Posted on June 22nd, 2025
It was a busy Saturday on the water with two tournaments going on and lots of boats out fishing!
Today was day 1 for the Ocean City Marlin Club Small Boat Tournament and it was a busy day at the scales.
Today was also day 1 for the Fish N Paddle Saltwater Slam kayak tournament and it was a busy day at the scales there as well.
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Away from the tournaments there was some pretty good tuna fishing once again toward the Poorman’s and Washingtons Canyons. Captain Dale Lisi of Foolish Pleasures found 10 nice fish above the Washington.
The crew of Boss Hogg had another great day of trolling with a pile of yellowfins for the fish cleaners at Sunset Marina.
Captain Chris Watkowski and his crew on the Spring Mix II had a nice day with eight yellowfin caught out of 12 bites in the Washington.
My good buddy Steve Murphy and his crew had a nice showing in the Small Boat Tournament with three yellowfin and a nice mahi.
Anglers fishing with Captain Jason Mumford on Lucky Break Charters had a great day with a bunch of keeper flounder and bluefish. Two of the flounder were over 20”.
Captain Will on Local Hooker had a great day with big flounder in the morning followed by an afternoon trip that saw some more flounder and some nice triggerfish.
Connor and Avery had so much luck fishing with their cousin Tim Bieleski that they ran out of bait.
Big Bird Cropper took his old high school buddy Dane fishing and put him on some big bluefish using the Roy Rig.
Amber Daugherty caught this big 3.5 pound sea bass fishing on board the Ocean Princess with Captain Victoria Bunting.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star had some engine trouble to contend with, but after it was fixed he showed his folks some good fishing.
Great to be back at sea!
But Thursday?
Nothing I detest as much as putting my anglers back on the dock without even showing them the ocean. When it happens it’s usually a forecast that’s terribly wrong..
or a mechanical issue.
Oh Boy.
Some may recall I’d put a ‘marine tex’ epoxy patch on my port engine’s oil pan last summer. Had intended to make permanent repairs over the winter but three months straight restoring my Mom’s old place came first & I forgot.
Boats have a way of making you remember.
Engine room clean & perfect after fishing Wednesday; sometime in the night Wednesday or very early Thursday morn my epoxy patch let go. Might be my luckiest failure ever – had it failed underway it could have been catastrophic.
Ehh.. Probably would have caught it with the oil pressure gauge/alarm, but still..
When I pulled the dip stick Thursday morning there was just shiny metal – not a drop of oil on the stick!
Under the engine?
Lots of oil.
Oyyyyy…
I had to put clients back on the dock.. We spent the next 13 hours putting my spare oil pan in
..and then she wouldn’t start.
Whaaaaat….
Put one of my spare starters on – no joy. 13.5 volts everywhere yet nary a click from the starter.
Now 15.5 hours working I had to cancel Friday’s trip at 9:30pm!
Mercy.
Next morning I had both starters checked at Pasco. Man knows his business. “Years of service left in both,” he said.
Ugh.
Replaced the starting solenoid too, though it was only installed 7 or 8 months ago..
Still had 13.5 volts everywhere we checked.
No Luv!
A friend with a lifetime of boat electronics (and loves sea bass for dinner!) Larry diagnosed the issue in a few minutes.
A short piece of ground wire – tiny stuff – tinned #12 wire. That’s what had failed.
Not corrosion. It was a butt connector splice with tight shrink wrap protecting it. Looked fine.
Didn’t make sense.
Respliced.
VroomVroom.
Boats…
Different story today.
Why?
We went fishing!
Ocean absolutely beautiful; Barbara, Vicky, Christel, Maria & Emily sent a fine reef block unit over the stern rail to begin a new spot. Need to try adding bamboo again. Should make a difference – especially for the youngest sea bass. (The bamboo forest we worked from last summer was cut flat over the winter. Know a local patch we can cut from?)
At “lines in” we had a few nice fish – even really nice; but with a monster sized school of cbass on the screen? I knew right away we had our work cut out for us.
Man were they fussy today.
Yet, for those who both worked for em & were lucky?
A great dinner and then some.
Tony was high-hook with 8 & Lester won the (itty bitty) fish pool. (Can’t recall a Saturday where so few played the pool.)
Monday I have a special trip (really special!) but from Tuesday on there are spots open. Marisa – doing a fabulous job at reservations(!) – is at a wedding. Leave a message – she will get back to you (perhaps with an aching head!) tomorrow!
Cheers
Monty
Capt. Monty
[email protected]
Matt Brown had a two man limit of sea bass about 40 miles out of OC Inlet.
