Posted on July 23rd, 2020
The Daily Catch at the Ocean City Fishing Center above!
If it wasn’t for a little breeze out of the south today it would have been close to unbearably hot out there today. Heat indexes over 100 degrees again forced some folks to stay inside, but I’m busy this time of year so I’ve got to get on the water every chance I get. My wife Kristen and I decided to do a little flounder fishing around the inlet and we had plenty of throwback action with fish that were just shy of the 16 1/2″ minimum size. Kristen showed me what’s up again when she put the hook in this nice 19″ fish. All were caught on the Fish in OC Dale Timmons’ Deadly Double in chartreuse.
I just got off the phone with Brian Roberts and got the news that the 7th Annual HUK Big Fish Classic is going to be an insane event. This year’s event will have 106 boats vying for their share of over $900,000 in prize money. That is way more boats than last year and is well over last year’s purse of just over $500,000. The weather forecast for this weekend couldn’t be any better and that has a lot to do with the turnout, but folks are also excited about fishing and competing. I will be emcee of the event and the Hooked on OC crew will be bringing it to you live all weekend long. Scales action is from 4 PM until 9 PM Friday and Saturday, and from 4 PM until 8 PM on Sunday at the Talbot Street Pier in downtown Ocean City. Boats are permitted to fish one of two windows that are from lines in Friday at 7 AM until lines out Saturday at 3 PM or from lines in Saturday at 7 AM until lines out Sunday at 3 PM. They are permitted to fish any or all of those 32 hours. This looks to be an exciting tournament with lots of scales action and I’m looking forward to being a part of it again. Hope to see you at the scales or online at www.BigFishClassic.com
Today Captain Dan Stauffer of the Fin Chaser had a decent day with the yellowfin tuna on the chunk when he put his party on four nice fish for the fish box.
Captain Franky Pettolina of the Last Call had a fun day with some junior anglers on an inshore trip today. Captain Franky put his anglers on some king and Spanish mackerel for the cooler and some catch and release shark action.
The tunas eluded Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star today…the sea bass….not so much.
Good thing I know how to catch a sea bass; dogone tuna done flummoxed me again.
Day started just as nice as you could ask – a broadly spaced ground swell with no wind upon it, gorgeous morning. Lines long-since in at sunrise; I trolled around some fishy rips & edges to no avail. Joining the fleet found a mix of common dolphin (saddleback or two-tone) and Atlantic spotted dolphin just to their south. A whale crashed through the feeding dolphin never to be seen again. Drifted, anchored; marked bait & a handful of tuna but couldn’t stink a pan. In easy eyesight of numerous boats – we weren’t alone.
Took my bluewater skipper’s hat off and dropped anchor over a tiny patch of rock – best cbassing this year. Clients caught a 35 minute limit with lots of jumbos.
I doubt seriously any of my anglers had ever seen anything like it. Dishes are gonna need washing – thank goodness.
Tunas better look out though, I’m-a get the skunk out yet!
Cheers
Monty
Captain Chris Mizurak of the Angler reported in that the sea bass were hungry this morning and his anglers had a great time with them. There were also a few nice triggerfish that bit the wrong piece of squid.
Captain Drew Zerbe and mate Serge Garder of the Tortuga had a nice afternoon trip today with five keeper flounder for some lucky anglers.
The crew of the Miss Ocean City has been showing anglers a good time this week and putting them on keeper flounder while fishing the inlet and south bay.
Captain Marc Spagnola of Dusk to Dawn Bowfishing doesn’t sleep this time of year, but he does show shooters some good action for cow nosed and southern rays both day and night.
We passed Sam Wanis and Morgan Mericle fishing the route 50 bridge today where they showed us some keeper flounder that they had caught. Here is Sam with three keepers he finished the day with.
