Posted on August 18th, 2015
Today was day 1 of the 24th Annual MidAtlantic Tournament and as expected it was a good day at the scales. The weather is perfect for offshore fishing this week, so we should see a good number of fish caught. There are 139 boats fishing this year’s event and those boats are fishing for their share of a tournament record $2.8 million. Day 1 saw 117 boats of the 139 fish and the scales were busy at both the Canyon Club Resort and Marina and Sunset Marina. We knew it was going to be a good day when we had a blue marlin waiting to be weighed at 4PM and scales didn’t open until 5. Here’s how day 1 breaks down.
Dolphin
We’ll start with the 2nd heaviest dolphin which was caught by Danny Jones on board the Reel Toy and weighed 22 pounds at the scale in Ocean City.
Both the 3rd and 1st place dolphin belong to the Saltitude fishing out of Cape May, NJ. The Saltitude currently has the 3rd heaviest dolphin with a 20 pounder and heaviest dolphin with a 23 pounder both weighed in Cape May.
Wahoo
There were several wahoo brought back to both ports this evening. 3rd heaviest fish in the wahoo category was caught by the crew of the Lady Luck and weighed 49 pounds on the scale at Sunset Marina in Ocean City.
The 2nd heaviest wahoo weighed in at 54 pounds and was also weighed in Ocean City by the crew of the No Problem.
The heaviest wahoo of the tournament so far was weighed at The Canyon Club Resort and Marina in Cape May, NJ. The wahoo was caught by the Reel Desire III and weighed in at 57 pounds.
Tuna
The 3rd heaviest tuna in The MidAtlantic Tournament was a 132 pound bigeye caught by the Placid C’s and weighed in Cape May.
The 2nd heaviest tuna was also weighed in Cape May and was a 198 pound bigeye caught by the crew of the Operating Room.
The heaviest tuna of the tournament was the last fish to hit the scale in Ocean City tonight. The 199 pound bigeye caught by the Canyon Runner is currently good for 1st place in the heaviest tuna category.
Blue Marlin
We had a blue marlin waiting at the scales at 4PM this afternoon, a full hour before the scales opened in Ocean City. Unfortunately the first fish to the scales in The MidAtlantic Tournament this year did not make the tournament’s 400 pound minimum. However, another blue marlin was just a few moments behind. The only blue marlin to hit the board so far was weighed in Ocean City this afternoon and belongs to the crew of the Ringleader. The Ringleader’s 543 pound blue marlin was a beautiful fish and is currently in the lead in the blue marlin category.
White Marlin
Since today was the first day of the tournament and nothing was on the board, we had several white marlin come to the scales that made the legal size limit but did not make the tournament minimum of 65 pounds. The only white marlin weighed this evening that did make the 65 pound minimum was caught by the crew of the Lady Luck and was weighed in Ocean City. The Lady Luck must have had a little “lady luck” because their fish hit the weight minimum on the nose at 65 pounds. That was big enough to be the only white marlin to qualify so far and hold 1st place in the category.
Some of the Fish in OC fleet had good days fishing this beautiful weather today and will be back at it again this week.
Rhonda’s Osprey with Captain Joe Drosey out of Sunset Marina put his crew on six white marlin releases.
Captain Luke Blume on the White Lightning out of Sunset Marina had a blue marlin and two white marlin releases. Here’s a picture of their blue marlin that was small enough to bring aboard for a second to snap a photo.
The Wrecker with Captain Jeremy Blunt out of The Ocean City Fishing Center had a good day on the water catching a spearfish, two white marlin and 25 nice mahi.
The Moore Bills with Captain Rob Skillman had a great day with the mahi as well putting his crew on 46 nice sized mahi.
