Ocean City boats land bluefin tuna during busy Father’s Day fishing
Ocean City’s 47th Small Boat Tournament drew 28 boats on Father’s Day weekend, and bluefin tuna came over the rail alongside tilefish, flounder and sea bass.
Twenty-eight of the 34 boats fishing the final day of the Ocean City Marlin Club’s Small Boat Tournament kept the Ocean City docks busy on June 21, and the catch list showed why the Father’s Day weekend mattered to small-boat tuna crews. The 47th annual event, open to boats 34 feet and under, mixed inshore and offshore divisions, and bluefin tuna stayed in the picture while bottom fish filled coolers across the fleet.
Captain Nick Sampson’s Mobsquad Fishing gave anglers one of the cleanest examples of how a smaller program can work offshore without a giant sportfisher. His crew landed a limit of blueline tilefish, some golden tilefish and one bluefin tuna, a spread that turned a tuna trip into a deep-drop day as well. For crews running out of Ocean City in June, that kind of mixed bag is the practical play: get to the tuna grounds, but be ready to put the rest of the trip on the bottom when the bite and the range allow it.
The family side of the weekend came through just as clearly. Captain Pat Petrera and mate Rodney Evans ran Robert Evans out of Indian River, Delaware, and the private boat trip produced two bluefin tuna and two bluefish as an early Father’s Day gift. Other boats added to the picture around the inlet and offshore grounds. Chasin’ Tides brought in flounder, sea bass, bluefish and triggerfish. Saltwater Adventures had triggerfish in the cooler. The McNelis family put together flounder and triggerfish. The Miss Kathleen came home with sea bass, triggerfish and keeper flounder. Monty Hawkins’ Morning Star reported sea bass feeding up in the water column, another sign that the weekend fishery was active well beyond just the tuna bite.
The tournament itself gave the weekend its structure. Registration was Friday, June 19, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and weigh-ins ran June 20 and 21 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Fisherman’s Marina before awards on Sunday at the club clubhouse. Fish in OC said 34 boats were entered and about $17,000 was on the line, while the club’s 2026 leaderboard recorded the first white marlin of the season, caught by Jack Hannum on Boss Hogg at 11:52 a.m. on June 21. Founded in 1936, the Ocean City Marlin Club has long anchored the Mid-Atlantic scene, and this Father’s Day weekend showed how a 34-foot cap can still produce bluefin action, family trips and a full dockside crowd all at once.
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