Article by Larry Budd
This Week Last Year
•The final few weeks of the season were hampered by bad weather.
•The Ocean City Marlin Club squeaked out a victory over the Cape May Tuna and Marlin Club by recording 38 white marlin versus Cape Mays 37!
•Anglers were finding large catches of small to medium size dolphin in the Baltimore Canyon before the weather turned.
• Several nice wahoo were caught on the “No Quarter”, “Reel Chaos”, “Blue Eyes” and “Primary Search”
This is the last weekly issue of the Coastal Fisherman magazine until our traditional Winter Issue arrives in late December, so I wanted to take this time and space to say thanks to so many who helped make this first season happen.
Over the last few months, despite the pandemic, I have been able to meet so many amazing and supportive people. They offered their help and guidance and were tolerant of my many mistakes this season!
First on the list would have to be the Jock Family. This transition would not have been possible without the incredible support technically and emotionally from them, especially Larry's widow Mary and his brother Tom. I think they knew more about running this business than they realized and that was invaluable in the absence of Larry. I also want to thank Larry himself. While I did not have the chance to know him personally, I feel I have grown to know him from his organization and systems at the paper as well as the many stories shared by his brother Tom and almost everyone I have met this summer! There was a lot to learn and we got off to a slow start in May, but I am proud of the papers we published this year.
Special thanks go to our contributors who week after week met their deadlines mostly on time (Franky...). I don't think people understand the effort those require, especially since Capt. Franky Pettolina, Capt. Mark Sampson, Capt. Steve Katz and Capt. BJ Pietryak have other jobs and responsibilities! They did a great job bringing interesting, useful and often entertaining information to our readers. I look forward to having their columns again the Coastal Fisherman in 2021.
The tournament organizers and sponsors have also been very gracious with their support and help to the new guy, especially in a season of such choas.
Franky Pettolina, Amanda Shick and the individual tournament chairmen at the Ocean City Marlin Club have been amazing to work with during the many events they organized this season. Rolfe Gudelsky, Brian Tinkler and Jennifer Blume helped me though my first big commercial event, showing me the ropes during the Ocean City Tuna Tournament. The Lewis family of Lloyd, Stephen, John and Kristin along with Brian Roberts were great to work with during the largest Big Fish Classic tournament to date, and the crazy weigh in schedule that followed! The entire Motsko family from Jim to Andy, Madelyn and Shasha made my first White Marlin Open one to remember for their unconditional support of the paper and unique 7 day schedule! Rick Weber with Jeff Merrill and Aaron Hoffman made the The MidAtlantic Tournament a great event and place to be for both Christine and me .
My thanks also to the many tournament weigh masters, marina employees and especially dock hands and mates who had to wait for us to position fish and groups of tired and sometimes intoxicated angers with their catch to get the perfect shot and catch report details!
Recognition and my personal thanks are also due to the many charter and private boat captains who shared fishing details for our weekly reports and called us to the docks to get some of the great pictures you see in our paper. They put up with my questions with great diplomacy! This group also includes the bait and tackle shops who week after week also share information and pictures even though most were shorthanded and working their butts off!
Most importantly I want to thank our advertisers. So many people have thanked me for continuing the great tradition of the Coastal Fisherman, but it is really the advertisers support that enable us to bring this ‘priceless’ paper to our readers. To them, especially this year, I thank you for your support and belief in a new and untested publisher. It may seem obvious, but I would ask all of our readers to continue to support of our advertisers and share that you saw their ad in our paper!
There are also countless individuals who have helped along the way... Steve Soulas, Hugh Cropper, Dave Messick, and Brendan Hanley are just a few of the many.
My final thank you is to my wife and tournament helper Christine. I don't think we were fully ready for the journey of this summer when we started the process in May! She has been patient with the long hours and taking care of the family in my absence.
If you have gotten this far, I give my thanks to you for your commitment! Until we meet again stay safe, keep friends close and let us know what you have been catching! We will be looking for pictures for the Winter Edition so please continue to email us at [email protected] or share on our Facebook page. §
