Article by Larry Jock
The week started out with blazing hot weather and several storms blew through the area, mainly at night, but that didn’t keep anglers at the dock until high winds moved in over the weekend.
New State Record
The charter boat, “Fish Bound” really has the horseshoe this season when it comes to world and state records. Early this year, the new, world record tautog was caught, tipping the scale at 28.8 lbs. Last week, Kevin Twilley, mate on the “Fish Bound”, caught a 5 lb. 2 oz. winter flounder while fishing with clams on natural bottom, 20 miles straight off the Ocean City coast to set a pending Maryland state record. Kevin’s fish beat the previous record of 4 lbs. 7 oz. set back in August 2006.
Tuna
Yellowfin tuna continued to be caught around the Hot Dog and the Tea Cup all week in water temperatures hovering around 71-degrees. Most of the catches were in the single-digit range, but we did see a few double-digit catches as well. Wednesday was the best day of the week, when the charter boat, “Boss Hogg” had a dozen yellowfins at the Hot Dog and the “Dawg Haus” and charter boat, “Marli” each had 10 yellowfins at the Tea Cup.
With high winds moving in on Friday night, only a couple of boats ventured offshore on Saturday. Anglers on the “Marli” returned with 6 yellowfins, 4 mahi and even a white marlin release at the Hot Dog. The charter boat, “Reel Chaos” also headed out the Inlet and returned with a couple of yellowfins. They also released a load of short yellowfins during the trip.
Boats are also finding bluefins mixed in with yellowfins at both the Hot Dog and the Tea Cup. On Tuesday, the “Marli” had 2 bluefins (32” and 48”) at the Tea Cup and “That’s Right” had a 105 pounder and a smaller bluefin at the Hot Dog. On Wednesday, the charter boat, “Moore Bills” caught 9 yellowfins and a 46-inch bluefin at the Tea Cup.
On Wednesday night, the “Fish Whistle” out of the Indian River Marina, ventured down to the Bigeye Hole in the Washington Canyon and caught 4 bigeyes between 140 and 230 lbs. All of the fish were hooked between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM. They also landed a 68.8 lb. yellowfin during the trip.
On Thursday, the charter boat, “Playmate” returned with a 57-inch, 105 lb. bluefin and 4 yellowfins at the Hot Dog.
The traditional ballyhoo and spreader bar continue to be the top producers this season, but both professional and private boats are touting the good results they are seeing from a green machine being pulled behind the new Squidnation Flippy Floppy.
Mahi
Last week, we definitely saw a better class of mahi arrive at the scales. None broke the 20 lb. mark, but several were in the upper teens, far better than the small bailors we have been seeing over the past few weeks.
We even saw a few mahi caught by anglers fishing inshore on headboats. On Wednesday, Brendan Hopkins caught a 17 pounder on a strip of squid while sea bass and flounder fishing on the “Angler”.
One final note on mahi. I have received several phone calls from worried anglers regarding NOAA’s June 30th closure of the commercial mahi fishery. This closure DOES?NOT affect recreational or charter boat anglers. It is only for commercial fishermen. Right now, the commercial mahi fishery isn’t scheduled to reopen until January 2016, but hopefully for the sake of the commercial guys, it will be much, much earlier.
Marlin
We didn’t see any blue marlin releases last week and only saw a couple of white marlin released late in the week. On Thursday, anglers aboard the “Spanish Fly” went 2 for 2 on white marlin while trolling between the Hot Dog and the 100 fathom line. On Friday, the “Blackjack” released a white marlin in rough seas while trolling at the Hot Dog, the same location where Mike Sumner on the “Marli” released one on Saturday.
Flounder
It was another good week for flounder fishing in the waters around Ocean City. Water quality was good all week with a predominant northeast wind. Water temperatures were in the 69 to 70-degree range during the incoming tide and got as high as the mid-to-upper 70’s at the end of the outgoing. A few fish were caught in the bay behind Assateague Island near the duck blinds, but the better bites were in the East Channel, at the north end of the bay behind Assateague Island and at the mouth of the Commercial Harbor.
Anglers had the best results by drifting live minnows and/or either white 4-inch or 5-inch Gulp! Swimming Mullets.
Bluefish
If we never saw another bluefish caught after the run this past spring, we could still safely say it was the best year for catching bluefish in over a decade. Although we aren’t seeing the big choppers anymore, anglers are still hooking into snappers around the Rt. 50 Bridge. Any metal lure will do but Big Bird Cropper was also tearing them up with rubber split tails.
Striped Bass
There are a load of small, undersized striped bass roaming the water around the South Jetty. Anglers who have been able to get live spot have done extremely well, although you might get 1 keeper out of 40 that you catch. Anglers are also finding linesiders lurking in the shadows at night around the pilings of the Rt. 50 Bridge.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the 33rd Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Canyon Kick-off. Anglers are allowed to fish 2 of 3 days on July 3rd, 4th and 5th. Weigh-ins will be held at Sunset Marina from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM. The tournament is free for all Ocean City Marlin Club Boat Members.
See you at the scales.
