Article by Joey Marowski
Welcome back to another offshore report. I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this holiday weekend. Lots of boats took advantage of the calm conditions, and most were rewarded with decent catches of yellowfin tuna, bigeyes, a few bluefins, mahis, as well as increasing numbers of marlin encounters. While doing some pre-tuna tournament scouting, we hooked a pair of large fish that we assumed were bigeyes, and were very surprised when a 71” bluefin popped up at the end of the leader. As a charter boat, we were able to keep our one “over” fish (47-73”), releasing the other. The latest modifications to the ever-changing bluefin regulations are now two fish for charter boats, with only one being 47-73”, and one fish for recreational boats. Fishing has remained widespread, with reports coming in from the Wilmington and above down to the Norfolk, with pockets of fish being discovered in some inshore areas as well. As the summer winds on, tournament season is quickly ramping up, starting with the 43rd Marlin Club Canyon Kickoff. Congratulations to the boys on the “Shotski “for winning the billfish division with a great early summer marlin trip, catching a pair of whites and a blue. Bringing home the meatfish division was the crew on the “Tighten Up.” Coming up this weekend is the 38th Ocean City Tuna Tournament. A fishable forecast, as well as consistent fishing ,should put this year’s event close to 100 boats and is something you won’t want to miss. All the action from the scales can be found at the Ocean City Fishing Center. At the close of the tuna tournament, the inshore reports will increase, as I am sure the spoons will be dusted off as butterfish will begin to be flung around many of the inshore lumps. Zooming out on the map, anglers to our north are once again experiencing amazing tuna fishing with limits of yellowfins and bigeyes being caught off of New York and above. Below us, North Carolina is continuing to produce bountiful catches of yellowfin, blackfin, and bigeye tunas, as well as boxes of bailer dolphins and plentiful billfish releases. Hopefully, this summer will continue to bless us all with consistent fishing and favorable weather. I encourage everyone to try to leave the ocean better than you found it, whether that means picking up trash at the ramp or while offshore, as well as only keeping as many fish as you can responsibly process.
