OCEAN CITY — One day after winning the skate bowl competition at the Dew Tour, Maryland native and fan favorite Bucky Lasek and his crew enjoyed an epic day of fishing on the “Odinspear” with a new state record wahoo and two white marlin releases along with a box full of tuna and dolphin.
On Sunday afternoon, Lasek captured the championship in the skate bowl final at the Dew Tour in Ocean City, while Tom Schaar finished second. On Monday, Lasek, along with his father-in-law, local bartender and family friend Pat Pugh, Schaar’s younger brother John Schaar and others were fishing aboard the “Odinspear” and had another epic day, catching a new state record 131-pound wahoo, two white marlin releases, six yellowfin tuna and a dolphin.
John Schaar caught the new state record wahoo, a 131-pounder that eclipsed the prior record of 111 pounds set in 2003. The wahoo was caught on a skirted ballyhoo in about 60 fathoms near the Rockpile. Pugh said the “Odinspear” captain and crew knew immediately it was a special fish and reacted accordingly. When the record fish was brought to the scale at Sunset Marina, the news sent stunned murmurs throughout the crowded facility.
“It was amazing,” said Pugh. “When it surfaced, the mate, who barely said a word in the 15 years I’ve known him could hardly contain himself and was yelling and screaming. Ironically, the mate was working the scale back in 2003 when the previous record wahoo was weighed.”
John Schaar, just a teenager whose brother finished second to Lasek in the Dew Tour skate bowl final on Sunday, found himself on the business end rod with the record-breaking wahoo on the other end. Pugh said the young angler was adept and quickly boated the new record holder.
“He didn’t take long to bring it in,” he said. “When it struck, it ran off a lot of line, but they backed down on it and John was steadily cranking it got in the boat in about 10 minutes or so. It was huge and everybody on the boat was celebrating. The caliber of this fish was pretty crazy. People all around the marina were freaking out.”
While the new state record wahoo caught by Schaar was the highlight of the epic day, no less amazing were the two white marlin releases by Lasek and his father-in-law. The white marlin releases were the first for both. As per tradition, Lasek and his father-in-law took the customary jump in the marina to celebrate their first white marlin releases upon their return.
For the “Odinspear,” hosting the Dew Tour champ and his crew was surely memorable, but it certainly wasn’t their first brush with fishing fame in and around the resort area. Last year, the “Odinspear” shared honors with the “Kingfisher” for the winning white marlin in the White Marlin Open. The “Kingfisher” boated the 83-pound eventual winner, but problems with the boat forced the crew to transfer the big white to the “Odinspear,” which brought it into Harbor Island and weighed it at the scale in front of thousands of sportfishing fans. When all was said and done, the “Kingfisher,” with the help of the “Odinspear” captured the tournament’s white marlin division and earned over $1.2 million in prize money.