Article by Larry Jock
This Week Last Year
•Best white marlin bite was outside the Rockpile.
•”Buckshot” won Marlin Club Labor Day Tournament with 23 white marlin releases and a blue marlin release from outside the Rockpile.
•Several blue marlin were released in the Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons.
•Good numbers of dolphin and a few wahoo were caught at the Rockpile.
•A bluefin was caught in 20 fathoms due east of Inlet.
•Flounder fishing on inshore structure improved dramatically.
•Flounder fishing was good in deeper holes in the East and West Channels.
•Snapper bluefish and stripers were caught around the Rt. 50 Bridge.
•Sheepshead were still being caught around the South Jetty.
Happy Labor Day week to everyone! The season may be winding down for most, but this is the time of year when white marlin fanatics start licking their chops and you see a lot of blue and white flags flying proudly on outriggers.
The Ocean City Marlin Club held their 61st Annual Labor Day White Marlin Tournament last weekend. The “Sea Wolf” took top honors in the Billfish Release Division with 12 white marlin releases during their 2 days of fishing. Unfortunately, they experienced some engine problems, so they didn’t make it back in time for the scales or the banquet so that is why you won’t find any pictures of the crew in this issue.
You will find pictures of the “Billfisher” crew who had a good day on Friday during a fun fishing trip where they caught 3 blue marlin and 3 white marlin. Then they fished in the tournament on Saturday and Sunday, releasing 3 white marlin and a blue marlin in the Wilmington Canyon and 7 white marlin in the Poor Man’s to earn them 2nd place in the Billfish Release Division. They also caught a couple of good size dolphin in the Poor Man’s with a 25.2 pounder taking 2nd place in the Dolphin Division.
Another boat that had a good tournament was the “Voodoo Child” with the Daly family racking up 1 release on Friday and 10 on Saturday, all from outside the Poor Man’s Canyon. This earned them 3rd place in the Billfish Division. Right behind was “Gret’s Three J’s” with 10 white marlin releases and the “Pumpin’ Hard” with 9 white marlin releases and a blue marlin release in 1,000 fathoms behind the Poor Man’s Canyon.
This has been the year of big dolphin, at least bigger than what we typically see in our canyons and anglers on the “Fish On” threw a 26.2 pounder on the scale and hung on to win 1st place in the Dolphin Division. They hooked the big mahi in 100 fathoms in the Poor Man’s Canyon. As stated earlier, the “Billfisher” took 2nd place with a 25.2 pounder and 3rd place was won by the crew on the “Par Five” with a 23 lb. mahi caught in 1,000 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Congratulations to Jonathan Duffie on the “Billfisher” for winning the Master Angler Award in the tournament for his releases of 4 white marlin and a blue marlin during his 2 days on the water.
Most of the billfish and dolphin action centered on the area outside the Rockpile and in the Poor Man’s Canyon, but some boats did head to the Wilmington and Norfolk Canyons as well. On Friday, the “Reel Chaos” went to the Wilmington and released 8 white marlin in addition to catching a 35 lb. dolphin. Down in the Norfolk, the “Canyon Hunter” released 7 white marlin during their 2 days of fishing.
Several sailfish were caught over the long weekend. Macy Layton released a big one in the Poor Man’s Canyon and Jim Brinker released one on Saturday in 30 fathoms inside the Rockpile. Anglers on the “Barbara Rose” released one in 50 fathoms in the Poor Man’s.
We continue to see the best blue marlin bite in years with fish being hooked in all the canyons. Releases were recorded in the Poor Man’s on the “Tighten Up” and the “Pumpin Hard” and in the Wilmington on the “Brenda Lou” and the “Billfisher” (3). Anglers on “My Gal Sal” released a blue marlin, estimated at 250-300 lbs. in the Washington Canyon on Friday.
Although we didn’t see any swordfish caught in the Labor Day Tournament, we did see one brought back on the “Bonnie Lynn” after an overnight trip. They caught the swordfish and broke another one off while fishing south of the Poor Man’s Canyon where they also caught some mahi and tilefish. The icing on the cake was the good size wahoo they hooked while high speed trolling on their way back to the dock.
The other swordfish we saw over the weekend was caught on Saturday aboard the “Longshot” when Matt Crim, James Coats and Adam Tilghman boated a 247 pounder while dropping an eel in 1,100 feet of water in the Norfolk Canyon. This is their 4th swordfish of the season.
In addition to the wahoo caught on the “Bonnie Lynn”, several others were caught last week. The best catch came on Friday when 4 were caught on the “Shelly II” in 30 fathoms outside the Hot Dog. Others were hooked during the week in the Poor Man’s Canyon and at the Sausages.
Inshore, the flounder bite appears to be a little better, but overall it has been a disappointment this year. Sure, we see some of the top-notch charter boats returning with some great catches, but even those captains will tell you that it has been a struggle. Fishing in 90-100 feet of water seems to give you the best shot at a good day with the best spots being the Old Grounds, Bass Grounds and southeast of “A” Buoy off the Delaware coast.
The black sea bass bite continues to be inconsistent and boats are flipping over to the improved flounder action to fill the void.
The Jackspot has been a good spot for catching a variety of fish, including bluefish, Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, sea bass, false albacore tuna, mahi and flounder.
I also received reports of cobia being spotted at the Fingers. Last week, we also saw another cobia caught 2 miles off the Fenwick coastline by Nicky Ferrara while fishing off his tricked-out jet ski.
In the bay, anglers are finding a mix of fish including bluefish, striped bass and flounder around the Rt. 50 Bridge. Some of the bluefish are big, weighing in the 9 to 10 lb. range and have mainly been caught on Gotcha plugs and swim shads.
Most of the stripers being caught around the pilings are too short to keep, but anglers are hooking into a few keepers if they put their time in.
Flounder fishing in the bay has been pretty good with fish being caught at many locations. Everything depends on the cleanliness of the water and the tide. The best action has been during the last of the incoming and the first part of the outgoing tide. Find some clean water and hit it close to the top of the tide and you have a good shot at putting several keepers in the cooler. Although the bite has been pretty spread out, the best has come from the East Channel, the Thorofare and close to the Inlet. Fishing with white Gulp Swimming Mullets continues to produce bites, but if you can get some live spot or mullet in your livewell you will have a definite advantage.
Keep an eye out around the Coast Guard Station, the South Jetty and along the north wall of the Inlet. This is the time of year when flounder start stacking up for their movement towards the ocean.
Last week, we also saw some tautog caught on sand fleas and even some weakfish being caught in the Inlet. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the influx of croakers that we annually hope for and time is running out.
In the surf, anglers are contending with bluefish, kingfish, flounder, stripers, sharks, skates and rays.
Upcoming Tournaments
The next tournament on the schedule is the Bahia Marina Flounder Pounder on Sunday, September 8th. After that, we have the Challenge Cup, pitting Ocean City anglers versus Cape May, NJ anglers on September 12th, 13th and 14th. Also on September 14th is the Annual Ocean City Fishing Center Spot Tournament and the Chesapeake Bay Flounder Fall-Haul Tournament at Atlantic Tackle.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!