Article by Larry Jock
With the meat of the fishing season upon us, the action hasn’t been off the charts, but a steady stream of fish have been arriving at local docks.
In the bay, the flounder bite has been active, but the throwback ratio remains extremely high. Over the weekend, the best flounder bite looked to be in the bay behind Assateague Island, around the corner from the Airport. Several flounder were caught on Gulp! and minnows. Capt. Nick on the “Get Sum” said that you had to follow the 69-degree water during the incoming tide as it worked it’s way down the bay in order to stay on the bite. If you got out of the 69-degree water, the bite turned off. Kind of interesting. On Wednesday, John Puller pulled a 24-incher from the bay behind Frontier Town.
A few flounder were also caught in the East Channel, both by boaters and by anglers fishing off the 2nd Street Bulkhead. Throwbacks were also plentiful in this area. Anglers fishing off the bulkhead also reported periodic bluefish bites as well. As always, white Gulp! Swimming Mullets and minnows worked well but Capt. Jason Mumford on the charter boat, “Lucky Break” has also had good luck with Z-Man paddletails. With live spot available to be castnetted in the canals and basins, loading up on this live bait before your outing is always a good idea. Danny Cox caught a nice 23 1/2-inch, 5 lb. 2 oz. flattie on a live spot in the East Channel on Friday.
The South Jetty was a beehive of activity last week with sheepshead, tautog, flounder, short stripers and even a weakfish being caught.
In the surf, kingfish have arrived for anglers fishing during the day and the typical assortment of rays and sharks kept surfcasters busy at night. A surprising catch last week was when Tyler Smith captured a triggerfish in the surf off 124th Street.
Another cool catch last week was Anthony Pino and Zak Smith’s 50 lb. cobia shot while spearfishing down by the Sugar Lumps. Anthony and Zak ventured out with the sole purpose of looking for a cobia and they found a pair cruising on the surface around 15 miles south of the Ocean City Inlet. The guys got 200 yards down sea and when the fish got close, Anthony jumped in the water and speared the larger of the two. It will be interesting to see how the cobia bite is this season. Last year had some of the best cobia action folks have ever seen in this part of the East Coast.
Inshore, the flounder bite on ocean reefs and wrecks has been much slower than anticipated. So has sea bass fishing. Nobody is not quite sure why, but the “mystery” ship that has been located at various locations along our coast is becoming a main suspect. Are we experiencing the negative effects of sub bottom profiling. I am starting to fear that we might. Stay tuned.
Although a few boats ventured down to the Washington Canyon early last week and picked up some yellowfins and gaffer dolphin, most of the tuna action was inshore in the “Deli” area between the Hot Dog, Hambone and Sausages. The action wasn’t fast and furious but anglers were able to pick up some good size “over” bluefins along with a couple of “unders”. Most of the “over” bluefins we saw were in the 50 to 55-inch range.
Thursday saw the best yellowfin bite of the week around the Hot Dog. The charter boat, “Marli” ended up with 11 in the box and “That’s Right” had 8 plus a mahi. The yellowfins continue to be of a great class, with a lot of them hovering around the 50 lb. mark. Trolled spreader bars continue to work well, but ballyhoo skirted with blue and white Ilanders or Joe Shute’s have also done well.
Although it is customary not to chunk for tuna prior to the Ocean City Tuna Tournament, it looks like some boats are getting a jump start on the action with bluefins caught on the chunk in Massey’s Canyon and the Deli area.
A couple of wahoo were caught last week. On the cover of this issue, you saw anglers on the “Reel Tight” with a beautiful 66 pounder that they caught at the Tea Cup. Shannon Pickens also captured a 42 lb. wahoo while trolling at the Hot Dog mid-week.
If you aren’t going for tuna, mahi or marlin offshore, there’s a good bet you are searching for tilefish, which has really gained in popularity in recent years. Anglers on the “Alway’s Late Too” ventured down to outside the Rockpile and ended up with 3 golden tilefish and 39 blueline tilefish. This was on top of a great outing the day before when they had 6 goldens and 29 blue lines.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the famous Ocean City Tuna Tournament. Anglers will be fishing 2 of 3 days on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Weigh-ins are 4:00-7:30 on Friday and Saturday and 4:00-7:00 on Sunday at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales.
