Big Blue Marlin and New First Place White Highlight Day 4 of the 2024 MidAtlantic Tournament
By Scott Lenox
Posted on August 22nd, 2024
With almost every boat of the 199 boats entered in the 2024 MidAtlantic Tournament fishing today, we had a feeling that it was going to be a busy day at the scales. It was a very busy day at the scales and things started right at 5 PM with a huge blue marlin and didn’t let up until there were several changes to the leaderboard. Here’s who’s winning what after four day of fishing.
White Marlin
1st Place Lights Out 81 Lbs
2nd Place Kaarmaa 77 Lbs
3rd Place Par Five 75 Lbs
Blue Marlin
1st Place Gret’s Three J’s 638 Lbs
Tuna
1st Place Reel Tight 180 Lb Bigeye
2nd Place Warden Pass 174 Lb Bigeye
3rd Place Canyon Lady 61 Lb Yellowfin
Mahi
1st Place C-Boys 32 Lbs
2nd Place Remix Main Stage 28 Lbs
3rd Place Reel Current 22 Lbs
Wahoo
1st Place Lil Crum 76 Lbs
2nd Place Prime Hook 54 Lbs
3rd Place Jenny Poo 54 Lbs
Away from the tournament, Captain Nick Sampson on board the WOP had a great day for his anglers putting them on some mahi, tilefish and black belly rose fish.
Jim and Josh Caldwell from Parsonsburg, MD had a great time fishing with Captain Tony Battista aboard Saltwater Adventures putting two very nice keeper flounder in the box and releasing several others.
There was some good fishing back in the bay in the clean water and these anglers found two nice keeper flounder aboard On the Run with Captain Dave Caffrey.
Anglers fishing on board Chasin’ Tides with Capitan Chase Eberle have had some good luck in the ocean catching mahi, false albacore and some triggerfish.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star didn’t find the mahi he was looking for today, but he did have a backup plan that panned out nicely.
Mercy.. Weather offered us the very kindest sort of sea; flatflatflat calm with no indication of changing is an easy day to enjoy. There was literally not a ripple on the water – glass – to start our day (and then on the way home too!) You see the ocean’s surface secrets made plain on such mornings. Just in the first few miles heading off we’d spotted bottlenose dolphin and an unknown species of fish, perhaps spanish mackerel, jumping free of the sea’s rare millpond surface at times.
I even stopped to give clients a look at a ‘mola-mola’ – these our “ocean sunfish” that weigh half a ton and more {seriously} than their similarly named distant freshwater cousins.) Came full stop again for a leatherback sea turtle – the largest of all turtles ..and species most likely to choke on a celebratory mylar balloon.
“Congratulations! May I present you with a turtle choker? Be sure to let it go while it has lots of helium!”
These giant turtles feed on jellies. In our part of the Atlantic they’ll swim thousands of miles for giant jellyballs off Canada.
These mylar balloons then, after falling from the sky and a bit of weathering? They become an artificial jellyfish lure..
Ah well. We’ve done dumber things.
(On FB will include a pic of inside a leatherback’s mouth. It’s straight out of horror sci-fi. There is no way anything plasticky is ever coming out from hundreds of cartiliginous teeth. What goes in, has to go down..
It doesn’t end well.)
We paused at Capt. Bob Gowar’s Memorial Reef to launch 4 pyramids by the aft rail. Two by Aquarium Jack and nephew Joey; and two pyramids by seemingly gentle ladies from the knitting club ..who are instead the two most sea bass killingest lady anglers you’d ever meet. Ms Holly & Cat-Lady Cathy sent their pyramids to Davey Jones locker in fine style.
We then measured an amazing 7. fathoms (45 feet) of visibility at Bobbys with a secci disc. (Darn! Here I’d cancelled a reef monitoring dive trip Sunday because I thought we’d loose visibility for filming.. Double Darn. Will arrange monitoring later. Going mahi fishing instead!)
Ahhhh yes.. Mahi.
Today’s mahi.
Fish that were biting fine before this NW wind; the ones putting on a real show?
Yeah.
Scoundrels.
Cooler inshore waters pushed off by high west winds; we saw water temps where I’m fishing as low as 69.
Was 75/76.
Mahi don’t like 69 degree water. They put on a cardigan and retire to the study.
Though we had solid warming by day’s end, it was a “sea bass or bust” sort of day.
They bit too.
High man was Ken with seven nice sea bass. But counting the Keeper Queen? Oh no. High man was a lady. Ms Holly had nine.
Though some might say her vengeance is perpetually focused on Hurricane Murray for outfishing her just once years ago; today we saw a new truth.
WoodBoat Dave (whose poor Buffster, a 1954 twenty-two foot Chris Craft Sea Skiff is on seemingly permanent sabbatical) ..Dave was the only soul using albacore belly as bait. He hooked a dandy, a real rod bender, and began winding. Holly laughed and rubbed her dehooker talisman; Dave’s fish got away ..just not for long.
How do we know it was some more of her voodoo biznis? When Holly soon caught her best fish of the day, she pulled Dave’s albacore belly bait strip from its maw and offered it back ..while at the same time giving Hurricane a terrible side-eye; ‘Go ahead and try me, Buster.’
I find no coincidence whatever that both WoodBoat Dave & Hurricane were tied for an inenviable position; but, hey, at least they avoided the embarrassment of clean ice..
Dang Man. I can’t make this stuff up.
(or maybe I can, but the albacore belly part and fish counts are true!)
Though Ken’s fish was dern close, Donny from Taneytown pocketed the day’s pool money. There were no mahi contenders.
Tomorrow there shall be.
Cheers,
Monty
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