Jetty.
The Middle Channel has also turned into a good location for flounder fishing. Many folks have emailed me asking for the location of the Middle Channel. The easiest explanation I can give is that working from west to east, north of the Rt. 50 Bridge, you have the West Channel (next to Hooper’s Crab House), the Middle Channel, the Fishbowl and the East Channel. Hope that helps!
Live spot, mullet or bunker are still the prime baits for catching keeper flounder. They are definitely outfishing Gulp! artificial baits right now.
Upcoming Tournaments
The Ocean City Marlin Club Ladies Tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday with weigh-ins at Sunset Marina.
Also on Saturday is the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce Flounder Tournament which, in only a couple of years, has turned into a fantastic, inexpensive summer flounder tournament. Weigh-ins are Saturday afternoon at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club.
On Monday, August 6th, the White Marlin Open begins with weigh-ins each afternoon at Harbour Island.
It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, and I’ll see you at the scales!
