Well, that was a lovely weekend. I don't think we have to do any worrying about a drought this year.
The second shark tournament of the year is history. The Marine Basin tournament had a little over a hundred boats in it, about the same as last year, which is pretty surprising considering the weather. There are always a lot of boats that wait until the last minute to sign up, and then decide if they want in or not depending on the weather forecast.
The fishing was not an awful lot to rave about, with only ten fish weighed in, with no threshers - the first time that has occurred in quite a while. The sharks are still pretty far out for this time of year, with forty fathoms about the closest you can fish and expect any success, unless you count the doggies. I don't believe I ever caught a dogfish while shark fishing, but this year they are quite common. And, to add insult to injury, any day now we will be receiving the notice that the commercial dogfish quota is filled.
The results are as follows;
1st Place Overall - 315 lbs Blueshark - FISH ON
1st Place Mako - 192 lbs - TUNA TANGLER
2nd Place Mako - 179 lbs - CAPT MARK
3rd Place Mako - 170 lbs - TIGER SHARK
1st Place Blueshark - 315 lbs - FISH ON
2nd Place Blueshark - 272 lbs - REAL NICE
3rd Place Blueshark - 247 lbs - MY DENISE
I've been in the charterboat game for around thirty years or so, and I've never seen the business so slow, and I can't explain it. The striped bass fishing is great, and that is the main interest of most of the clients, so it can't be that. Fluke fishing isn't what it should be, and I can understand few people booking all day inshore trips, which are usually split between bass and fluke. But that doesn't explain the lack of half day trips. And the head boats are doing even worse. On Friday The LAZYBONES and the VIKING were the only head boats that sailed. All the rest sat, and Friday is usually the second busiest day of the week.
It seems like the bluefins that were cavorting around near the fluke boats have moved on. At least I haven't heard about them recently.