Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Last week in Maryland saw some decent fishing on the inshore areas. Lots of different species were caught on many different sites.
Sea Bass & Flounder
African Queen
Edward Hearn was fishing with “Bad Wind Charters” and they landed a nice limit of some big flounder. Joe Puck and Tommy Barlow also fished with Captain Bruce this week and got more nice flatties. The highlight was when Bruce tried to lip a ribbonfish. The “Judith M” out of Bahia Marina reported some good trips with some great people this week. Lots of sea bass came over the rails. Pete Dussinger brought home some nice fish for dinner along with a big smile on his face. Captain Eric Shoaff reported lots of small fish are around keeping everyone busy pulling on the rods. Friday last week, Sarah Allies brought home the biggest sheepshead this year on the “Angler”. The fish was 23.5” and weighed 8.9 lbs. They were on the water all week, pulling a plethora of fish over the rail. Captain Chris Mizurak reports a lot of the fish are undersized but still enough keepers for anglers to bring home dinner. Fresh clam and squid appear to be working about equally.
Bass Grounds Reef
Jerry Hudack and Bill Shue caught a limit of flounder along with 6 over 20”. The duo also caught 2 sea bass from various wrecks. The “Ocean City Girl” fished both the inshore wrecks as well as the offshore ones. Last Wednesday they had a great day catching 30 sea bass, 15 blues, and 3 false albacores. The group also ended up with a 50”, 80 lb. bluefin tuna. Great job guys!
Bay Fishing
Jacqueline Fazio was fishing on the “BayBee” boat and tangled with a nice 19” fluke. Sue Galloway was fishing on her boat, the “Reel Life” near OC Airport with Gulp and minnows, catching a nice 25” 5 lb. trophy. Further north in the Thorofare Captain Don Hochein of the “Nameless” caught a beauty measuring 22”. Camden Holz caught a nice 17.5” keeper in this same area. Mitch Pruitt was fishing a slack tide on the East Channel on the “Papa Double” and hooked a nice 19.75” fish on a bunker. Gerry Chaveca from Canada was fishing the bay this past week and managed two keepers, both measuring 17.5” as well as a few throwbacks. Fish were caught on an outgoing tide on minnows. The back bays are really heating up. Captain John Prather of the “Ocean City Guide Service” was out all last week and brought home several keeper flatfish along with a few keeper bluefish and rockfish. The fish, which have concentrated in the southern part of the bay have begun to spread out to the northern parts near the Thorofare and points north.
Great Eastern Reef & Deeper Wrecks
The deeper wrecks in the 120 ft. range are still producing the best quality fish as well as a few limits of keepers.
Bluefish & Rockfish
Rt. 50 Bridge
Bay fishing for bluefish was pretty productive this week with anglers fishing the Rt. 50 Bridge pulling in some nice big keeper fish. Buddy Martin and his friend Cody fished the bridge at night last Wednesday and managed 3 keepers each between 5 and 8 lbs. Buddy reports losing several fish around 10 lbs. that jumped the hook while fishing them at the surface. Several other reports from the bridge of big blues and small rockfish. Ron Smith was out with Big Bird and managed some big keeper blues and a few small stripers. The best time to fish the bridge is at night, with the best tide being a full to outgoing tide. Cut bait such as bunker are your best baits. Fishing the down current side of the bridge and allowing the bait to drift away from the bridge structure on or near the bottom will draw the best strikes.
The Ocean City Fishing Pier also had some good catches last week with multiple species caught. The pier is open Sunday-Thursday 8am-10pm and Friday and Saturday 8am-11pm.
Surf Fishing
Assateague Island
David Moore was surf fishing the island this past week and reported a fun evening catching multiple rays, sharks, and redfish. All were big fish with the reds over the slot. Joseph Perzanewski was out last weekend and hooked into 10 blues as well as 10 kingfish. Joseph also reports a few big sand sharks. The further south on Assateague Island you fish the better chances of catching nice drum or big sharks. Cut bait on a fish finder rig is your best set up with early morning and late evening being the best times.
Clams & Crabs
Reports from the upper bay say that crabbing has been a little slow for keepers, with many traps and pots filled with sponge crabs and small undersized crabs. The average per pot is around 5-7 keepers.
Clamming on the back bays has been steadily improving. They’ve been closer to the surface and easily raked up or found with your feet. As the summer continues the traffic on the state and federal parks will increase, so attempt to head out a little deeper and you’ll find less crowded areas.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up §
