Blue Marlin, White Marlin and Black Sea Bass

By Scott Lenox

Blue Marlin, White Marlin and Black Sea Bass

We had one more day on the ocean today that was doable before weather starts to get a little iffy.  Hurricane Franklin is heading out to sea, but Hurricane Idalia is about to bum rush Florida before moving across and out to sea where she might mess things up…..let’s hope not.

Captain Anthony Matarese Jr. on board Reel Chaos had a great couple of days with white marlin, blue marlin, some tunas and a pile of mahi.

Young Kai Zimmerman was lucky enough to catch his first ever white marlin while fishing with his Dad, Captain Willie Zimmerman of the RoShamBo.

Captain Joe Drosey and his crew on Rhonda’s Osprey had a big bite that turned out to be this 196 pound bigeye.

The crew of Chasin’ Tides has had some very good fishing in the ocean and in the bay lately.  Chasin’ Tides anglers have battled flounder, sea bass, mahi and more.

Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star has a shortened day today, but still managed some fish in coolers.

Gave it a shot this morning at least. Todd took the pool & Mike built some reef..
Everyone knows to watch forecasts close when Hurricane Murray is spotted with two grocery carts in the pastry & potato chip isles. This year an upstart, long known around the wharves as Sea Bass Bob; Hurricane Bob is amping up the bad weather with innumerable cancelled trips since spring. And now the Jersey Flounder King, a temporary transplant singlehandedly trying to prove MRIP right in recreational extermination of fluke from DE Bay south; I had to take Craig out this morning or fear for his sanity..
All three are fantastically generous to the reef foundation; but, windy weather really cracking our onions this year, derned if there aren’t times when the party/charter fleet wouldn’t pay em to go west of the Mississippi!
Only 13 knots or so of E wind this am, we dropped 20 blocks at Lucas Alexander’s Reef. Tough one that! Top of a shoal, lot of sand moving around. One day we’ll have a good foundation.. Or, if pyramids work like I hope, we can bring that reef back into production with dozens of those units. Nearby to Lucas’s are two barges Capt Jack Kaeufer & D.P. Bishop Memorial Reefs are doing great. Exactly half a mile N is a lonely 85 tug, the Reynolds Florance Memorial Reef. Expect we’ll drop that tug some company, another reef, either atop or nearby in way of a 60ft trawler. Boys might even get it down tomorrow.
Maybe!
That big tug laid on her side when she sank three years ago. Usually I’d not have a concern, but that piece would, I believe, be more productive upright.
Ehh.. Fish couldn’t possibly care. I do think it would be better for tog though – and much taller. Triggers for sure..
Local salvage guys Rob, Tim, Skip & Jerimiah will have at it one day.
I hope.
This new reef, the trawler, has already been named. Capt Jim Motsko started the White Marlin Open fifty years ago. Many of the tales I tell of nearshore billfish ring true with him. This year he and his daughters made OC Reef Foundation a beneficiary of the tournament’s charity. I’ve always hoped to have more billfishermen understand important ties between reef and bluewater species – headed that way now.
Very soon we’ll have the Motsko Family Reef on the bottom. With a bit of luck next spring, before sea bass come in, we’ll have squid spawning there..
With water quality so closely associated with oysters in our major estuaries, and rebuilding the nearshore food web tied to hardbottoms – Promise: should we ever see a fleet targeting white marlin at Jackspot again, it will be reef restoration that brought it about..
We have much more in the pipeline!

Cheers,
Monty

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