Article by Sue Foster
“What’s biting in July?”
July is one of our busiest months in Ocean City. Vacationers come from all over to spend a few days or a week relaxing and enjoying some sun and fun. Fishing and crabbing is a pasttime many enjoy. Even if you fish for just a few hours, sitting along the bayside with a rod and reel in hand, watching the boats go by, can be very enjoyable.
“So what’s biting?”
We have a variety of fish in July. On the bayside, there are flounder caught on live minnows or frozen shiners; we have snapper bluefish that take shiners, squid, mullet or lures; we have croakers that eat worms, squid, or shiners.
If you fish close to the inlet rocks or the bulkhead along 2nd through 4th Streets, we have tautog, triggerfish and even sheepshead that like sand fleas or clam. There are lots of little fish for the kids to catch including Norfolk spot that like worms. Artificial Fish Bite Bloodworms work if the parents don’t want to buy real bloodworms or night crawlers.
“What’s biting at night?”
Night fishing is good on the hot days in July. Fishing the Inlets, Oceanic Pier, or the Rt. 50 Bridge is all good. Anywhere that the water is deep and running and where lights shine on the water draw fish towards the surface. Stripers, bluefish, shad, and trout chase bait and will bite your lures if you present them correctly. Anglers use Spec Rigs, Gotcha Plugs, Swimming Shad lures, bucktail jigs with plastic worms attached, and lead heads with soft bodies. Any 5-inch soft body seems to be popular. Bass Assassins, Zooms, Fin-S Fish, Gulp! Shads, etc…. (There are hundreds of brands out there.)
“I’m staying right on the beach and want to surf fish in front of our place. What can I catch?
Do I need a license?”
There is no license required in Ocean City for 2009, but if you venture into Delaware, you need one. (Ask again next year, because in 2010 things may be different.)
Anglers are allowed to surf fish before 10 am and after 5:30 pm. This is before the lifeguards go on duty and after the lifeguards go off duty. Between midnight and 5 am is prohibited. This is when the beach cleaning machines run the beach and the ordinance is a safety issue.
“What can I catch?”
Fishing is best at dawn and dusk. Stripers can be caught at these times with cut bait, lures, or bloodworms. Generally a soft body on a lead head worked in close in the suds work for the stripers. Salt water flies are popular too!
In July, we have snapper blues (not very big, generally between 8 and 14 inches). Use finger mullet either chunked or with a whole finger mullet on a mullet rig. We have small trout, kingfish (whiting), croaker, and Norfolk Spot. All these pan fish take bloodworm, artificial Fish Bite bloodworm, shrimp, small strips of Calamari box squid, and small strips of cut spot, bunker, or mullet. Buy kingfish rigs with size #6 hooks when fishing for these pan fish. Flounder can be caught in the surf with live minnows or any kind of cut bait cut into strips.
Sharks and rays! The last few years has seen an increasing number of sand sharks and other sharks such as dusky, sand bar, sand tiger, spinner and angel sharks. Big rays and skates give anglers a tussle. Use a large bluefish rig baited with whole Calamari squid, chunk of bunker, or any small fish head including a bunker head. Cast out as far as you can. Sharks tend to come in close at dusk and after dark. Most people catch and release sharks. There are several you are not allowed to keep, so unless you are really good at identifying sharks, I tell anglers to release them. Sand sharks, the sharks that do not have teeth, are actually dog fish and you are allowed to keep two of them if you like.
If you are interested, these are the sharks you are not allowed to keep: … white, dusky, sand tiger, sandbar, bigeye sand tiger, whale, basking bignose, Galapagos, Night, Caribbean reef, narrowtooth, Caribbean sharpnose, smalltail, Atlantic angel, longfin mako, bigeye thresher, sevengill, sixgill and bigeye sixgill…
“I brought my own boat down and want to go fishing!”
In the bays around Ocean City we have flounder, snapper blues, croaker and Norfolk spot. Most anglers fish for flounder with live minnows hooked through the lips, or frozen shiners hooked through the eyes. You can add a strip of squid to the hook to make a sandwich bait which is very effective! Anglers also use Fish Bite strips or Berkley Gulp! Minnow or Mullet Grubs for extra added attraction.
Drift the channels around Ocean City being careful to follow the buoy markers. There are lots of sand bars and not much water at low tide. Buy an ADC Ocean City Recreational Map and study it to see where the channels are. Fish two hours before and after high tide for the best fishing.
If you cast around the South Jetty early in the morning or towards the evening with live spot, eel, or lures, there’s a good chance you will hook into stripers. If you throw sand fleas around the rocks of the South Jetty you may catch some tautog, sheepshead, or trigger fish. If you go offshore to one of Ocean City’s many artificial reef sites (buy the Ocean City Reef Foundation Charts at your favorite tackle store) you can catch sea bass, flounder, trigger fish,
sheepshead and croaker. Use squid, shiners, clam and sand fleas.
“Where can I leave my trailer for the week?”
Boat trailers may not be parked on any public street, alley, or parking lot from May 1st through October 1st. Boat trailer parking is available at the 100th Street Municipal Lot. For information, call the lot at 410-524-0038.
“I don’t have a boat but want to go fishing on one!”
Grab the Coastal Fisherman, as all the boats are advertised within this most valuable free paper. Decide whether you want to go out into the ocean bottomfishing for sea bass, tautog, triggerfish and croaker and then pick a party boat that suits your needs. There are ½ day and full day trips.
If you want to stay in the bay, there are several bay party boats that go out for either 4 hour trips or two hour trips. These boats will be fishing primarily for flounder unless we have a good croaker run.
“What are the size limits and what do the fish look like?”
Again, within the pages of the Coastal Fisherman is a picture page for Maryland, Delaware and Virginia that show the size and creel limits of each species for each state. If it’s not on there, then there is no size limit. There is also a tide chart each week. Have your favorite tackle store on speed dial in case you have any questions on the water. Most public fishing areas also have a size chart posted.
Don’t lose your Coastal Fisherman paper during the week or use it for eating crabs or wrapping dishes. It is a handy fishing guide for just about everything that has to do with fishing. The papers come out on Wednesdays and go fast, so grab one first thing!!! You can also read it online and see all the new videos they have posted at www.coastalfisherman.net!
“How about crabbing?”
Crabbing is good in July and can be done from several public areas. In Ocean City, the best places to go are: the pier at Northside Park at 127th Street (It closes for a few days during the 4th of July); the pier at the Isle of Wight, which is located on the island in the middle of the Rt. 90 Bridge at 62nd Street (best with traps because the railing is high), and the pier behind Convention Hall at 41st Street. There are also crabbing piers on Assateague Island. (If you go in Delaware you need a fishing license to crab.)
Fishing in July can be a fun experience. Visit your favorite tackle store, and we’ll tell you all about it!
Good fishing….
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and co-owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE.
