Posted on November 2nd, 2019
Man it was a beautiful Saturday in November and there were a bunch of boats out on the bay and on the ocean enjoying some reely good fishing. I had to take advantage of this beautiful weather too and I had a great time with a couple of good friends!
Brendan Hanley of Pure Lure RFG was out on my buddy Todd Burbage’s Chaser today with Captain Dale Gurgo, Nick Lucov, Will Wangle and Todd. The crew had an absolutely epic day of offshore fishing and put a nice bigeye and three swordfish on deck. They also released a fourth sword. The biggest swordfish of the day was a bruiser at 339 pounds and the total weight of the carnage was a whopping 818 pounds! Yes….I’ll take some swordfish steaks!
Sea bass fishing for the bottom bouncing fleet was good today too on a flat calm sea. Captain Chris Mizurak of the Angler sent me the usual text……Pics on FB…..and that’s where I got these beauties.
You can bet when there’s sea bass to die that Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star has got a hit out on them.
Hi Scott,
Little nip in this morning’s air, & an inspiring ocean sunrise; sure was a nice day off there. Still, I was a bit concerned when the fellow in spot 13 went to the wrong boat, hurried over to the Morning Star & was pulled over by Ocean City’s finest!! Oyyyyy.. That’s no way to start a day!
A touch late, but beautiful calm, we dropped 21 large blocks and two 170lb reef balls at Capt Bob Gowar’s Memorial Reef & kept paddling. Saw hundreds of bottlenose dolphin in a super pod. Some broke away and rode the bow for a bit.
Even caught a false albacore on the way out.
Threw a single anchor to position over some bottom I’ve fished since the early 1980s & laid into the sea bass. Soon a rocket lifted off Wallops Island – could see it plain but didn’t hear it.
Weren’t fishing an hour before some clients needed a count. That’s pretty fishing. (Have LOTS of spots open soon and Calm Waters forecasted!)
Chuck Burnham of BelAir MD boxed out first (shown in green reef sweat holding a keeper double) Ray Ricci of Baltimore & Ted Diehl from Tornado Alley MD were soon done too. George Bell of Millersville caught the albie & put most of his cbass limit in the box with a diamond jig. George even had two keepers on one drop.
At a touch after 11 the fish pool got a lot tougher to win when Rick Jones of Jessup MD swung his 4.25 lb, 23 inch sea bass over the rail. He won the money.
Justin Bouchelle of Unionville PA caught a decent sized scup for these parts. Up until 1969 porgy/scup were a mainstay of MD’s coastal bottom fishing. Now we just see a handful as they move south and offshore for winter.
Terra Brookman of Huntington MD shows off a keeper double.
Michael Santmyer of Baltimore MD caught the day’s only fluke.
Young Justin Bouchelle from Unionville PA holds a nice sea bass.
Alex Yun Asian holds up a nice sea bass (that would normally have had a shot at the pool.)
Also in the group snap are William Hawkins of Baltimore – Bob Stratemyer of Baltimore – Vladimir Tischhenko of Gettysburg PA – Brian Miles & Dale Wingo of Bear DE – Brett Selby from Hagerstown MD – plus Julio Medina & Emily Moore of Lancaster PA.
Pete Renzi, Mike Renzi and Keith Brasure had a good day of bottom fishing on the Fish Frenzi today too. The guys lined the cleaning table with sea bass, some bluefish and some nice porgy.
Neighbor Dave caught this nice sized rockfish at the route 50 bridge while throwing Roy Rigs with the inventor Big Bird Cropper.
I had a great afternoon fishing with my long time friends Dale Timmons and David Wells. I couldn’t catch my a$$ with both hands, but Dale released some flounder and a just short puppy drum and Dave landed this beauty of a speckled trout….his first ever. Photo courtesy of Dave “Braveheart” Messick.