Posted on December 30th, 2015
With the 2015 sea bass season coming to an end on December 31, the local party boats are trying to put some anglers on some last minute fish to put in the freezer. With the wind blowing out of the northeast at 12-15 knots and some leftover swell from the south southeast it definitely wasn’t the nicest day on the ocean. It was fishable, and with only days left in the sea bass season, if you had the intestinal fortitude to stay at the rail, you were rewarded with some awesome fishing.
Wes Pollitt on the party boat Morning Star with Captain Monty Hawkins reported good fishing for their last sea bass trip of the season and one very unusual catch.
“Left out this morning and we were greeted with a fairly angry ocean. Pressed ahead and as the morning went on, the seas laid out. First stop of the day was a decent pick of mixed short bass and keepers. Mike Ziegler was rewarded with a beautiful 6.5 pound, 27″ flounder which will be our last of the year. Continued with a decent bass bite until the bluefish moved in….sort of. It began with the typical half eaten bass and progressed to landing a few bluefish when an angler hooked into an oddly pigmented blue.”
“As you can see, it appears to have the coloration of a mahi, but was certainly a bluefish! After the blue/yellow invasion, we moved and finished out our day with limits around the rail with fish up to about 4 pounds. Great final bass trip of the year!”
I’ve been fishing Ocean City for over 25 years and have never seen a bluefish with this coloration. I’m still no expert so I consulted with my good friend Dale Timmons who has been fishing Ocean City his entire life and has seen more fish than I’ve seen people. He had never seen this coloration before either. We agree that it must have been some sort of hereditary trait in this particular fish or something in its diet that caused the strange coloration. Whatever caused it, it’s pretty neat!
Captain Chris Mizurak on the party boat Angler also reported some awesome fishing despite the conditions. “Not the prettiest day on the ocean, but most folks that stayed at the rail ended up with their limit of sea bass up to four pounds. If we would have had tourists today, we probably would have had 80 percent down.” Good thing that this time of year brings out the foul weather fisherman. Guys that don’t mind bundling up, slapping on the Grundens and bouncing around a little are often rewarded with some of the best fishing. That’s how it went down today.