Took my niece and her boyfriend on a trolling trip for tuna/mahi. We were rewarded with two nice mahi!
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We fished with Lindsey Fine, Mike Fine, John Gray, Kenny Mudrick, Alex Lopez and Jonathan Kurgansky on Sunday, June 25th. Ended the day with 5 nice yellow fin tuna and 4 mahi. This was Mike Fine's 30th Birthday present!
Took my 20 year old niece, Taylor Johnson, and Nick Posterli out in the rip searching for yellow fin tuna. Ended the day with (2) yellow fins and (2) mahi.
On Saturday, June 10th, we took a full crew shark fishing. We left the slip at 5:30 am and headed to a wreck, Marine Electric, 31 miles southeast of the Ocean City inlet. We arrived at the wreck location around 7:00 am, set out the chum bucket and deployed a (4) rod shark spread. Within 30 minutes of having the last rod in the water a shortfin mako shark, estimated to weigh between 150-200lbs, began circling the boat and chum bucket. The fish was not interested in any of our rod baits. Over the next 8 hours we managed two bites with none coming tight. Beautiful day on the water that began with an amazing sunrise!
The crew for this year's Mako Mania included anglers Keith Zolman, Rob Griggs, Vince Salvarola, Mike Liles, Mike Clay and Russell Collins. We fished on Friday and Saturday and were able to hook catch and release several blue sharks, a dusky shark and a sea monster that eventually pulled the hook on angler Mike Clay. Great weekend spent with good friends! Looking forward to next year's shark tournament!!
On Saturday, 05/27/2017, the crew included: Dana Seiler, Lawrence Song, Steve Giles, Kirk and Cody Rothgeb. We left the slip at 6:00 am headed to a wreck site 31 miles southeast of the Ocean City Inlet. The wreck site, Marine Electric, is a 605' bulk carrier ship that sunk on February 12th, 1983. Once we arrived at the wreck we rigged up several small rods to try our luck at sea bass. The crew wanted to catch a few for the grill and we wanted a few for shark bait. Fortunately the fish we were hungry and we put close to 30 sea bass in their cooler and then decided it was time to try our luck with the sharks. We moved about 2 miles east of the wreck and began chumming. Over the course of the next 5 hours we had seven sharks hooked up and were able to get 5 to the boat and then released. Cody Rothgeb (16 yrs. old) had never been offshore fishing until today and caught his 1st and 2nd shark.
We are now booking shark trips for the 2017 season. Day time or Night Time shark fishing trips/dates available. Contact us for pricing and availability.
Jim Conway, Rob Griggs and I fished yesterday in the Poormans Canyon specifically targeting mako sharks. We set out our chum bag and baited all three rods using bluefish for bait. We were on the drift for close to an hour when one of the Tiagra 80's began to scream. If you have never seen a mako shoot out of the water doing cartwheels before plunging back into the water check it out on a YouTube video. This fish came out of the water at least 6 times covering several hundreds of water in seconds. Rob Griggs was the angler on this mako and it was his first. Brought the fish back to the Ocean City Fishing Center and it weighed 249lbs. Great first trip of the season!!
http://fishinoc.com/big-fat-mako/
On Saturday, 09/17/2016, we went 1 for 5 on white marlin. Caught a dozen or more skip jack tuna. Ended the day by deep dropping for tile fish and sea bass. Brian Boykin from Pennsylvania caught his 1st white marlin!! Great trip with new friends!
Saturday, 08/06/2016, we left the slip at 5:30 am and headed east. The plan was to fish a patch of heavily concentrated chloro water 10 miles west of the Baltimore Canyon. Sea conditions improved at the 40 mile mark and I decided to push towards the Baltimore Canyon with hopes of a marlin bite. We arrived at the west wall and set out the spread. Within 20 minutes we had a marlin up in the spread. She hit 2 other baits before coming tight on the flat line. At first we thought it was a baby blue marlin. This fish was grey hounding / tail walking and almost spooled a 50. After getting her boat side we removed the hook, took a glory pic and sent her on her way. This was a fish of a lifetime for angler Russell Collins. I estimate that this fish weighed in the mid 80's - 90 plus lbs.
We participated in the Big Fish Classic this weekend. Anglers were Mike Clay, Mike Clay Jr. and John Riley. We started the day off Saturday morning with a 2 hour commute to the Washington Canyon. We setup between 40-50 fathoms hoping for a big mako bite. We had one bite that came tight which resulted in a 13.5 lb dolphin.(Fish did not make minimum tourney weight of 15lbs)
Day 2 we fished just south of Massey's Canyon again hoping for a big mako bite. Again, had another dolphin take a shark rig and this one was big enough to qualify. (18.5lbs) Great weekend fishing with the good friends. Great tournament and sponsorship. We will be back again next year, weather permitting. Left the dock at 3:30 am Sunday morning. Arrived at Massey's Canyon at 4:30 am to a fleet of boats. We set anchor and began to chunk! The bite really got hot around 9:30 am. We had 10 bites total and put 2 in the box. Great trip with Keith and Don! The sun rise this morning was amazing!
We had two trips scheduled this past weekend. On Saturday we fished the Jackspot with hopes of catching a big shark. We passed through the inlet around 6:15 am heading towards the Jackspot. The seas were a little sporty and we took our time making the 19 mile run. Upon arrival we deployed the chum bag and set up to drift. The wind and waves were not cooperating so we decided to anchor. After several hours with no shark bites we decided to called it a day and head in. Even though we did not catch any sharks it was a great day on the ocean with new friends.
On Sunday we left the slip at 4:00 am and headed towards Massey's Canyon. Arrived at the spot around 5:15 am and within minutes we had our first bite. The short story is we had 7 bites, 5 came tight and all were lost due to leader failure. We were using a 25lb fluoro carbon leader attached to our circle hooks and main line. Saw schools of yellow fin breaking the water throughout the day and had them coming up behind the boat eating chunks of butter fish. Another great day spent on the ocean! Left the dock at 4:00 am heading towards Massey's Canyon. The group fishing today was Kevin Hogan, Lenny Simmons and Nate Simmons. We arrived at the fishing grounds @ 5:00 am. We set out a four rod spread at various depths using fluorocarbon leaders and circle hooks. We had to downsize the leader size throughout the day in order to get a bite. We ended the day going 1 for 4 on tuna. This was Kevin's first time tuna fishing. Due to the light leader size we had to slowly fight the fish. The fish pictured took the bait at 11:00 am and finally was boated at 3:30 pm. Kevin was on the rod for 2.5 hours and Lenny put in another 2 hours. The fish measured 52" and weighed between 75-85 lbs. A fish well earned and hopefully well liked on the dinner table!
We fished just north of Massey's Canyon today hoping for a bluefin tuna bite. We left the slip at 4:15 am and made the 32 mile trip north from the Ocean City Inlet. We ran a 4 rod spread with Joe Chute lures rigged with ballyhoo. Within 10 minutes of deploying the rods we had a fish on. After a brief battle we boated a 52" / 72 lb bluefin tuna. We had one other fish on but it became tangled in another anglers trolling spread and I cut the fish off. It was then we decided to try shark fishing since the seas began to build. We ran westward towards the 20 fathom line to setup for sharks. Soon after I placed the chum bag in the water we were swarmed with mahi. We ended up catching 2 mahi and no sharks.
This was a special trip for me since this was my niece's first offshore fishing trip/experience. She caught her very first and hopefully not her last mahi. Mike Liles also shared a special trip with his daughter, Tiff, and his future son in law. We ventured out into the Poorman's Canyon in search of tuna and mahi. Once inside the canyon we were immediately greeted by several pilot whales. Within 20 minutes we had a decent mahi take a Shute lure off the long rigger. The second mahi was caught off another Shute lure off the short rigger. Later in the morning we had a marlin take a flat line bait which never came tight. On the ride back in we saw several sea turtles and large schools of rays. Great trip with Clint Bender and Jeffrey Gingrich from Hershey, PA. The day of the trip was Clint's 57th birthday and he caught a mahi!
Left the slip at 3:30 am with Russell, Vince, Mike, Dave and Nate aboard. Arrived at the Poorman's Canyon at 6:00 am and set out the spread. Over the next 4 hours hours we caught 6 yellow fin tuna. Two keepers and 4 throw backs (legal size for yellow fin is 27" / 3 per person)
Mike Meadows, Russell Collins and Dave Good each caught their first tuna. We left Ocean City Inlet at 4:15 am on Saturday morning heading south towards Marine Electric. We ended up 1 mile east of the wreck in 24 fathoms of water. We set out four baits at various depths. Baits were whole blue fish and sea bass. The bite occurred @ 9:00 am on a bait 2nd closest to the boat. The battle lasted 30 minutes which resulted in a 127 lb Mako shark. Brandon Malamphy, age 17, was the angler.
We left the Ocean City Inlet at 5:00 am headed to the tip of the Washington Canyon. Today was Day 1 for us in the Mako Mania shark tournament. We were blessed with beautiful sea conditions as we arrived at our destination @ 62 miles offshore. The 72 degree blue water was full of life. We suspended 4 yellow tuna carcasses off the bow and stern of the boat with hopes of luring a giant canyon mako in for a pitch bait. Within 20 minutes we had a mako circling the boat and attacking one of the tuna fish carcasses. I pitched a blue fish bait out to it and it took the bait only to spit it out after eating the back half. As the day wore on we caught two other sharks, a hammerhead and dusky, as we continued to pick mahi up in our chum slick. Around 1:00 the non stop action ceased. With 2 hours left of fishing time left we patiently waited and hoped for a mako bite. At 2:45 pm the bait the farthest from the boat started screaming drag. I grabbed the rod, felt the fish taking line and then all of a sudden it stopped. I began reeling the line in slowing and noticed a large dorsal fin swimming straight towards the boat. As I cranked on the reel faster to catch up with the shark I noticed the shark had taken the bait whole and bit through the mono where it attached to the steel leader. I set the rod down and immediately rigged a pitch bait. The large dorsal fin was attached to a 8-9 ft mako shark. The largest live mako I have encountered to date with an approximate weight between 350-450lbs. The large shark came up to the back of the boat and inhaled a tuna carcass whole. I then pitched a blue fish in front of the shark and it ate it. I set the drag and the fish took off only to snap the line. Thinking the fish was gone forever I rigged another pitch bait just in case. While rigging the bait the crew said the shark had resurfaced and was eating the tuna suspended off the bow of the boat. This shark was in full feeding frenzy mode. It now had to (2) hooks attached to steel leaders hanging out of its mouth. I went to the bow and pitched another blue fish bait to the shark who immediately ate it. Again, this shark was HUGE!! The fish began to swim away from the boat and I set the drag on it. The fish was hooked and began to thrash around wildly. It made a deep dive and then came back to the surface thrashing wildly trying to dislodge the hook. The fish came at the boat like a torpedo and dove right under the bow. Within seconds of the deep dive the line snapped at the swivel. Amazing day offshore and a memory that will last a lifetime for everyone aboard that day.
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Ocean City Maryland
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