Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Reliving an unsettling Saturday on the water
Hindsight, so they say, is 20-20. To that end, a backward glance at the flounder tournament I fished on Saturday tells me that a different strategy or change in tactics might have enhanced my flounder fishing fortunes that day. The event was the 12th Annual Ocean Pines Flounder Fishing Tournament. The $35 entrance fee got you a spanking new blue T-shirt, a shot at the $500 first place prize money, and braggin’ rights for being one of Maryland’s top fluke fishermen.
I’ve fished this tournament, including the inaugural event a dozen years ago, numerous times before, usually accompanied by long time fishing buddy Dave “Stoney” Stone. In this tourney a few years back we reported to the scales with a pair of contending flounder but failed to place in the money. With Stoney unavailable this time around, I would be fishing the tourney solo. Another glitch occurred two nights before the tournament when the tilt and trim mechanism on my 150hp Evinrude E-TEC outboard failed. That left me without the capacity to raise the prop if I encountered shallow water or drifted onto a shoal.
This problem called for an abundance of caution to avoid getting stuck on the water and needing to summon Boat U.S. for a tow. And in order to safely navigate the shallows in the canals on the way out and back I would have to wait for the tides to cooperate. While the starting gun for the tournament was 7:00 a.m., I didn’t head out until around 9:00 a.m. when the tides were right. As soon as I hit the Thorofare area of the bay (just a seven minute ride from my dock) I spotted at least half a dozen boats loaded with anglers sporting their bright blue tournament jerseys, aka my competition.
I had originally planned to fish the East Channel just north of the Route 50 Bridge, but when I noticed a few fluke being caught so close to home, I decided to give this spot a try first. Most of the boats were hovering along the shoreline not far from what I regarded as my secret hot spot, a deep drop off where I had caught some of my biggest and best flounder over the years.
So I baited up with Gulp Alive swimming mullets paired with minnows on one line, and my secret weapon, live spot, on the other. As luck would have it, on just my second or third drift, I hooked up with the morning’s first flounder. The tale of the tape put it a tad over 17-inches, a legal keeper but certainly not a contender - that would take a fluke that stretched to 21-inches or more. Of course, the sight of my netting that fluke drew a crowd, and the cluster of boats that moved in made it increasingly more difficult to negotiate subsequent drifts.
The fact that I was fishing alone and my boat was a walkaround cabin model also put me at a disadvantage. Most of the other boats were smaller, more maneuverable center-console models hosting three or four anglers. The captain driving the boat could fish while operating the controls or just concentrate on putting his passengers on fish. My situation allowed me to do neither.
In some ways catching that first legal fluke was the worst thing that could have happened, enticing me to abandon plans to fish the East Channel. Plus, now my “secret” hotspot wasn’t such a secret anymore. Nonetheless, I continued to jockey for position with little success as I tried to get the drifts right.
I had almost forgotten why I so rarely go flounder fishing on summer weekends but was constantly reminded as wave after wave of reckless boat traffic zooming by at top speed battered my boat and left the fishing fleet rocking and rolling in their heavy wakes. Too many of these speeding vessels raced by mere feet from the drifting boats. And while it’s true that most of us were scattered across the channel where there was no speed limit, you might think that for safety’s sake and in the interest of common courtesy, these passing boats might be considerate enough to slow down. Sad to say most didn’t. Thank goodness my sea legs were working as I spent most of the afternoon grabbing onto the guard rails of my hardtop to avoid being tossed overboard when some of the bigger boats plowed by. The constant wake action also made drifting along the shoreline a nearly impossible task.
As the afternoon wore on I realized that the live spot were losers, inevitably chewed up by crabs, and that the green Gulp Alive swimming mullets were today’s go-to bait. At one point I had a nice hit and the weight at the end of the line suggested a good fish was on. Surprisingly, despite the hefty battle, it came in just under the 16 1/2 inch legal limit. By day’s end I would catch another four throwback flounder and a small bluefish. Because of the persistent thrashing from the wave action of the relentless Saturday boat traffic (along with my concerns about the outgoing tide and low water) I called it quits early, around 2:00 p.m., an hour or so before the tournament officially ended. I wouldn’t be reporting to the tourney scales, but at least I had some fresh fillets in the box.
As noted, in hindsight I should have stuck with my original plan to fish the East Channel. I avoided it knowing there would be significantly more boat traffic there, but it later occurred to me that the drifts would have all been within an extended 6 mile-per-hour speed limit zone. The waves and wakes would have been a nonfactor. The fishing would have been more crowded but far less bouncy and much more pleasant. I plan to get the tilt/trim mechanism fixed next week and hope to get back to fishing weekdays, chasing flounder well into October.
Incidentally, a 25-inch flounder was caught in the East Channel that day as were a number of plus 20 inch fish, most of them caught on live bunker baits by anglers who weren’t entered in the tournament. The 12th Annual Ocean Pines Tourney results were as follows: 1st Place - John Grant with a 21inch flounder; 2nd Place - Mark Lowman with a 20 1/4-inch flounder; 3rd Place - Preston Walls with a 19 7/8-inch flounder. Maybe next year I’ll make the leader board with plans to head out to the East Channel with plenty of live bunker, a functioning tilt/trim, and a more positive attitude in tow.
BOAT CAPSIZES IN OC INLET WITH 15 PEOPLE ABOARD
I may have endured a rough day on the water on Saturday, but nothing close to that suffered by the fifteen folks aboard a pontoon boat that capsized in the Ocean City (Md.) inlet on Thursday around 1 p.m. tossing all fifteen people into the drink. Miraculously, all of them were quickly rescued thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Natural Resource Police, and other local emergency crews that responded to the capsized boat. I’ve navigated that inlet in my 20-foot cabin boat countless times in the past and it’s always a tricky deal with so many cross-currents and wakes and waves generated by heavy boat traffic. The cause of the accident is still being investigated, but I can tell you that that inlet is not a good fit for a pontoon boat on most days, and potentially overloaded with a crowd of fifteen people on board, it’s likely that uneven weight distribution in rough seas was a factor.
WHITE MARLIN OPEN (AND MICHAEL JORDAN?) NOW IN PLAY
The starting bell for Ocean City, Maryland’s, 46th Annual White Marlin Open sounded on Monday morning as the five day event got underway. This year 403 boats will be vying for a world record $6.1 Million in prize money, but the major buzz around this tourney has been all about basketball great Michael Jordan. Jordan’s recently purchased sportsfishing boat is now docked at the Sunset Marina in West Ocean City. The impressive craft, an 80-foot Viking yacht, bears the name “Catch 23” on its transom, a clever reference to Catch-22, Jordan’s uniform number 23, and the concept of catching stuff - stuff like white marlin. There’s ongoing speculation around town as to whether or not MJ, the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets and star of six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls will actually put in an appearance at the tourney. Stay tuned.