OCEAN CITY- The 4th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Rockfish Tournament is off to a robust start with plenty of action just off the coast and numerous keepers brought to the scales.
The Marlin Club’s fourth annual rockfish tournament got underway last Saturday and will run through this Sunday, December 11. Boats and teams of anglers are deciding which five of the nine official days to fish. As the name of the tournament implies, rockfish, or striped bass, are the primary species targeted, but there has also been some good bluefish action through the early part of the tournament.
After a rather slow start last Saturday on day one, the fishing picked up on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday, with high winds, heavy rain and rough seas, kept most of the participating boats at the dock, but the action resumed on Wednesday and the rockfish bite appears to be strong heading into the weekend and the tournament’s final days.
The crew on the Nontypical hauled in this nice stringer, putting them all over the leaderboard through the first three days of the Marlin Club’s rockfish tournament.
Photo courtesy Ocean City Marlin Club
Through mid-week, the crew on the Bad Oyster stood atop the leaderboard in the rockfish division with a 33-pounder. The Fish Frenzi was in second with a 25.4-pounder, while the Nontypical, which won the event last year, sat in third in the division with a 22.4-pounder. The Bay Oyster crew was also on top of the leaderboard in the bluefish division with an 11.8-pounder.
The top three heaviest fish in each category will win awards and federal minimum size requirements apply for each species. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Jimmy Fund. No rockfish may be caught outside the three-mile line demarking federal waters, but a new twist this year is allowing anglers to move up and down the coast to find the stripers. For the first time this year, there is no northern boundary and no southern boundary, meaning a participating boat could ostensibly make a run up to Cape May, for example, as long as the three-mile federal waters line was observed.
Event organizers have also raised the stakes this year. Last year, the top prize was $1,000, but it has been doubled this year to a guaranteed $2,000.