Posted on January 6th, 2016
We had a trip planned on the Morning Star with Captain Monty Hawkins for a few weeks when last night a couple of anglers had to back out. We decided to give away the two spots on our Facebook page for Hooked on OC to see if we could “hook” a couple of people up last minute. Our two winners were Erik Vamos and Brian Cooper. Erik and Brian met myself, John from Crabs to Go, Chef Bobby from Harborside Bar and Grill and the rest of the crew at the Morning Star at 6:30 this morning and we headed east shortly thereafter for some tautog fishing.
On the way out we stopped briefly for Captain Monty to drop some 100+ pound blocks on some structure that the Ocean City Reef Foundation is putting together and then it was on to the spot. The first couple of spots were a slow pick with my photographer buddy Nick Denny putting the first hook in a fish….and the second. One or two keepers and then it slowed down so we left to try a different spot.
We tried two more spots with some of the same action and then we moved a short distance again and it was a different story. Fish started coming over the rail immediately with several keepers over the 16″ minimum. Juan Franzetti and his son Lucas along with their friend Mike Snedaker caught several fish with a few keepers. Lucas also put in some time in front of the camera trying to steal my hosting job. Our contest winners both caught a few keepers at this spot, Randy from Benelli nabbed some fish with a few keepers and Morning Star regular Dennis landed a few keepers and a beautiful 24 1/2″ bruiser. Dennnis and Captain Monty guessed it at 11-12 pounds. A fish of that size is a good breeder and Dennis did the awesome thing and released him to propagate the species.
It started off real cold, but by the end of the day it was pleasant and ended up being an awesome day on the rip. Big thanks to our mates Wes Pollitt and Dan Iacangelo, and huge THANKS to Captain Monty for his hospitality and for putting us on the fish. One more thanks to Nick Denny for filming the episode and taking these awesome pics!! If you’d like to get on board the Morning Star with Captain Monty you can get him at www.morningstarfishing.com And like our Facebook pages as well….it’s Hooked on OC and Fish in OC on Facebook. You never know when we’ll give away a tee shirt, a hat….or even a fishing trip. Just ask Brian Cooper and Erik Vamos.
