Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
• 61 boats registered for the OC Marlin Club’s Annual Small Boat Tournament! The top tuna was a 74 lb. yellowfin caught on the “Tellum’. The 1st place mahi was only 15 lbs, caught by the “Fishizzle” in the Washington Canyon earning almost $10,000. This reminds us to weigh every fish!
• Mark Perez boated a 233 lb. bigeye tuna while fishing in the Washington Canyon on the “Whiskey Kilo”. This was the heaviest of the season, but only for a day when Greg Eckard on the “Ro Sham Bo” brought a 235 lb. eyeball to the scales, also from the Washington Canyon.
• Chelsea Trimper was recognized by the OC Marlin Club as the first member to release a blue marlin for 2021 while on the “Blood Money” in the Norfolk Canyon.
Weather wise it was the week we have been waiting for. We had several days offshore of fair winds and waves, and only a couple days of blow. So while the weather got in line, the fish decided to chill for most of the week offshore! There is a lot of action to cover both inshore and off with 4 tournaments running concurrently over the weekend in addition to all the boats that took advantage of the weather to finally get to the canyons.
Tournaments
Two tourneys this weekend focused on or had calcutta’s in the offshore categories. The first was the 2nd Annual Tuna & Tiara’s Ladies Tuna Tournament that started Friday (postponed from the week before), followed by the Ocean City Marlin Club’s 43rd Annual Small Boat Tournament. The other two were bay or mainly nearshore focused. The 4th Annual Fish N Paddle Saltwater Slam kayak fishing tournament was held at Atlantic Tackle and the 7th Annual Kid’s Catch-All Tournament was held over the weekend at the Indian River Marina.
It was great to see our first couple of annual offshore events after several earlier in the season were canceled due to weather or fuel prices, or both! Last Friday saw the first ‘fish one of two’ days for the Tuna & Tiara’s Ladies Tuna Tournament. Despite the push back a week, 33 boats registered with 10 selecting to fish on Day 1. The bite was to say the least, tough. Only 3 boats brought fish to the scales and each had only 1 fish, and most reported only 1 bite for the day early in the morning. First to the scales was the “Billfisher” with team ‘Tunalicious’. They put a 47 lb. yellowfin on the dock that Sarah Evans caught as the only bite for the day. They closed the day at the top of the leader board for the 2 tuna weighed. Day 2 saw the remaining 23 boats head out. Again, the bite was tough with no boats bringing more than 1 qualifying 30 lb. fish to the scale. The leaderboard did move however when two 51 lb. yellowfins came in back to back mixing things up. The big move came toward the end of day when the aptly named “Game Changer” dropped a 54 lb. tuna on the dock taking first place in the event. Check out our full coverage starting on page 68.
The two day OC Marlin Club Small Boat Tournament kicked off on Saturday. 51 boats entered this year’s field with 33 fishing on Day 1 and the remaining 18 on Sunday. Not all of these were in the offshore categories. In general, the captains found similar conditions on Friday, early morning bites with frequently only 1 bite all day. The top tuna for the event stood out. “Team Martz” fished outside the Baltimore Canyon and found a 66.6 lb. yellowfin tuna that held the lead for the rest of the event, securing $5,242 in prize money. The Mahi Division came down to the wire with no qualifying fish weighed until nearly the end of Day 2. “Sea Biscuit” was first with a 12.4 lb. fish, only to be upstaged by the next boat. The “Humpin’ Along” threw some small gaffers on the dock that did not meet the tournament minimum of 10 lbs., only to reveal a bull dolphin that checked in at 20.6 lbs. Check out the picture of that pretty fish, plus our coverage starting on page 72.
The other two tourneys were inshore/bay events, but a few catches are worth a mention. During the 7th Annual Kid’s Catch-All Tournament hosted by the Indian River Marina, 10 year old Francesca Gessler took top honors with a 49 lb. yellowfin she caught in the Wilmington Canyon while fishing on the “Trouble Maker”. Check out the cute kids and catches starting on page 62.
While the 4th Annual Fish N Paddle Saltwater Slam kayak tournament was mainly a bay and near shore event, it also saw a unique offshore catch. Angler John Stackhouse paddled 2 miles out of the Ocean City Inlet close to Kelly’s Reef and connected with a 48.5” and 46.25 lb. cobia. A nice catch in general, exceptional on a kayak! More on that event can be found starting on page 76.
Outside the tournament, most anglers that went out mid week last week were rewarded with some good yellowfin action. Last Monday through Wednesday were the best with several boats posting 10+ catches of good size tuna, with the southern Poor Man’s Canyon to the Washington Canyon being the hot spot. That rush however did lead to many boats in those canyons on Friday and Saturday and that puts pressure on the bite.
No reports of bigeye, bluefin or longfin tunas over the last week made it to our ears.
Those struggling with tuna did find some action with tilefish and rosefish. We have a number of reports of limit blueline tilefish catches and some very nice size golden tilefish, including two big golden tilefish caught on the “Jacked Up” last Sunday. Capt. Nick Skidmore reported them at 52.6 lbs. and 48.4 lbs.
Lastly, billfish and mahi continue to be a struggle. The “Ro Sham Bo” has a nice white release in the middle of the Washington Canyon last Friday in 2,000 ft. and 69 DEGREE water. The “HotLine” released a blue marlin on Saturday after running almost 99 miles from the Ocean City Sea Buoy. The “No Limits” had a release on Saturday as well during the Small Boat Tournament. Angler Matthew Aichinger released a white in the early morning at the Rockpile. All of these fish hit on a blue & white Ilander. Notable for mahi was the 20.6 pounder mentioned above during the Small Boat Tournament.
The current offshore forecast looks good for most days. As always, if they’re catching, we will report it here in the Coastal Fisherman.
Until next week, I will see you at the scales! §
Upcoming Tournaments
•The OC Marlin Club hosts the 40th Canyon Kickoff Tournament on July 1st - 3rd. Registration is June 30th for this fish 2 of 3 day event. Weigh ins are at Sunset Marina every day from 5:00-7:30PM. More at OCMarlinClub.com.
•The MidAtlantic Cup will be held July 4th and offers anglers from anywhere from Sandy Hook, NJ to Virginia Beach to participate. Overall there are 4 weigh stations with one at Sunset Marina. More at SouthJerseyTournaments.com.
•The 5th Annual South Jersey Yacht Sales Offshore Showdown is July 6th-9th. The Showdown is intended to be a relaxing time among boat owners, their family and friends. More at SouthJerseyTournaments.com.
•Our areas first big money tournament is the Ocean City Tuna Tournament. Held on July 8th - 10th with weigh ins at the Ocean City Fishing Center from 4-8PM on Fri. & Sat., and 4-7PM on Sun. More at OCTunaTournament.com.
