Article by Larry Budd
It was a good time on the rip last week! The weather played nice most of the time with more calm seas than we have seen in a while. Captains did have to maneuver through some seriously foggy mornings and navigate pop up squalls, but they did find a consistent bite and a good mix of fish.
Some days anglers had to work a little harder to find the bite, and of course deal with some hot, hot days with low winds. While the tuna bite was not as hot as in weeks past, yellowfins were still hitting the dock and several nice bigeye tuna were found, including a new Heaviest for the season. Marlin were being released across the central canyons as were a couple of swordfish. And of course, lots of tilefish found their way to the cleaners as anglers switched to deep dropping after the morning tuna bite cooled. So, let’s do the rundown.
It was a good week on the rip last week! They weather played nice most of the time with more calm seas then we have seen in a while. Captains did have to maneuver through some seriously foggy mornings and navigate pop up squalls, but they did find a consistent bite and a good mix of fish.
Some days anglers had to work a little harder to find the bite and of course deal with some hot, hot days with low winds. While the tuna bite was not as hot as in weeks past, yellowfins were still hitting the dock and several nice bigeye tuna were found, including a new Heaviest for the season. Marlin were being released across the central canyons as were a couple of swordfish. And of course, lots of tilefish found their way to the cleaners as anglers switched to deep dropping after the morning tuna bite cooled. So, let’s do the rundown.
The week started off with most of the action in the Washington Canyon. The charter boat “Ro Sham Bo” returned to the Ocean City Fishing Center from an overnight trip there with their first swordfish catch of the year. The crew also found one yellowfin tuna and a whole bunch of tilefish and sea bass. 69 year old Gary Rexrode of Long Neck, DE released his first blue marlin in the Washington. He was fishing on the “Hell on Reels” (extra credit for the name!) when the estimated 450 lb. blue hit on a purple & black Joe Shute with a horse ballyhoo. We got an exciting report from Hook’em & Cook’em at the Indian River Marina after the “Reel Passion” showed up at their dock with a large bigeye. They were trolling the Washington when the big eyeball hit on a naked ballyhoo. At 234 lbs. it is the Heaviest Bigeye caught in Delmarva so far this year. That will probably be a hard number to beat for Delaware boats as it is 14 lbs. heavier than last year’s. Capt. Alex Beane on the charter boat “Boss Hogg” bucked the trend and trolled the Poor Man’s Canyon where his crew released 2 white marlin and put a load of tilefish in the box.
The Indian River Marina held its 7th Annual Tuna Blast Tournament for slip holders. The charter boat “Bill Slayer” took top honors with a 86 lb. & 2 oz. bluefin tuna caught by Bri Stevenson. That fish, caught 12 miles off the southern New Jersey coast, is another Heaviest for the season and the first bluefin caught by a Delaware based boat!
As more boats got out toward the weekend and shared their reports, it looked like the bite expanded a little north into the southern Poor Man’s. Thursday saw another great trip on the “Boss Hogg” who reported a white marlin caught on a ballyhoo from the Washington. They also got 8 chunky yellowfins. They had a 9th, but the taxman took half. The charter boat “Spring Mix II” slid into the OC Fishing Center the same day with a 197 lb. bigeye and 4 yellowfins from their make-up charter.
Friday through Sunday saw tuna catches mainly in the 1 to 3 range, however, anglers were finding other fish like bailer mahi and golden and blueline tilefish. Capt. Howard Lynch ran the private boat “Kilo Charlie” up to the Spencer Canyon last Friday and was rewarded with 2 white marlin releases, 3 yellowfin tuna and a few nice dolphins. The 94 lb. yellowfin that Chris Nolt caught on that trip is now the Heaviest Yellowfin of the season! 9-year-old Sean Dieter released his first white marlin while trolling in the Washington Canyon on the “Restless Lady. Saturday saw several marlin releases. Andy Drip spent an hour and fifty minutes fighting a blue marlin in the Wilmington. The marlin, estimated at 450-500 lbs. first toyed with a tuna dredge before hitting on a ballyhoo with a dark blue sea witch. The “Roll Grove” released 3 blues and a white on the same day.
Finally, Sunday saw a few notable catches. The “Spring Mix II” caught a hefty 91 lb. yellowfin, the “Ro Sham Bo” boated a 100 lb. bigeye and the “Old Hatt” reeled in a 173 lb. eyeball while trolling outside to the Rockpile.
The action above is not all that has been going on offshore. There have been some nice mahi making their way to the cleaners. Also, those deep dropping for tilefish and swords are reeling in some pretty rosies as well. We also had our first two reports of keeper cobia from the MD/DE area. Gabriella Kendus pulled in the first man in the brown suit of the season from the surf off of the beach by the Faithful Steward crossover in the Delaware Seashore State Park. She was fishing the outgoing tide using cut bunker. That report was followed a few days later by one from Nick Smallwood who speared a 39 lb. cobia at the Little Gull Shoal. He is part of the crew that speared the rare cubera snapper last year. Steve Balliet shared he felt like he won the lottery when he and his daughter both caught red drum white bottom fishing at the Bass Grounds. Both were over 40 pounds.
The water is warm in the canyons and the big Ocean City Tuna Tournament starts next Friday so there will be a lot to share next time!
So until next time I will see you at the scales! §
