Tournaments have been in the news over the past couple of weeks. First it was the White Marlin Open, then the Flounder Pounder and last week we had the MidAtlantic. The marlin tournaments pay out in the millions, while the Flounder Pounder has a top prize of $100,000.
With all that money on the line, I am sure folks who don’t follow these events closely might think there has to be cheating involved. I have covered the White Marlin Open since the first one 52 years ago, and so far, only one boat has been found to have cheated. That owner was stripped of his winnings and has not been heard from since.
Since the same people who fish the White Marlin fish the MidAtlantic, I would expect the same behavior there.
Now this is not to say that all of the boat captains are angels. There was a time when right after the White Marlin Open, there was a one-day tournament between two special-needs schools, one from Delaware and one from Maryland.
I was lucky enough to be aboard the Seven Days with Captain Coconut and we, along with at least 10 or 12 other large sport fishermen, fished inside the bays behind Ocean City.
I did notice, as were drifted along, that we kept getting closer and closer to the commercial dock. Then the captain laid the boat gently alongside that dock and the mate jumped off, and when he came back on board he had about an 8-pound flounder. That fish was quickly secured to the line of one of our anglers, and when he reeled it in, the excitement was electric. One of the young ladies who was there to supervise the anglers got caught up in the excitement as well until we told her just how the angler came to catch that big flounder.
Back at the marina, our angler won first prize and the suspicion of all the other captains. The next year, there was a race to see which boat could get to the commercial dock first.
Local flounder fishermen
This year’s Flounder Pounder Tournament was won by One More Drift, a boat from Pennsylvania, with a 9.6-pound flounder worth $100,000. In second place was El Nino, a boat from New Jersey, with a 9.2-pound flounder worth $50,000. In third was Hunter of the Seas, a boat from Maryland, with an 8.7-pound flounder worth $40,000. In fourth was Sloppy Seconds, a boat from New Jersey, with an 8.5-pound flounder worth $30,000. In fifth was Katydid, a boat from Delaware, with an 8.5-pound flounder worth $20,000.
I find this very interesting that a flounder tournament held in Delaware has the top four places go to boats from out of state. I would expect the big money to draw out-of-state boats to the Flounder Pounder, but come on, what’s the matter with the local flounder fishermen that they let those folks take all the big money away from Delaware?
After the storm
We will have some serious damage to our beaches after the tropical storm waves of 12 to 16 feet punish the sand on Thursday. This will be in addition to the higher-than-normal tides.
The strong waves will not only mess up the beach fishing, they will also disturb the bottom fishing. The bottom will feel the effects of the storm, and this will cause the sea bass and flounder to have problems holding their position and finding food. Soft bottom will be disturbed, and even some hard structure will be rearranged. In other words, it will be a whole new ball game when we get back out on the water.
The higher-than-normal tides will flood low-lying areas including marshes, streets and woodlands. This will put all sorts of debris in the water, and it will float around for quite a while.
When you get your boat out, you must be aware of this and keep a very sharp lookout. The worst piece of debris I have personally seen was a very large, green oxygen tank with just the top floating above the water. In another instance, a friend ran his boat on top of a big sheet of plywood. He was running offshore in the early morning when the sun was just above the horizon, and the seas were choppy, so he didn’t see the partially submerged plywood.
I have a feeling that the inconvenience we fishermen experience will pale in comparison to the loss of property that will follow this storm. This is just a glancing blow from tropical winds and tides, so just think about what it will be like when we get hit by a full-blown hurricane.
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Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
