Published: Saturday, August 07, 2010, 8:31 PM Updated: Saturday, August 07, 2010, 9:07 PM

The results are official at the Ocean City, Md. White Marlin Open, and Let It Ride from Fair Haven was the second biggest winner as James Kontos pocketed $423,040 for the 1010.5-pound blue marlin fought by his son John. That blue knocked an opening day 790-pounder taken by Scandalous into second place, but that boat still won $118,647 for second — and Trey Little of Rockport, Tx. added $283,168 when their 77.5-pound tuna on the last day edged the leader by just one pound. Kevin Miles of Tinton Falls got knocked back to fourth place in tuna on Sea Hag with a 73-pounder, but still collected $12,878.

The featured white marlin division produced some real trophies. The winning 97.5-pounder was the second-largest in White Marlin Open history, and paid off $856,507 to Brian Roberts of Berlin, Md. on Shelly II. The second place 92-pounderon Sea Toy was worth $92,017, and Kingfisher’s third place 80.5-pounder paid $60,636.

Top Gunhad the big dolphin at 53.5 pounds, and Banshee 2 had the only eligible wahoo at 47.5 pounds. The top boat in points was Fin Ness at 1263, just five points ahead of Trophy Hunter, which won the top release boat category with 1190 points.

The White Marlin Open drew a field of 255 boats with a purse of $2,137,232. The final totals (each boat fishing three out of five days) were 551 released white marlin plus 38 boated; 22 released blue marlin, with just two boated; eight released sailfish, andnine released spearfish.

Five Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Five Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Published: Friday, August 06, 2010, 8:47 PM Updated: Friday, August 06, 2010, 9:14 PM

The last day of canyon tournaments is dubbed “changing day” because most boats use that day as one of their three in order to be able to pick their best shot at a weak or open category. The featured white marlin category already had such large entries that there were long odds against beating them, and the same thing applied to the top two in blue marlin at 1010.5 and 790 pounds — but any bigeye tuna would run away in that division over the rather ordinary yellowfins in the top three. There were still no bigeyes up to just before the scales were closed, butseveral smaller tuna were brought to the scales before Scandalous weighed a 77.5-pounder to take first place from That’s Right by a single pound after That’s Right had led all week. Thatalmost made up for the fact that Scandalous boated that 790-pound blue marlin on opening day only to get blasted down to second place the next day by Let It Ride’sgrander. Lucky Duck II later this evening weigheda 73.5-pound tuna to move into third place. The wahoo category had been open, but Banshee arrived with a 47.5-pounder to take the lead.

Final results, when official, will be placed on the blog over the weekend.

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Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 9:22 PM Updated: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 10:54 PM

If there were any fish big enough to change the White Marlin Open leaderboard, they never got to the weigh-in due to a massive thunderstorm hanging over Ocean City, Maryland. Just Right did weigh a 37-pound wahoo, but it was short of the minimum in that unfilled category. Many boats will be sailing their final tournament day on Friday.

Five Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 8:29 PM Updated: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 9:13 PM

Fluke in Ambrose Channel

It’s important to use braided line, and to have wind and current together, but Ambrose Channel provides a good opportunity to find concentrations of legal fluke rather than having to pick through lots of shorts in shallower waters in hope of catching a keeper. Large baits are standard for most Ambrose regulars, but Capt. Sal Cursi says he’s been doing well there with the same Gulp (4-inch Swimming Mullet) and killie combo that works so well in the back of Raritan Bay.

Fluke at the Rattlesnake: The rough bottom is a fluke attractor, but it also makes for difficult fishing as anglers must just tick bottom rather than dragging over it. Heavy bucktails are most effective. Sea bass are a regular by-catch.

Bluefish at Shrewsbury Rocks: Big blues finally got back in the picture earlier this week, even providing whitewater action while chasing rainfish, squid and small blues. They’ve been marked there since, but have been difficult to catch on jigs at times.

School bluefin tuna at Chicken Canyon: The trolling and jigging bite here and at the nearby Atlantic Princess has been mostly an early morning and evening deal lately. Look for surface clues, especially whales.

Yellowfin tuna in the canyons: There[s been an off-and-on bite of yellowfin tuna in the 50-pound class in Hudson, Toms, and Lindenkohl canyons. It’s basically trolling, though some have been chunked at night — a technique that’s usually not effective until late summer.Swordfish are also a possibility at night.

Five Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Published: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 9:47 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 11:00 PM

Though 141 boats fished today in the Ocean City, Md. White Marlin Open, there was little change in the standings. Titan 62 moved into athird place tie in tuna with a 71.5-pound entry. That category remains wide open since no bigeyes have been caught so far. Kevin Miles of Tinton Falls moved into second in tuna late Tuesday on Sea Hag with a 73-pounder. It’s going to be hard to crack the top two in white marlin that stand at 97.5 and 92 pounds, or the top two in blue marlin at 1010.5 and 790 pounds — but third in blues is wide open. There have been no qualifying wahoo or sharks so far.

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Published: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 7:53 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 8:28 PM

Mike Sawyer of Summit wanted his sons and friends to bend rods this afternoon as he fished with me and Capt. Hans Kaspersetz on Sheri Berri Charters out of Baker’s Marina on the Bay in Highlands — and that’s what we did off the Navy Pier. Gulp tipped with killies from Julian’s Tackle in Atlantic Highlands proved attractive to the small fluke that usually dominate there, and I was happy to watch Andy Sawyer and Mike Sawyer Jr. of Summit, Jim Kerr from N.C., and Andy Kerr from Dallas get the hang of holding bottom to pick away at small fluke that included a couple of 17 1/2-inchers. I used my light surf spinning outfit with a Gulp teaser above a 1/2-ounce bucktail tipped with a small whole squid to cast downwind in order to hit bottom and workthe light bucktailback. To my great surprise, a thick 22 1/2-inch fluke hit that bucktail/squid. The party later added another legal fluke before heading in early.

Check results from from the Ocean City White Marlin Open in a seperate blog.

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Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 9:10 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 10:32 PM

It was noted in last night’s blog about the Ocean City White Marlin Invitational that the first day’s catch of a 790-pound blue marlin by Scandalous might be hard to beat, but within 24 hours a N.J. boat blew that blue off the top of the board. James Kontos of Fair Haven pulled ahead in the race for a potential $360,000 with his Let It Ride when his son, John of Crested Butte, Colorado, fought a 1010.5-pound blue to join that elite group of anglers who haveboated a 1000-pound marlin.

The featured white marlin board was completely overturned as this was written, before the official end of weigh-ins for the 229 boats that sailed on Tuesday. The 78.5-pounder that led after the first day was knocked off bylocal angler Tommy Fowler with 92-pounder on Sea Toy — only to fall itself to a huge white of 97.5 pounds caught by another local angler,Brian Roberts, on Shelly II. That was the second largest white in tournament history, and currently leads for a potential $800,000. D.A.Sea weighed a 79-pound white, only to get pushed back by an 80.5-pounder on Kingfisher.

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Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 3:25 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 6:06 PM

The following is a special offer for veterans from Hawks Cay Resort, at Mile Marker 61 on Duck Key in the Florida Keys. Locatednear Marathon,with all it’s attractions, Hawks Cay has everything you need for a Keys vacation. I stayed there with a writer’s group some years ago, and was very impressed. Many guides operate out of there, and the bridges I love to fish at night for tarpon are just minutes away. The buffet breakfast was special. The prices being offered are a bargain for those who qualify.

“From August 23 to Nov 30 of this year, we are launching our second annual Heroes Welcome Promotion. We are offering $99 per night (versus the avg $175-375) room rate for past and present military, firefighters, police/sworn officers and medical personnel. Or, if you would like to head to the Keys during the promotion timeframe for $119 per night, simply make a donation of $1 or more to our partner, Firehouse Subs Foundation!Please take a look at www.hawkscayheroes.com to learn more or, of course, www.hawkscay.com to check out the resort! ” The phone number is 888 305-7006.

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Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 12:06 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 12:37 PM

The first day of the White Marlin Invitational in Ocean City, Maryland was a good one as 230 boats out of the 255 entered took it as one of their three days in five to fish the contest with $2,135,822 at stake. A hard to beat fish was weighed in by Scandalous — a 790-pound blue marlin that has a projected pay-out of $500,000. There were also quite a few large white marlin, topped by a 78.5-pounder entered by Trouble Maker. Though that’s in the lead for $230,000, the second place 74-pound white by Reel Passion could be worth $680,000 because that boat is entered in higher-priced Calcuttas. The tuna leader is most vulnerable, since it’s a mere 76.5-pounder on That’s Right — which could pay off $270,000. Two trophy dolphin were weighed, with a 53.5-pounder on Top Gun edging a 51.5-pounder on White Lightning. Mollie K. leads in white marlin releases with 420 points.

In total, there were 173 white marlin releases plus 18 boated. The latter count will go down now that the third place bottom line is 74 pounds. There were 14 blue marlin released in addition to the one boated. Four spearfish and three sailfish werereleased plus a swordfish — a most unusual catch in a trolling-only tournament.

Five Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.