New state record for yellowtail grouper?

By Scott Lenox

Published on August 27, 2024

We had an insanely thick fog over the ocean this afternoon, but other than that it was another beautiful day. I had the opportunity to go out on the WOP with Captain Nick Sampson and my good buddy Bryan Mindte of Sunset Provisions and we had a great time filming a new episode of Hooked on OC. We had over 20 mahi, a couple of golden tilefish and a ton of blue stripe tilefish, the largest of which was a very nice 29.25″ fish that I caught on my Deadly Tackle Ocean Rod prototype. It was a great trip and should make for a fun new episode of Hooked on OC.

Captain Chase Eberle of Chasin Tides Charters was out in the deep today and caught a variety of really nice exotic fish. Anglers aboard Chasin’ Tides had spiny cheek rockfish, blackbelly rosefish, and an absolute monster of a yellow-margin grouper. The big fish tipped the scales at Sunset Marina at 38 pounds and is just 10 pounds away from the all-gear world record. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will likely create a state record category for yellow-margin grouper for this fish due to its impressive size. Congratulations to Chasin’ Tides for a rare and great catch!

Captain Will of Local Hooker Charters had a fantastic day of deep sea fishing today with a limit of sea bass and three cobia. Two were released and his biggest fish was 47 inches.