Biggest Tuna of the Season So Far

By Scott Lenox

Posted on June 19th, 2021

Sunset Provisions is stocking the ultimate first aid kit….check the vid for details.

The ocean was real snotty this morning which had plenty of boats choosing to leave much later then scheduled or just stay at the dock altogether. Instagram posts that usually have dead fish on the dock were instead pics of engines and shined up outriggers. Not a very heavily fished day today for sure.

I got a little more info on the jumbo bigeye that was caught yesterday and as far as I can remember it’s the largest tuna that I’ve seen so far this season. The crew of the private boat Fishizzle consisting of Captain Chris Miller, Nick Miller, Jon Hardesty, Raylan Miller and Chance Hardesty helped angler Tom Collins deck this 71″ bigeye that tipped the scale at 212 pounds. Very nice fish and so far the biggest tuna that I’ve seen. Congratulations to the crew!

The crew of the Shorebilly had a nice day of trolling yesterday when they put some yellowfin tuna meat on the dock at the Ocean City Fishing Center.

There were way more boats on the water inshore today…most were watching the OC Air Show and some were fishing. Some were doing both. Captain John Prather of Ocean City Guide Service enjoyed the Air Show today and his anglers enjoyed some good fishing with this keeper rockfish and keeper flounder.

Captain Jason Mumford of Lucky Break put this angler on a rockfish that was too big to keep today while fishing the route 50 bridge. This 37″er was fun fight, but thanks to our stupid regulations it was 2″ too long to be able to keep. Rockfish regs for MD are 1 fish per person from 28″ to less than 35″.

Captain Wayne Blanks of Bayside Guide Service had a good time with his anglers at the route 50 bridge today catching and releasing some schoolie rockfish.

Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star delayed his start today, but he still managed some good fishing for his anglers.

Sea bass after a dark & stormy night?
Sure.
Just not quite according to plan. After all, the weatherman had promised 10 knots of west wind by 10am. Although I pushed our start from 6:30am until 9, those light westerlies waited until 1:30 or so to develop.
Time we headed for home it was gorgeous.
This morning, however, was right on the line between too saucy and barely doable.
“Doable” won because every forecast had the wind laying out.
Though gradually calming all morning, it finally started to really pipe down about 1:30. Saw 10kts around 2.
Sea bass were right fussy but worth the effort. Come 2:30 Zig’s young granddaughter & today’s guest reef builder, Olivia, was in double digits. By 3:30 she was limited—right behind her PawPaw (Zig) and very much of her own doing (except taking them off the hook. That was ikky.)
One guy on the other side thought I was steering the fish to her. Was really upset.
Gawd..
For the record: Should you witness Cathy boxing double keepers while Murray is catching single throwbacks and having the bait stolen on his other hook? Yea, I admit it. I did that. On purpose. 100% – I’ll take credit.
For Murray I use a combination of top secret electronics that can spatially separate fish by size and herd them in ultra fine scale using my laser guided size-definition driven echo pulseometer. I’ll guide big fish to other anglers and not Murray. These custom electronics allow me to select whether Murray will have a “Lucky” day. Sometimes I forget to turn it all on though and he does catch a few.
Otherwise?
Yeah, umm, no.
I’m forever trying to get all my anglers fish.
All of em.
Port/starboard, bow & stern; everyone gets my equal effort.
Now, as might happen on a rough day, we had a few vacant spots on the rail. Oh for preventative medicine..
With an hour to go and the ocean right pretty, I had Vic & Brian begin alternating drops to “pay the rent”.
Yes, I’m serious. The nice couple who let us use their empty lot in West OC to store our reef blocks ask no money, they only want fresh fish in return for use of their land.
Sakes. Well? OK, I know a guy. We can do that.
So today we paid the rent. The boys caught more than enough for Courtney & I to have dinner too. While mostly using a rental rod & only in the last hour of the day, mate Vic limited while Brian boxed up a mess more.
Fishing the other side of the boat, Zig and his granddaughter continued catching; were 1st & 2nd limits. Together they helped Olivia’s Dad limit. (In the pic you’ll see she also picked the fish for her dad to hold up – that’s cold..) There were only 4 limits counting mate Vic’s.
Our unjust complainant finished with 8 fishing next to Vic.
The expression, “I’d rather be lucky than good” comes to mind.
A mix of the two, skill & luck, seems best.
Promise: I never turned on my laser guided size-definition driven echo pulseometer all day.
Cheers!
Monty