Article by Larry Jock
It was quite an exciting week of fishing in Ocean City. It started off with a bang and ended with a sonic boom, and it wasn’t from the Air Show flying overhead.
MARLIN
Early in the week, you could feel it in the air. Someone was going to release the first white marlin, and boats were gearing up. Reports showed warm water outside the Poor Man’s Canyon and a Jersey boat lost a white between the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. It was game on!
Well, on Wednesday not only did the first white marlin get released, but the first blue marlin got released as well, both within a mile of each other.
Terry Layton on the “Nontypical” kept his hot streak alive, releasing the first white marlin of the season in 1,200 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s Canyon. Terry, coming off catching the first mako shark of the season along with a 1st place finish in the Mako Mania tournament, was fishing with Jim Hughes when they found 74-degree water in some dense fog. As they were ready to call it a day, the 69-inch white hit a naked ballyhoo and the fight was on.
Terry said the fish put up a heckuva fight, peeling off 3/4’s of the line on his Shimano TLD 25. Congrats to Terry and Jim on another super catch and for winning the $10,000 cash prize awarded this year for the first white marlin ($5,000 each from the Ocean City Marlin Club and the Town of Ocean City).
Only a mile away, Capt. Marty Moran on the “Marlin Magic” found a 67 to 73-degree temperature break. As the second line was being put out, a blue marlin piled on for angler Jake Burger to fight. The marlin, estimated at 275 lbs., was safely released and was followed up before days end by another blue that didn’t come tight. Congratulations to the entire “Marlin Magic” crew!
TUNA
The “sonic boom” I referred to in my opening paragraph was the “Marli” returning to the dock on Sunday night with 17 yellowfins. Yep, you read it right 17 YELLOWFINS! What a great sight to see, especially coming off the last few years where yellowfin have been scarce. Remarkably, the “Marli” released 37 other yellowfins during their trip to 100 fathoms in the Norfolk Canyon. All of the yellowfins hit ballyhoo or spreader bars.
Single digit catches of yellowfins were caught on Saturday by the “Knot Rite” (5) and the “Marli” (6). The “Knot Rite” actually caught their yellowfins a little further north of the “Marli”, finding them in between 150 and 500 fathoms outside the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Bluefin tuna continue to get caught primarily around the Hambone area where the “That’s Right” caught 2 on Saturday and released 6 others. The largest bluefin we saw this week was a 135 pounder caught on the “Jo Jo” at the Hambone on Friday. On Saturday, the “Always Late” kept 1 bluefin and released 9 others at the Marine Electric.
SHARKS
Just in time for this weekend’s Ocean City Shark Tournament, quite a few makos and some big threshers hit the scales at local marinas.
The highlight came on Saturday when the “Game Over” weighed in a 506 lb. thresher shark that was caught in 20 fathoms at the Fingers. This is the largest thresher shark we have seen this year. Kudos to Capt. Steve Pfeiffer and his crew!
Immediately following the “Game Over” weigh-in at the Ocean City Fishing Center, the “Bill$ 4 Bills” put a 443 lb. thresher on the scale that was also caught at the Fingers.
On Sunday, the “Teaser” weighed in a 450 lb. thresher that was caught in 20 fathoms, a little south of the Fingers.
Quite a few makos were caught during the week, with most in the 90 to 125 lb. range. Early in the week, Doug Sims on the “Catfish” did land a nice 180 pounder at the Hambone, definitely the hot mako spot for the week. Other makos were landed at the Sausages.
FLOUNDER
There was a good flounder bite in the East Channel, starting around the Coast Guard Station and heading north of the Rt. 50 Bridge towards Harbour Island. We also saw some limits caught by anglers drifting or slow trolling the flats, north of the Thorofare. The “Bay Bee” had a nice catch of flatties on Saturday in the bay behind Assateague Island.
The two largest flounder we saw this week was a 7 pounder boated near the Rt. 90 Bridge and a 6 lb. 15 oz. flounder caught on Sunday south of the Rt. 50 Bridge.
Off the coast we saw some nice flounder being hooked on ocean wrecks and reefs by anglers snagging flatties that are on their way to bay waters.
Anglers are still having good success using minnows, shiners and Gulp! Alive Swimming Mullets.
SEA BASS
The sea bass bite continues to be pretty good on ocean reefs and wrecks, although anglers are weeding through numerous throwbacks to put some meat in the cooler. Squid and clams are the baits of choice.
STRIPED BASS
You don’t hear many people talking about it, but there has been a very good striper bite around the South Jetty. On Friday, “Skip’s Bait & Tackle Charters” had 4 keepers and over 50 throwbacks during one trip. All of the fish were caught on live spot.
One word of caution. Some of the stripers we are seeing are pretty beat up, worse than I have seen in a long time. Be careful holding these fish. If you catch one covered in sores, keep it in the water and use your dehooker to set it free. Otherwise, clean your hands with a disinfectant wipe, just to be safe.
IN THE SURF
Surf fishing was kind of slow this past week with small bluefish dominating the surf action and occasional catches of striped bass, kingfish, skates and sharks.
This weekend is the Ocean City Shark Tournament at the Ocean City Fishing Center and the Marlin Club Small Boat Tournament, with weigh-ins at Sunset Marina. Fishing days for the Shark Tournament are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while the Small Boat Tournament is Saturday and Sunday.
See you at the scales!
