Article by Larry Jock
This Week Last Year
•best flounder action was in the Thorofare.
•plenty of short flounder in the bay behind Assateague.
•bluefish bite picked up around Rt. 50 Bridge.
•best bluefish bite was on outside of South Jetty.
•keeper tog were caught around South Jetty.
•schoolie stripers around bridges and jetties.
•action in the surf was very slow with occasional black drum, but mostly skates.
Last week was an interesting week of fishing out of Ocean City. Several “firsts” were recorded in addition to some biggies hitting the scale.
Tautog
As you saw on the cover, New York resident, Eddie Santiago was at it again, adding another 20 lb. tautog to his distinguished list of catches. Eddie typically releases these big fish, but this one didn’t look like it would survive so they threw it in the cooler. The blackfish was caught early in the week on the charter boat, “Fish Bound” where Capt. Kane positioned his anglers over an inshore wreck in 50-feet of water where it couldn’t resist the green crab that Eddie was offering.
The Maryland tog season will close from May 16th to June 30th.
Bluefish
Bluefish continue to keep anglers busy and excited with fish all over the bay and along the coastline. It’s great to see so many young anglers jumping on this ferocious bite.
In the bay, most of the bluefish caught last week came around the sandbars, both north and south of the Rt. 50 Bridge. According to Big Bird Cropper, who is out on the water almost every day, the bluefish are snapping better on the south side of the Rt. 50 Bridge during the incoming tide and on the north side of the bridge during the outgoing tide. Bird also said that when they couldn’t find them snapping in front of the Coast Guard Station, they crossed the bay and really smacked them on the west side while casting into shallow water.
As it is when you have a good bluefish bite, the action is usually fast and furious. For example, a couple of anglers on Thursday caught their limit of 20 fish in only 35 minutes while fishing around the Rt. 50 bridge. The blues ranged in size from 18 to 25-inches.
We saw some larger bluefish being caught along the coast by anglers fishing with whole mullet rigs.
Flounder
The flounder bite didn’t seem as good as it was the previous few weeks, which was probably due to dirty water conditions and the influx of bluefish. The best bite was during the incoming tide when fresh, clean water flowed into the bay.
The top flounder spot is still in the Thorofare and up on the flats over on the west side of the bay. The fish are fat, but you need to tangle with some throwbacks before you reach your limit. A few keeper fish were also caught in the bay behind Assateague Island.
Trollers are still outproducing drifters with minnows, squid, Gulp and bellies being the best baits right now. White continues to be the top producing color.
Red Drum
Congratulations go out to Allen Sklar for catching the first red drum of the season last Wednesday while fishing off Assateague Island. Allen had also caught the first black drum of the year back on April 9th.
Striped Bass
Small schoolies are still being caught around the Rt. 50 and Rt. 90 Bridges in addition to around the South Jetty.
The big news from last week was the 46-inch, 37.5 lb. linesider that was caught off the Oceanic Pier on Thursday night by Dan Rivera of Rockville, MD. Dan was targeting flounder with Gulp shrimp on only 10 lb. test. After he hooked into the big fish, thinking it was a ray, he fought it for over 35 minutes before they needed to rush into the tackle shop to get a bridge net that could finish the job. With help from Doug Maguire, Dan was able to land the fish and had it weighed at Alltackle Ocean City. Pretty amazing catch on only 10 lb. test line.
In the Surf
I’m still not hearing much on the striper front, but some larger bluefish were caught by anglers fishing with mullet rigs. A few black drum continue to be captured in the suds while fishing with clams.
Black Sea Bass
The Maryland black sea bass season will open on May 15th.
Bluefin Tuna
NOAA changed the bluefin regs this week and actually did something we haven’t seen in many, many years. They created a category for headboats and inspected charterboats that are licensed to carry more than 6 anglers. Check out the Federal Regulations on page 18.
There was some exciting news on Tuesday when Scot Wells on the charter boat, “Restless Lady II” returned with a 52-incher that weighed 92 lbs. The first bluefin of the year, along with several throwbacks, was hooked in 68-degree water in the Wilmington Canyon.
On Friday, the crew on the charter boat, “Moore Bills” ventured out to the 966 line in 1,000 fathoms outside the Rockpile and only had one dolphin come up to their lure. Capt. Rob found a promising water temperature break that went from 68 to 71-degrees, but unfortunately they couldn’t find any life.
On Saturday, a few boats out of Ocean City went up to the Baltimore Canyon where anglers on the “Reel Tight” caught their 2 “under” bluefins and their 1 “over” in addition to releasing 20 more before heading home at noon. All of the action took place in 500 fathoms in 63-degree water.
Also on Saturday, anglers on the “Tunafowl” fished a pocket of water in the Baltimore Canyon where water temperatures were between 55 and 60-degrees. They had a steady bluefin bite the entire time and returned with their 2 “under” fish and 1 “over” bluefin. They released the rest that were all in the 40 to 45-inch range. Like the “Moore Bills”, they didn’t find any life in the warmer 60 to 68-degree water.
Anglers on the “Hammer Down” also headed to the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday and went 10 for 12 on bluefins, returning with their 3 keepers.
Upcoming Tournament
The first Ocean City event of the year is the Marlin Club Memorial Day Tournament on May 25th and 26th. You don’t have to be a member of the Marlin Club to fish this tournament and it includes both bluefish and tuna calcuttas, which opens it up to both inshore and offshore anglers.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!
