Posted on August 18th, 2020
Check out the selection at Atlantic Tackle in the above video.
I just got back from an exciting day of scales action for the 2nd day of the 2020 MidAtlantic Tournament where the Hooked on OC team and I are broadcasting the event live at www.TheMidAtlantic.com It was an eventful day with lots of scales action where we saw mahi, tuna, white marlin and one very, very big blue marlin. The big blue marlin was caught on board the Shark Byte today and weighed in at Sunset Marina in West Ocean City at a whopping 791 pounds. Unfortunately the blue marlin was slightly mutilated by…..here comes the ironic part…….a shark bite. Yep, when the crew of Shark Byte got the fish boat side and actually had a gaff in it, she was bitten in the tail by a large shark. IGFA rules state that the following situation will disqualify a fish…”Mutilation to the fish, prior to landing or boating the catch, caused by sharks, other fish, mammals, or propellers that remove or penetrate the flesh.”
After careful deliberation and discussions with tournament and IGFA officials it was deemed that the fish was mutilated before it was landed or boated and therefore it was disqualified. It’s a reel bummer for the crew of the Shark Byte and an unfortunate turnout for what was a once in a lifetime catch. I hear there is video and a pretty remarkable story to go along with this and we hope to bring it to you in some way later in the week. Thanks to Jake Widgeon for the pic!
There were lots of other fish that hit the scales on both ports today and here’s who’s leading what after two days of fishing.
Dolphin
3rd Place Sushi 21 Lbs
2nd Place No Quarter 32 Lbs
1st Place Christine Marie 33 Lbs
Tuna
3rd Place Meraki 62 Lbs
2nd Place Wrecker 63 Lbs
1st Place MJ’s 189 Lbs
White Marlin
2nd Place Effie Mae 65 Lbs
1st Place Big Oil 77 Lbs
Outside of the tournament Captain Franky Pettolina of the Last Call had a nice day with some long time clients when he put them on some mahi and sea bass.
Mary Schmehl from Sinking Springs PA caught this fat 24″, 5 pound flounder caught using squid and clams at an inshore reef while fishing on the Judith M with Captain Eric Shoaff.
This angler fished on the Angler with Captain Chris Mizurak and had a limit of flounder to take home.
Anglers on the Miss Ocean City with Captain Anton and mate Joey have been having a great time and have been putting plenty of keeper sized flounder in the boat.
This fish was good enough for the fish pool money on board the Tortuga with Captain Drew Zerbe out of Bahia Marina.
Big Bird Cropper had a nice solo trip today catching a keeper flounder and 15 bluefish….12 of which were released.
10 year old Matthew Brannan used our Deadly Double rig in chartreuse down in Metompkin, VA to land this nice keeper flounder while fishing with his dad Brian.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star hit a milestone today when he dropped reef block number 31,000 overboard for the Ocean City Reef Foundation.
Fourteen volunteers plus 4 in crew loaded the Morning Star with 47 reef pyramids and 51 blocks. We built the Virginia Lee Hawkins Memorial Reef in one trip.. Well, got a great start anyway!
Pushed my block count past 31,000 too.
After our reef deployment I took em all mahi fishing. Vinny was high-hook with 8.
Aside from today’s volunteers, (far more than I’d dared dream) plus all OCRF’s sponsors; today’s reef run could not have happened without Atlantic Concrete in Dagsboro DE & Bear Concrete in Bear DE. They’ve been making pyramids all summer long, often in a terrible heat.
From a backyard-built prototype mold in late summer 2019, we now have pyramid molds in two cement plants and another soon. They’re super-simple to assemble & fill. That’s important – if there’s any fiscal burden at all to a busy cement plant, their waste concrete will continue getting washed onto the ground instead of run into a mold. As new molds sloooowly come in, we put them to work.
The idea is to use lost cement—waste an everyday event for manufacturers—and turn that wash-out waste into coral reef substrate.
The more molds we have, the more lost product we can capture. I really don’t see an end to it. If you draw an arc around Ocean City MD at 75 miles, another at 150 etc, you’ll keep finding cement plants of one sort or another. We’ll ask them to work with us. Surely not all will participate. There’s no money exchanged, just an Outback Steakhouse gift card now and again for the guys sweating in hot sun.
Consider the economy: If we had to send a semi to WV for a flatbed load of pyramids 4 times a year – it would be well worth it.
Lots and lots of cement plants closer.
I also see hiring a local commercial fishing boat (such as the Seaborn) to take 50 or more pyramids at a time; take pyramids out to a two-anchor mooring. After deployment, move one anchor and do another run. Assuming a steady flow of pyramids, it won’t be long before we’ve built some large reefs off Ocean City with these pyramids, and at very low cost.
Coming soon I have more news – Big News – for reef supporters.
See below for Volunteer list and Block/Pyramid tallies..
Twenty-twenty might be one of the most despised years in US & world history: it’s going to be a great year for reef building off the Maryland Coast though!
Cheers!
Monty
