Article by Larry Jock
Mother Nature just won’t cut us a break. The horrible weather cycle that is bringing us rain and wind every day just doesn’t seem to let up. Somebody told me today that it has rained 15 of the last 16 days. It’s getting downright depressing.
In between storms, anglers who make it out on the water are seeing improved action in the bay and around the South Jetty.
Striped bass should be fully into their northern migration and surfcasters are typically having their picture taken with some of the biggest stripers of the year, but bad weather and rough surf conditions closed the beach on Assateague Island for several days last week, much to the dismay of frustrated anglers. It also created dirty and grassy water conditions.
A few that strolled across the dunes on Saturday hooked into nice size stripers and those fishing off the beach in mid-town Ocean City also saw some good rod bending action. On Saturday morning, Clark Haller caught a 40-incher at the top of tide on cut bunker and Dasha Lentz, John Lentz, Chris Trovitch and Tim Kearney landed their limit of linesiders from the Ocean City surf while fishing with fresh bunker. Their fish measured between 37 and 40-inches.
Anglers trolling along the beach over the weekend didn’t have much luck. The “Fish Frenzi” made it all the way up to Sea Colony but came back empty handed, which is rare for those guys.
Because of the bad weather, we didn’t see many boats fishing in the Inlet last weekend, but Hugh Cropper and Jason Mumford took advantage of a break in the weather around 3:00 PM and picked up a doubleheader that measured 42 and 43-inches. Both were hooked on peeler crabs before the guys headed back due to rough conditions.
If you weren’t striper fishing in the Inlet or bay, chances are you were looking for flounder. They are definitely here and it looks like the Thorofare flats will once again be the hot spot for the spring. Chris Smack and Chuck Ennis slowed trolled the flats on Saturday and hooked 9 flounder measuring between 16 1/2 and 20-inches. They ended up with 7 keepers caught between 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM during the incoming tide where Chuck reported water temperatures between 53 1/2 and 55 1/2-degrees. All of the flatties had shrimp and crabs in their bellies and the guys caught the fish while slow trolling pink, white and chartreuse Gulp Swimming Mullets, Gulp Shrimp and Gulp Jerk Shad artificial baits.
Elsewhere, at least one keeper flounder was caught over the weekend down by the Ocean City Airport and some throwbacks were hooked near the Commercial Harbor.
We also saw the first sheepshead of the season come in when George Easter landed a 15 1/2-incher after fishing with sand fleas at Russell’s Reef.
Tautog fishing has been excellent on ocean structure and was especially good at Sue’s Reef. The headboat, “Morning Star” reported boat limits in addition to many fish tagged on several days last week. On Saturday, Noel Cook of Ocean Pines boated a big 27 1/2-incher that weighed an even 17 lbs. Capt. Monty said that the fish are really chewing right now so it is a good time to book your spot on the rail. Green crabs and white crabs are the ticket for blackfish.
Offshore, after landing the first tuna of the season, the duo of Josh Ensor and Jeff Rosenkilde ventured back out to the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday and went 2 for 3 on tuna, including a 50 lb. bluefin and a 30 lb. yellowfin. They also broke off a pair of mako sharks and caught a blue shark during the trip. All of the action took place in 800 fathoms where they had a 60 to 64-degree temperature break.
That’s pretty much it for the week. On the bright side, let’s hope that this string of bad weather will turn around and the bite in coming weeks will be spectacular!
See you at the scales!
