Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
• Angler Andy Bleinbeger hooked into a 445 lb., 110” blue marlin between the Baltimore and the Poor Man’s Canyon in 700 fathoms fishing on the “C-Boys”. The first blue marlin release was reported from “Whiskey Kilo” on June 4th.
• Mahi were consistently showing up at the docks. The “Last Call” brought in 4 nice gaffers from behind the Baltimore Canyon with other nice catches on the “Boss Hogg”, “Restless Lady II” and “Reel Fin Addiction”.
• The yellowfin tuna action was in full swing. The crew of the “Fish Whistle” caught 15 in the Baltimore Canyon in 100 fathoms.
With warm and mostly good weather moving into the area, last week was a hotbed of offshore activity, especially in the Poor Man’s. It seems like everything being caught from the canyons was there! However, let’s begin with a round up of our first tournament of the year, the 2021 Annual Mako Mania Tournament held at Bahia Marina!
This three day event allowing fishing for 2 of the 3 days was held last Friday thru Sunday. The weather for Friday was poor, so all 30 boats that registered chose that as their lay day. This meant all 30 boats went out on both Saturday and Sunday! Categories or divisions for the event were of course mako, both landed and released, thresher, but also bluefish! Saturday started strong with the “Reel Fun” waiting for the scales to open with a large shark. Angler Scott Gettier spent an hour on the hook to get their 410.2 lb. thresher shark to the boat. They were in the Hambone using mackerel for bait. The only other fish to the scales that day were 2 bluefish from the “Reel Obsession” which turned out to be the only ones for the tournament, earning those anglers a nice award payout!
Sunday started like the day before with another thresher waiting at the dock to be weighed. This one was on the “Jacked Up” caught by Dennis Dieterle in the Fingers on tuna fillet. Weighing in at 303.6 lbs., it held firmly in 2nd place. It was however the “Gulf Stream” with angler John Brittingham that stole the show and the majority of the prize money with the only mako brought to the scale! They caught the winning shark in the Poor Man’s Canyon on a bluefish and it’s picture graces this week’s paper! You can check out more detail in the tournament coverage section toward the back of the paper as well as the details on the cover.
Outside of the tournament the action has been hot, hot, hot! Tuna dominated with many double digit catches reported for ‘under’ bluefins being caught early in the morning. With their limits met, with many crews moving a little further out spent the rest of the day catching double digits of tile fish! Our first two bluefin ‘overs’ for the season were also reported, caught on the “Roncito” and the “Primary Search”. Sprinklings of yellowfin are also showing up. This week we saw some from the “Marli” and “Spring Mix II”. A few large bigeyes were also reported, lead by a 164 lb. tuna caught on the “Rhonda’s Osprey”! All of these were caught in the Poor Man’s using mainly spreader bar, wide trackers and daisy chains with artificial bait or ballyhoo.
Given the fast tuna bites and the subsequent tile fishing, last week also saw several very large golden tiles caught again in the Poor Mans in 900 - 1100 feet of water. The “Long Shot” boated a 61.2 pound monster and “Foolish Pleasure” caught a 48.3 pounder.
We are still looking for that first white marlin of the season as well as the first dolphin! With the current weather forecast and summer charters running during the week, it won’t be long now!
Upcoming Tournaments
- Patapsco Open Fishing Page on Facebook is putting together a 1 day event on June 11th focused on recreational anglers with weigh-ins at Atlantic Tackle. Check out the details online.
- The first Tuna & Tiaras Ladies Tuna Tournament is June 18-19 with weigh-ins at the Ocean City Fishing Center. Registration is open and there is limited tournament swag available. Captain’s meeting will be the 17th.
Until next time, I’ll see you at the docks! §
