Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
• It was a tough week for fishing offshore as the effects of Hurricane Dorian felt late on Wednesday through the weekend.
• Inshore action was mixed with a great flounder bite before the seas got rough and a dramatic improvement in the black sea bass bite afterwards.
• Before the storm most boats headed to the Rockpile for white marlin releases.
• The dolphin bite was absolutely insane. The “Rhonda’s Osprey” came back to the dock with 67 in the box, and the “Marli” returned with 60, both in the Baltimore Canyon.
• Anglers on the “Wirenut” boated an 83 lb. wahoo while fishing in 65 fathoms inside the Poor Man’s Canyon.
While not an offshore event, last Sunday saw the 15th Annual Flounder Pounder held by Bahia Marina with 29 boats registered. This is a bay fishing tournament in Ocean City so the anglers were restricted to the Assawomen Bay and the Isle of Wight Bay down to the Verrazano Bridge. Even though the water was still very dirty from the recent bad weather, the anglers had fun, and with a little work found keeper flounders, mostly by the Rt. 50 Bridge followed by the East Channel.
The top spot was taken by local flounder legend Rich Daiker! He was fishing on his boat "Delicious" when he found a huge 8 lb. 15 oz. fatty. He hooked this one on the outgoing tide using live bunker by the Rt. 50 Bridge. 2nd place was competitive with two flounders weighing in at 3 lbs. each. Tyler Smith from Bishopville, MD was fishing with Capt. Dave Caffrey on the charter boat "On the Run" when he landed his 3 lb. flatfish. Finn McCabe created the tie when he brought another 3 pounder to the scales just before they closed at 5PM. He also caught his at the bridge and was using live bunker. Tyler Smith also took 3rd place with another fish weighing 2 lbs. 14oz. In addition there were 8 other fish in the tournament that weighed over 2 lbs. Now, back to the offshore info!
The weather was not a friend to offshore fishing again this week, complements of a lingering low pressure system east of our shores. September overall has been challenging so far and next week does not look so hot either! For those boats that were able to get out Monday through Thursday of last week however, the fishing was good.
Billfish
‘Tis the season for multiple white marlin releases, and early last week was no exception. The Washington Canyon was the hot spot and Capt. Luke Blume and the crew of the "C-Boys" kicked off the week releasing 5 whites last Monday and boating a nice yellowfin tuna. Wednesday kept the momentum going with 6 releases each from the "Big Stick" & "Buckshot" who graced our cover last week with 7 releases, also from the Washington Canyon! Despite some 'spirited' weather last Friday a number of larger boats headed back to the Washington. The "Boss Hogg" had 4 white marlin releases, "Cabana" 2, and "Blood Money" reporting 4. Capt. Joe Drosey also has 3 releases from Massey's Canyon.
Tuna & Mahi
The tuna bite has definitely cooled off, but after the summer we have had it is hard to complain. Last week, before the blow, we got reports of a scattered tuna bite for single yellowfin and longfin catches, with a few low single digit boatings of false albacore. Notable for tuna last week was an early catch by the crew of the "Marli". Last Wednesday angler John Woolridge from Ocean Pines, MD connected with a 65.5 lb. longfin just north of the Poor Man's Canyon. The crew of the "Fare Cut" found luck landing false albacore near the Sausages.
As the weather has been acting up, it has pushed some of the mahi offshore. We are seeing catches in the single digit per trip versus the limit per angler catches a week or so ago. This doesn't mean there are not still big ones out there, just have to work a little harder to find them. John Mitchell for example took a 25 lb. dolphin while at the Del-Jersey-Land Reef and Mike Orchulli hooked into a 42 inch mahi while fishing in the Baltimore Canyon on the "Marli". Several reports of smaller fish were reported from the Twin Wrecks and Jack Spot inshore.
Lastly, some anglers have been focused on deep dropping for swordfish and tilefish. We have not gotten a report of a swordfish last week. Several people did catch golden tilefish and some rosefish. Capt. Kurt Howell on the "Reel Vibrations" found some nice size tiles last week in 700 feet of water in the Poor Man's Canyon using squid.
Upcoming Tournaments
Unfortunately the 42nd Annual Challenge Cup, a competition between the Ocean City Marlin Club and Cape May Marlin & Tuna Club, has been canceled for this weekend due to a poor weather forecast. The White Marlin Tagging Tournament out of Cape May, NJ is ongoing through the 27th.
We are at the start of surf fishing tournament season and the first up is the 23rd Annual Delaware Seashore Fall Surf Fishing Classic held by Old Inlet Bait and Tackle.
That it is it for this week and until next time let us know what you have been catching! §
