Posted on September 5th, 2022
Check out the Daily Catch at Sunset Marina!
Well it looks like we’ve got some dookie weather coming for the next couple of days, but we were blessed with a beautiful Labor Day Weekend and we could certainly use some rain. This weekend was the last hoorah for some and now it’s on to the “second season” as things slow down a bit. Don’t worry we’ve still got some more great fishing to come….some of it will actually be the best of the year.
I had a chance to head out with Rich Daiker and Kenny Schoen this evening to do some flounder fishing for a new episode of Hooked on OC and we had a great time. Kenny was a sport and drove the boat the entire time keeping us in perfect position to catch some fish. Rich got the right bites and smoked me with his limit of fish, while I caught plenty of throwbacks. Here’s a shot of Rich with his keepers…..and me.
12 year old Luke Mize of Dagsboro, DE caught and released his first ever white marlin while fishing on the Kilo Charlie today.
The Boss Hogg out of Sunset Marina had a nice day with four white marlin releases and some mahi for their crew.
The crew of the RoShamBo with Captain Willie Zimmerman had a nice day with a white marlin release, some mahi and a limit of blueline tilefish.
Captain Chris Watkowski of the Spring Mix II was all over the mahi again today to his anglers delight.
Anglers on board the Ocean City Girl had a good day with mahi and some false albacore.
Al Miller, Joe Wyatt, Steve Cannon and Scott Beattie had a bunch of mahi up to 19 pounds after a trip to the Poorman’s Canyon on the private boat Miller Time.
John Hyams and his crew trolled the Jackspot where they caught false albacore, a yellowfin tuna and a barracuda.
Briggs Pudgier caught this 43 pound cobia while fishing with Josh Blume, Emily Blume, Lainie Davidson, Gunnar Reynolds, Nate Lang and Jacob Leitner.
Owen West, Austin Wagner and Abby West fished in the ocean today where they caught triggerfish and small flounder on the Fish in OC Double Trouble with squid strips and two keeper flounder of 16.5″ and 23″ on the Deadly Double with Gulp.
Blake Gunther fished the ocean today and landed his limit of nice flounder jigging bucktails and Gulp.
Svend Sheppard used the Fish in OC Deadly Double with a white Gulp to land this keeper flounder in the Thorofare this afternoon.
Captain Wayne Blanks of Bayside Guide Service had more bluefish from the route 50 bridge this morning.
Anglers on board the Tortuga enjoyed clean water and a couple of keeper flounder today.
Will caught and released this nice grey trout at the route 50 bridge.
Captain Kane Bounds and his crew on the Fish Bound have been having some awesome flounder fishing lately with several limits and some nice fish up to 7 pounds.
Anglers on board the Angler with Captain Chris Mizurak had some great flounder fishing today with a couple of limits of four fish for a few folks.
Captain Victor Bunting of the Ocean Princess had some good fishing today with sea bass and flounder around the rail.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star is doing some awesome work for the OC Reef Foundation….and he caught his folks a limit of mahi today.
Mahi Boat Limit (again) & Reef Block 38,000 – 9/5/22
Another fantastic day of calm seas. Missed the best part of sunrise but clients were all present half an hour before departure. Didn’t hurt a thing that the fish bit too – at least pretty well. (Awful, I know. It took longer to catch a boat limit today!)
On our way offshore young Landon & Evan sent reef block number 38,000 by the stern rail while Grandad Rick looked proudly on. We deployed todays blocks at Lucas Alexander’s Reef; so very close to DP Bishop & Capt Jack Kaeufer’s Memorial Barges.
Landon was today’s pool winner too; no doubt a reef karma recipient.
I don’t know how many tractor trailer loads we’ve gotten over the years. Some blocks weigh a heck of a lot more than others. One thing I do know; York Building Supply has been a giant and supremely generous driving force behind the reef block project.
It’s my hope other boats will eventually pile in on the project. Even just 10 blocks a trip would add up fantastically over a few years. Build some dern fine reef too if they accurately pound the same few spots.
To be legal a participant—to comply with Army Corps permit requirements, a boat would have to send me geo-locating pics of the splash every time – and have to be within ACE permit boundaries. I myself publish every set of bearings where we’ve built in the Ocean City Reef Foundation’s (OCRF) Reef Book.
By building lots and lots of spots, we won’t need ‘secret’ hotspots. I see plenty of boats, big boats, fishing reefs we built – and they know it. Be a great day when they too pitch in.
No matter, between wonderfully generous major donors and ‘name a reef’ sponsors; the block project aided by YBS; the pyramid project with cement plants filling molds for free; and even chart sponsors (who often see what we’re doing and become more generous after a few years) ..with projects large and small we’re building new reef, nourishing old reef, and even restoring natural hardbottom reef lost half a century ago and more. It’s a project for whom the true beneficiaries probably have yet to be born. Because our corals both colonize and grow slowly, I believe the best is yet to be.
It’s worth noting here that coral colonization accelerates as an area’s coral population grows. Cement pipe deployed at “Sue’s Reef” was fantastically grown in at seven years – that’s half the time it used to take when we began this project in 1997.. Other places, although near corals, are outside normal NNExSSW currents and take much longer. Then too, as with Hurricane Sandy, sometimes our shallowest reefs are scrubbed of growth by monstrous storm swells. No worries mate! So long as the substrate isn’t buried, some sort of growth will succeed and fish will make the most of it.
Here’s Reef Report 9/5/22..
Cheers
Monty
Reef Report 9/5/22
38,000 Reef Blocks
..and a sunken tug!
Greetings All!
Evan & Landon (with a proud Granddad looking on) deployed Reef Block #38,000 today. Many, many thanks to all our block donors & reef sponsors, especially York Building Products!
Thanks also to Capt. Tim McDowell who has been taking pics & video at a mad pace since he learned of our need.
In other reef news we sank a fifty foot tug on 8/24/22. Dropped it right on target to make a great dive reef for less experienced, but certified, divers. They’ll be able to go from one piece to another to another – a fine experience. In fact, the fellows went diving Labor Day Sunday and photographed themselves on the tug.
We’d filmed one of the pieces nearby, Capt. Bob Gowar’s Memorial Reef, a few weeks before with Nick Caloyianis and friends. Several of the divers mugged the fluke pretty good. They don’t even use a speargun – just a pointy steel shaft with a barb on it. Divers thump em in the belly so the fillets are preserved.
Pics and video came out quite nice. I’ve posted a great deal of it on Facebook already under OC Reef Foundation. (Have found several sites that weren’t legit – please report them. It would also help if you ‘liked’ the page. I’ve never asked for that before, but with copycats it helps to make the real site more obvious..)
Wishbone doesn’t replace backbone.. Have to keep a shoulder into reef building to make it happen.
Donations help too!Ocreefs.org
38,000 Reef Blocks 9/5/22
As of 9/5/22 we have 38,000 Reef Blocks & 543 Reef Pyramids (170lb ea or an equivalent) deployed at numerous ACE permitted ocean reef sites – we also have 786 pyramids deployed by MD CCA at Chesapeake Bay oyster sites working to restore blue ocean water…
Many sites are complete, or will be returned too in the future. Currently being targeted oceanside: At the brand new Rambler Reef (in memory of Roger Shelleman) we’ve deployed 160 Reef Blocks & 10 Pyramids – Tyler Long’s Memorial Reef 438 (+16 Reef Pyramids) Virginia Lee Hawkins’ Memorial Reef 406 Reef Blocks (+71 Reef Pyramids) – Capt. Jack Kaeufer’s/Lucas Alexander’s Reefs 1,928 Blocks (+46 Reef Pyramids) – Doug Ake’s Reef 4,174 blocks (+16 Reef Pyramids) – St. Ann’s 2,847 (+14 Reef Pyramids) – Sue’s Block Drop 1,622 (+24 Reef Pyramids) – TwoTanks Reef 1,303 (+ 15 Reef Pyramids) – Capt. Bob’s Inshore Block Drop 912 – Benelli Reef 1,552 (+ 118 Pyramids) – Capt. Bob’s Bass Grounds Reef 4,051 (+88 reef pyramids) – Wolf & Daughters Reef 734 – Al Berger’s Reef 1,445 (+33 Reef Pyramids) – Great Eastern Block Drop 1,528 (+25 Reef Pyramids) – Two more brand New Drops Begun at Cristina’s Blast 40 Reef Blocks & 2 Py – Unnamed Site South Side GEBD 40 Reef Blocks & 2 Pyramids – Capt Greg Hall’s Memorial Reef 222 Blocks & 2 Pyramids — And 325 Castle & Terracotta Tog Blocks & 10 Pyramids 81 feet Bass Grounds Unnamed .
