Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
This past week in Ocean City was more of the same hot humid nasty heat and then more heat! The fish seem to have gotten used to the warmth as well as the busy boat traffic and fishing showed it. Good catches of flounder were made last week with some really big sea bass. Mahi are all along the shipping channel and near shore wrecks.
Flounder, Sea Bass & Tog
Bass Grounds & African Queen
The inshore fishermen were out en masse last week. On the near shore reefs the catch was great for flounder, with several over 20” reported. Capt. Dave Caffrey of “On The Run” charters reported he was out with Reef Joe, Joe Jr. and Mackenzie Peters hooking 13 fluke up to 23”. That is quite the haul after slower fishing in past weeks! I guess the flounder have arrived.
Kevin McNelis said the bite this past week was on fire. Kevin has been having a banner year bringing home limits of flatties along with triggerfish. Luke Wrye from College Park, MD was fishing out around 20 miles and had to contend with lots of throwbacks, but did manage a few nice fluke along with a boat load of sea bass. The crew used sand fleas and squid while drifting natural bottom. Capt. Chris Mizurak of the “Angler” along with mates Steve and Griffin were on the water with Dean Miller and crew of West Ocean City and managed 14 keepers on their trip using squid. Captain Chris said the fluke bite is getting better every day. They are also starting to see more and more small mahi located near the bass pot balls and buoy markers. Mahi will take small squid strips on a circle hook.
Hopefully over the next couple of weeks the flatties will really make an appearance.
Out on the reef, sea bass have also been pretty good despite the warm water. Captain Monty Hawkins of the boat “Morning Star” had a good past week on the Bass Grounds. Eamonn “Irish” Carey got a few nice bass with the biggest one at 4 lbs. on a jig. Eamonn was also out later in the week on a private boat hooking a 24” 5 lb. 7 oz. flounder out on the Old Grounds.
Looks like Mr. Carey had quite the week! Trevor Winters of New Castle, DE, was aboard the “Judith M” and caught his largest sea bass of the season.
Back Waters of OC
Caleb Dinges found his first keeper while fishing with his dad Chad Dinges aboard the “Power On” in the Thorofare. The 17” fluke was caught on orange Gulp.
Adam Carnes caught a 22” fish off the Rt. 50 Bridge on a ½ oz. bucktail at night on a full tide. Adam was fishing for stripers when he hooked this beauty of a flatfish. Timmy Barger caught a nice 16” keeper at the East Channel. He used a flounder rig with a shiner and squid combo. Karmen, Rebecca, and Presh Slezak of Middle River, MD, caught some nice fish while fishing the Thorofare with Gulp baits aboard the “Grey Goose”. Great catch folks!
Other Species Caught
Ellie Harrell of New York was fishing the Rt. 50 Bridge with a Storm lure and caught a nice 5 lb. 21” bluefish.
The Oceanic Pier was also on fire last week with several nice catches of flounder, sharks and rays. Fishing off the pier was Jonathan Knight who got a nice 19” rockfish. Although this fish was not a keeper, any size rockfish caught in the hot part of the summer is a trophy as far as I’m concerned. Pete Renzi was also lucky enough to hook a couple nice stripers while fishing the inlet of OC. He had a great day on the “Fish Frenzi” and caught a 16”as well as a 19” flattie on a Fluke Killer lure later in the week. The fish were caught on paddle tails. Pete said he saw a leatherback turtle and even caught a hake, which is a unique catch this time of year.
Of course our pal Big Bird Cropper and Shaun Flaherty were not going to be out done. They had a great night landing an overslot 39” rockfish as well as a 29” keeper. I wonder what he caught it on? A Roy Rig perhaps?
Skip Maguire out of White Marlin Marina was at his secret spot bringing home a nice boat filled with sheepshead. This specie can be found close to the mouth of the Ocean City Inlet in the deep hole on the south jetty. The problem here is many anglers fish for them this time of the year and the area gets very crowded. Be sure you are capable of handling your boat in tight spaces because you will need to get in line and follow the other boats on a drift around the rocks and into the inlet to catch these fish. Due to the fact the fish will not stray far from the rocks, you will need to position rather close to the rocks, which are very unforgiving if you hit one with your boat. For anglers wishing to target sheepshead, I would recommend a trip to the Delaware Bay and fish the “Ice Breakers” out front. They allow for a lot greater space to fish in a less aggressive current and are much easier to fish from any size boat. Sand fleas are the recommended bait but frozen shrimp and crabs will also be effective.
Crabs & Clams
Assateague Island is flat out fantastic this year for clams. This time of year usually finds the sandy bay areas picked over, however this year many clams are very close to the top of the sand and easily raked up. The area at the first turn off in Federal Park is the current hot spot.
Crabs are averaging about 9-12 keepers per pot in the waters close to the Delaware line. Many crabbers report some of the biggest males they have seen in years!
Until next week,
Tight lines and fins up §
