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Fishing 20nm Off Ocean City last week in my 17' Montauk
Hi everybody and hope you are all enjoying your Whalers this summer. Over the years I've made a handful of offshore trips on my 1989 17' Montauk but this my first trip out of Ocean City (in this boat). As you can see I battled some pretty sloppy weather out there but it was worth it as I had non-stop action from the time I put the chum bucket in until I left for home.
I ended up keeping 5 Mahi to 15 lbs and released multiple species of sharks including Tiger, Hamerhead, Dusky, and several other misc brown and grey ones but not the Mako I was looking for. I'm sure if I had put away the shark rods and used heavier tackle I could have loaded the boat with Mahi as they were in my slick pretty much the entire time.
One of my bucket list items is catching a marlin from my Whaler and this trip I had a White tail by me about 50 yards away. At the time I had a shark on one rod and Mahi on the other and no pitch bait ready so there wasn't much I could do and didn't think to grab the camera until he was gone.
When I was leaving the inlet that morning I kept questioning myself if I should do it but on the way home I kept asking myself why I waited so long.... https://youtu.be/5N-dFjP9MAU
Congratulations! That sounds like a fine day in any size Whaler :)
I am a little confused about the size of tackle concern...down here, our larger tackle would be used for the Mako's. Most here would use 30W or less for the Dolphin, (you call 'em Mahi), kingfish and blackfin tuna, and 50 - 80W for the Makos and Marlin, as well as Wahoo. I have picked up Makos several times while trolling in the nearshore areas out to 35 miles that would go over 75 lbs...if I had allowed them to be brought on my deck. I don't, but to each his own :)
Trolling with 50W's pulling large Marlin/Wahoo lures will produce an occasional Mako as a bycatch here. It will also eliminate all those other sharkies you were tossing back, and could produce a really great tasting fish or two :)
Silentpardner wrote:
Congratulations! That sounds like a fine day in any size Whaler :)
I am a little confused about the size of tackle concern...down here, our larger tackle would be used for the Mako's. Most here would use 30W or less for the Dolphin, (you call 'em Mahi), kingfish and blackfin tuna, and 50 - 80W for the Makos and Marlin, as well as Wahoo. I have picked up Makos several times while trolling in the nearshore areas out to 35 miles that would go over 75 lbs...if I had allowed them to be brought on my deck. I don't, but to each his own :)
Trolling with 50W's pulling large Marlin/Wahoo lures will produce an occasional Mako as a bycatch here. It will also eliminate all those other sharkies you were tossing back, and could produce a really great tasting fish or two :)
The reference to heavier tackle was regarding the spinning rod (Shimano Stradic 5K with 20# power pro) that I was using for the Dolphin (aka Mahi). I had a Stradic 8K with 50# power pro on board but it's more fun on lighter tackle and I had plenty of fish. The Shark rods are 50W's with 60# and 80# Mono with 200# wind on leaders and 6' of 278# single strand wire to the hook. I really didn't expect to see Dolphin that close this early in the season but it was a nice surprise.
In the Mid Atlantic 20NM is considered inshore/nearshore as the canyons are minimum 50NM from the inlet and I was fishing a lump called the Jacks Spot that comes up from 100' to 50' of water. There were catching 30 - 50LB Yellowfin and some Bluefin 15 miles beyond where I was but that wasn't in my game plan although I did have plenty of fuel. Nobody really trolls for Mako in the east but once and a while we'll get one that way as by catch while we're trolling for other game.
Blue Marlin rarely come much inshore of the canyons but the White Marlin do come much closer sometimes. The Whites rarely get larger than 80lbs so the guys that specifically target them use reels in the TLD 20 / 25 range. Most guys looking for a mixed bag troll larger tackle (30's, 50's 80's because you're pretty screwed if something big hits a TLD 20.
awesome run..ur a brave soul..thats a long ways out in a small craft..ive been about 6 or 7 miles offshore so far..maybe some day i will catch smooth seas ...what a challenge..good 4 u
