11/07/2022 | 9 Pound Flounder and Tuna, Mahi and Swords in the Canyon

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJOJShD2hLw

Hit the vid for the Angler’s Advantage at Sunset Provisions!

I hear the weather was super nice in and around Ocean City today with light winds, sunny skies and no precipitation….and it was pretty darn nice where I am right now too! Kristen and I just arrived at Sandals in Curacao for a little vacation, but don’t worry, I’ll still bring you fishing reports as I get them from paradise. You can follow us along with lots that we do on our Instagram…..https://www.instagram.com/ifishinoc/

It was so nice today that the crew of the Reel Chaos with Captain Anthony Matarese was able to head out to the canyon in search of pelagics and boy did they find some. Reel Chaos had a “box full” with three swordfish, a couple of tunas and a pile of mahi on a beautiful day offshore.

Captain Kevin Twille and his crew on Fish Bound had a great day of bottom fishing today. John Wittmyer from Crabs to Go was on board and he and the other anglers had a limit of sea bass and flounder up to 7.5 pounds. Captain Kevin being the flounder master that he is showed them up with a 9 pound doormat of his own.

Captain Chris Mizurak of the Angler reported a slowish sea bass bite, but there were plenty of fish caught. They also had a nice flounder bite with fish up to 6 pounds.

Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star is on a sea bass boat limit streak right now.

Another Boat Limit..

November 6, 2022.. Day came as nice as you could ever hope. Despite a bit of ground swell, light westerlies made for a fine day offshore. Anglers were fishing in T-shirts; a Portuguese man’o war drifted by, we saw two ocean sunfish working their way south – and, though certainly not a tough task, we’re used to it.

It’s normal.

In November.

Early 2000s deckhand alumnus Chef was aboard. His son, Connor, and youthful friend, Colt, deployed today’s reef blocks at Tyler Long’s reef.

As much reef building as I’ve done it astounds me that seas from a 60+ knot wind can move a 120’ steel barge sunk in almost 80’ of water. But, hurricane Ian’s remnants did just that. It pushed Tyler’s reef into Crocker’s Reef (a 200’ barge loaded with concrete pipe that we sank in early May 2021.) Where there had been 25 feet or so between the two barges, there is now a continuous reef – they touch. I had been trying to get them as close together as possible when sunk. Ian finished the job. By the time Connor and Colt are in college that reef group will be among our best spots for blackfish/tautog – promise.

Any reef movement is rare and our deployments cannot move far. They’re all double and triple anchored. A small tug we sank in the end of August, for instance; though much lighter and in shallower water, only moved a few feet. Without its three anchors, however, that tug would have likely walked a good way SW. After a year or so larger reef pieces become “sanded in” – slightly buried into the bottom and thus anchored forever.

Maryland does not have a state marine reef program. If you’d like to help build more reef for coming years and, indeed, for coming generations, please visit ocreefs.org.. Our raffle is going on now. Have lots of great prizes to give out both weekly and New Year’s Day for Grand Prizes.

Well, we sure weren’t going to catch a boat limit of sea bass at the Bass Grounds – not this time of year especially. We paddled on off..

Nice.

First drop was into an astoundingly grand school of sea bass and scup. I mean an extremely dense shoal of fish 60’ thick ..although the scup were fine, the sea bass were all smalls.

A small adjustment put us into some nice keepers though. Was Patrick who boxed his 15 fish limit first. Glad it wasn’t Hurricane again. His head would swell. Derned if he wasn’t second though!

Patrick also took today’s sea bass pool. Nothing wrong with having luck on your side..

Looks like the next spell of November’s fishing weather will offer September-like conditions as well.

Cheers

Monty