Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Last week in Ocean City brought a welcome touch of cooler weather, coupled with a few passing storms. The strong winds we have been dealing with for most of the summer returned for the later part of the week making trips to the wrecks and reefs a little more difficult, or for some not practical! Still, The flounder bite remains very strong with some huge fish being brought in on a daily basis. Sea bass can still be found in deeper water like near the Rockpile and wrecks over 100 feet. The back bays are producing some decent fluke, however between the heavy boat traffic of the tournaments as well as the heat and low oxygen, the fish are less active and harder to get to bite your lure. Finding areas that are less traveled and have better moving water are the key to finding fish willing to take the hook.
Nearshore & Reefs
The nearshore reefs have been producing some really nice catches of flounder lately both on rough bottom as well as the nearshore wrecks. Capts. Eric Shoaff & Walt Hammond on the “Judith M” reported their half day trips are producing several big fluke on the deeper wrecks as well as a few sea bass thrown in to complete the angler's days. The ten and eight hour trips have been producing better catches of sea bass as they can venture out to deeper water. It's good to see the sea bass are still available in the deeper water, and Capt. Eric shared that they have not had to deal with many undersized fish.
Captain Chris on the “Angler” reported with schools starting back up, the rails have been a lot lighter giving anglers room to move around. As the water begins to cool, sea bass should begin to return closer to inshore waters and become more available. This week the “Angler's” big fish was a flounder over six pounds, however the sea bass bite was picky and took a little more work to get the crew on the meat. Blake Gunther and Derek Yobst were out on the reefs again this past week and returned to the dock with a 4 man limit of fluke as well as several triggerfish, spades, sea bass, and even a few tog. That is quite the variety of fish in one day. So what time is dinner? Kevin McNelis had a 3 man limit of flatfish with the biggest being just over 5 pounds. Kevin stated that all the fish they brought home were over 20 inches. “Double Trouble Charters” was out again last week returning with coolers full of fluke, as well as some huge sea bass for this time of the year. Captain D.J. Churchill reports the best flounder fishing he has seen in years. Lydia Mein hailing from Baltimore got a trophy fish measuring 25 inches and weighing just over six pounds off the near shore wrecks while fishing on the “Ocean Princess”. Scott Lenox pulled in a few nice sheepshead this past week while fishing with Blake Gunther. I have received numerous reports of sheepshead on many of the nearshore wrecks and snags as well as a large group along the south jetty wall of the Ocean City inlet. Small jigs tipped with crab or sand fleas are the best method to target these hard to catch fish. Sheepshead are notorious bait stealers. You must be paying close attention to your line and rod to not miss the bite. This is not a fish that you can put the rod in the rod holder and expect that they will hook themselves. David Moore wanted a change of scenery from his usual surf fishing and went offshore to target some sheepies. He was rewarded with several big fish up to 24 inches. David also reported catching about a dozen tog up to 15 inches.
Back Bay & Inlet Fishing
The back bays are very heavy with boat traffic these last few weeks of August and have sent the fish deep and made them very wary of fishing lines and hooks. Dropping the line weight to a smaller size as well as finding areas not so heavily worked are the key to putting fish in the cooler. The “Bay Bee” was out this past week working the Ocean City Bays and although fishing was tougher than in past weeks, they did manage to pull in some nice fish for their clients. Targeting the back bays of Assateague Island, as well as the less traveled channels in the north bay made the difference in the amount of bites they were able to get. The “Bay Bee” had several families as well as a bunch of youngsters on board this past week, making the trips very enjoyable for the crew watching the kids and novis anglers with many of them catching their first fish ever. The “Tortuga“ based at Bahia Marina had several good trips in the OC Bay this past week with anglers showing off the big flounder. They reported although the water was dirty from past storms, the fish didn't seem to mind and really bit the hook for the anglers. The evening trips were the most productive with the majority of the anglers returning with fish over 20 inches. That's pretty impressive for the back bays this late in the season. The pot holes behind Assateague Island were the hot spot for this past week with Gulp and a squid/ minnow combo being the best baits. Many anglers told me you had to let the fish take the bait a little longer before setting the hook. A count between 5 and 10 seconds before setting the hook worked the best. The Rt. 50 Bridge is still a great place for action with anglers catching bluefish as well as rockfish, however I did not receive any reports of keeper rocks this past week. Morgan Mericle did manage an in the slot 24” red drum from the bridge one evening using a 6” swimbait. Cut bait and live spot were the best bait for stripers when fishing the bridge.
Surf Fishing, Clamming & Crabs
Surf fishing has been slow with small spot and kingfish making up the main catches. A few keeper flounder have come off the beach at Assateague including one caught by Sean McNelis. Dustin Fleck reported catching over 40 fluke last week with 5 keepers. His biggest fish was 21 inches. Clamming on the island is getting tough as the neat shore areas have been ‘racked out’. Venturing away from the wading areas of the island to chest deep water is producing the best results. Crabbing in the back bays is on fire with most pots yielding about 10 keepers per pot. Trot lining and smaller traps are also producing well. Bunker is the best bait, but chicken can be used if the bunker cannot be found.
Until next week...
Tight lines and Fins up §
