For saltwater fishing buffs, both inshore, offshore, and back bay, now is the time to be on the water. Last weekend marked the 38th Annual Ocean City (Md.) Tuna Tournament, where participating anglers found the fishing extraordinarily productive.
I didn’t fish the tournament this year but I spent some time at the official weigh-in at the Ocean City Fishing Center and watched as hundreds of tunas, mostly yellowfin, hit the scales. More about that later.
I may not have gotten out to the canyons in search of big game last week, but I did spend Sunday plying the waters of the back bays for summer flounder. That was a saltwater adventure that had its roots way back in February when, for the third year running, I donated a half-day flounder fishing trip to the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association (POWA) and the Kermit Henning Youth Benefit Auction at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg.
The winning bid for that trip was placed by Pine Grove’s Craig Morgan who also happens to be a member of POWA as well.
We set the trip for July 13, when Morgan and his two guest anglers, Eric Minichbach and Barry Kreiser, also of Pine Grove, would arrive at my backyard canal at 9:30 that morning. The plan was to fish until around 2 p.m. that afternoon during the incoming tide. I had done my research the day before, noting where the commercial party boats and charters were concentrating their back bay fluking efforts. Although I caught only two undersized throwbacks that morning, I still had a sense of where the best fishing might be on Sunday.
So, under a bright July sun and cloudless sky, I pointed my little Boston Whaler Montauk 150, Open II Debate, toward Assateague Island Sunday morning. The plan was to fish the waters near the commercial harbor and then move south into the heart of Assateague Bay where reports had it that a stretch of water behind the Ocean City airport had been yielding some keeper flounder that exceeded the 17.5 minimum legal length requirement. As we neared the harbor, I showed Morgan and his team how to rig the terminal tackle. We would be drifting top and bottom rigs baited with either white or green Gulp Alive Mullets paired with live
minnows. It was a combination I’ve found great success with over the years.
I advised the guys that we would be bottom fishing and the most effective technique would be to keep the baits moving, jigging and bouncing the baits off the bottom. Unfortunately, the morning got off to an inauspicious start moments after their lines first hit the water. Almost immediately both Morgan and Minichbach snagged their lines on the bottom and I spent the next few minutes maneuvering the boat until we managed to get them both unsnagged. After that we moved deeper into the bay for the next few unproductive but snag-free drifts. Then it was time to move still deeper into the Assateague Bay where success awaited.
It wasn’t long before both Morgan and Minichbach hooked up with undersized, throwback flounder. I was surprised to learn that although both were veteran fishermen, these were the first flounder either of them had ever caught. But they weren’t done – not by a longshot. Over the next few hours Minichbach reeled in two more throwback fluke and Morgan hooked up with three more throwbacks.
Meanwhile I managed to catch just two little throwbacks with most of my efforts focused on acting as both first mate and captain. And before the day was done Morgan hooked up with two hefty keepers of 18 and 19 inches and, thanks to my expertise manning the net, both fish were quickly boated.
One of the perks of fishing behind Assateague Island is the opportunity to catch sight of the resident wild horses there as we did with a group of ponies grazing near the shoreline. We also crossed paths with a pod of dolphins swimming through the bay.
We were back at my bulkhead dock around 2:30 that afternoon as planned. After I filleted Morgan’s two meaty flounder, the guys thanked me for a great day on the water and headed home. That’s when I headed out to the scales at the Ocean City Fishing Center to catch the weigh-ins on the final day of the Ocean City Tuna Tournament. The offshore fishing was awesome as evidenced by boat after boat swinging by the scales to weigh in bountiful catches of tuna.
Final results of the tourney included the first place tuna, a bigeye caught by the team aboard Following Seas that won a cool $411,335 and the first place award for heaviest stringer of tuna, a total of 408 pounds caught by anglers on Fly N’ Fish worth $357,460. Awards were also given in other categories including he first place Mahi (27 pounds caught by the Hopper team and worth $55,200) and first place wahoo (45 pounds caught by the folks on the Leslie Ann good for $178,120).
Anglers fishing the inshore reefs and wrecks are catching plenty of sea bass, croakers, flounder and an occasional cobia. It doesn’t matter if you’re fishing the back bays for fluke, the inshore waters for sea bass, or out in the canyons for tuna, wahoo, mahi, or billfish, there’s no better time than right now to get out on the salt. After all, what better way to celebrate shark week?
**** Tom Tatum is the outdoors columnist for MediaNews Group. You can reach him at tatumt2@yahoo.com.
