Posted on June 3rd, 2016
It was a decent weather day for fishermen today out of Ocean City. It was another foggy one with reports from the offshore guys that it was thick out to 60 miles off the beach for the second day in a row. The tuna were snapping out in the canyons again and it was day 1 of the 20th Annual Mako Mania, so it was a real nice day of fishing.
I figured it was going to be a busy day at the scales when I arrived at Bahia Marina at 3:20 for the scales to open at 3:30 and there was a shark waiting for the scale to open. By the time the scale officially opened at 3:30 there was a mako and a thresher waiting to go up. There were several sharks weighed and it was a really busy first day….here’s what the leader board looks like after day 1.
Bluefish
The bluefish category in the Mako Mania is a winner take all and that spot right now is owned by Bo Rites who was fishing with Captain Chris Little on the Talk N’ Trash. Their 12.2 pound bluefish is currently worth more than $6,000.
Thresher
3rd Place thresher shark was caught by Nate Leader on board Captain Dave Sumpter’s Keep ‘er Wet and weighed in at 274.6 pounds.
2nd place thresher was caught by Kirk Thompson while fishing on board the Teaser with Captain Rick Daiker and was a nice one at 318.7 pounds.
The first place thresher was a doozie and is going to be a tough fish to beat. Angler Mike Moss fishing on the Captain Ike II with Captain Dave Collins trucked in their 407.8 pound thresher and are currently sitting in firs place in the category.
Mako
There were a lot of makos weighed today….a lot! Some fish didn’t make the 100 pound minimum for the tournament, but some did and here’s who hit the board.
In third place is the crew of the Outnumbered. Dave Schultz reeled in this 176.6 pound mako good for third place for right now.
The second place fish was caught by Bill Brown while fishing on the Reel Nauti with Captain Thad Bittner. Their 182.5 pound mako looked good until just before the scales closed and is currently sitting in second place.
The first place fish didn’t hit the scale at Bahia Marina until 7:15, just 15 minutes before the scales closed. It was definitely worth the wait for the crew of the Jade II with Captain Ed Kauffman. Angler Rich Galante and the crew of the Jade II landed the current first place fish in less than 20 minutes. The 220.8 pounder is across the board in the tournament and if it holds will be worth around $52,000!
Captain Joe Drosey fishing on board Rhonda’s Osprey weighed the first mako of the day at Bahia Marina. Their 142.3 pound mako caught by Tom Otterado was in first place for a short time, but was soon bumped out of the money. It’s still a great fish and with a day left to fish anything can happen.
For boats that weren’t fishing the tournament the tuna fishing was good once again out in the canyons.
The Muff Diver with Captain Wayne Bradford took Mike Gawne and his crew for a trolling trip to the 461 bump through thick fog and ended up having a great day. The crew ended up with 12 nice yellowfin tuna and 6 gaffer mahi for a real nice box full. Captain Wayne and the Muff Diver are looking for a few anglers for a make up trip Sunday if anyone is interested. Hit them under Offshore / Charter boats here on the site.
The crew of the Spring Mix II shook the dust off of the boat today with a nice trip to the Washington Canyon. They had lines in at 8:30 this morning and were back to the dock by 2:45 with 11 yellowfin, four mahi, four hammerhead releases and one dusky release.
Captain Dave Black on My Cin put his crew of David Hobart from Greenville, SC and Tom Jackson and Dave Beaudett from Elkton, MD on four yellowfin tuna and 10 gaffer mahi on their trip today. The crew also got bitten off by a big mako on monofilament.
The Wrecker with Captain Jeremy Blunt had another good day of tuna fishing today. Captain Jeremy put his crew on 22 tuna, killing 11 keepers and a nice mahi.
Captain Luke Blume on the C Boys had a good day fishing day one of the Mako Mania. Captain Luke put his crew on two small makos, two dusky sharks, one hammerhead and 25 nice mahi that went in the box.
Inshore the party boat fleet had a decent day out on the rip. The sea bass fishing seems to have slowed down a bit, but boats are still reporting keeper fish with some limits and more flounder are showing up all the time.
Wes Pollitt from the Morning Star with Captain Monty Hawkins reported a decent pick of fish today with their first keeper flounder of the year. Tom Lane caught this nice 18″ fish that will make for a great fried flounder sandwich.
Captain Chris Mizurak on board the Angler reports decent fishing on the ocean structure as well today. The Angler had some decent fishing for tautog and sea bass with a couple of real nice fish mixed in.
Captain John Prather on the inshore charter boat Ocean City Guide Service reports that fishing in the bay is finally improving. Captain John reported some good throwback striper, flounder and bluefish action and Lance Crampton caught himself a real nice black drum on today’s trip. Captain John also reports that the inshore tautog fishing is really good.
As you can see, it was a really nice day of fishing all around. The weather for tomorrow looks really good and tomorrow is day two of the 20th Annual Mako Mania. I’ll bring you all the updates right here at FishinOC.com
