OCEAN CITY — Despite frigid early spring temperatures on land and an icy trip out, the crew on the “Nontypical” caught the first mako shark of the season on Wednesday, signaling the offshore season is not far behind.
Captains Terry Layton and Jim Hughes and the crew on the “Nontypical” took a run out to the Baltimore Canyon off the coast of Ocean City on Wednesday and found a mako in a warm water eddy in about 200 fathoms in 65 degree water. Angler Andy Smelter caught the first mako, which weighed around 100 pounds, and although it was super early, it is uncertain if it was the earliest ever off the coast of the resort.
“We ran there because the satellite picture showed a warm water eddy off the gulf stream,” said Layton. “We left the dock with an ice covered deck and water temperatures were in the upper 30s most of the way out. It was the earliest time of year I ever caught a mako.”
Layton, Hughes and the crew on the “Nontypical” are no strangers to being the first at something in the offshore fishing season in Ocean City. In 2009, the “Nontypical” caught the first white marlin of the season off the coast of the resort. Also, in 2009, the “Nontypical” crew lived up to its name, catching a state record 876-pound mako during the 2009 Ocean City Shark Tournament.