Article by Larry Jock
Unfortunately, there’s not much to report. Last week was horrible. Bad weather kept offshore boats at the dock everyday except on Thursday and Sunday and those fishing in the bay and around the South Jetty only had a few windows of opportunity.
The star of the show last week was definitely sheepshead. We saw some really nice fish caught around the South Jetty by anglers soaking sand fleas. The largest of the year so far in Ocean City was hooked in nasty weather on Saturday by Jeffrey Peregoy. The 14 lb. 8 oz. sheepshead was one of six his group caught that day.
On Sunday, there were a couple more sheepshead caught on fleas around the South Jetty. Dave Neumayer hooked an 8 pounder and junior angler, Heidi Radebaugh on the charter boat, “Lucky Break” muscled in a 12 lb. 6 oz. sheepshead.
As this report is being written on Monday morning, it is a beautiful day in Ocean City and Don DiBlasi just returned from a trip on the charter boat, “Get Sum” with 6 sheepshead in the box after fishing around the South Jetty. Don’s largest measured 21-inches and weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. Capt. Jason Mumford on the charter boat, “Lucky Break” was also out there and his anglers ended up with 6 triggerfish, a tautog and a flounder.
Denise Kieczkajlo and Michael Skowronski love to fish for red drum and Denise found one interested in her frozen sand flea on Sunday when she hooked a 24 1/2-incher.
Flounder fishing in the bay has not been very good this season and the recent storms didn’t help the situation. Water clarity was obviously poor last week, but when anglers could get out for a couple of hours, the best bite was in the West Channel. Anglers still needed to weed through a lot of throwbacks, but a few keepers measuring around 18-inches were caught.
The only offshore action we saw last week came on Thursday and Sunday. Even though the seas were more than sporty on Thursday, the “Marli” ventured down to the Washington Canyon and picked up a pair of big yellowfins and a half dozen dolphin. The 2 yellowfins weighed a combined 144.5 lbs. Also on Thursday, the “Conspiracy” went to the Washington Canyon where they recorded 2 white marlin releases. On Sunday, “Maryland Pride” headed out to the Jackspot and caught 6 false albacore tuna before heading out to the Poor Man’s Canyon where they boated 56 mahi.
Further inshore, anglers on the headboat, “Angler” hit some ocean structure on Sunday and caught flounder weighing up to 5 lbs. while dropping ducktails.
On a final note, please check out the news brief on page 15 regarding the cobia season. NOAA issued a clarification after they announced regulation changes effective September 5th. Even though these changes go into effect in September, Federal waters will remained closed for cobia fishing until January 1, 2018.
Upcoming Tournaments
This weekend is the Big Fish Classic that was rescheduled to September 8th, 9th and 10th. Weigh-ins are at the Talbot Street Pier and a lot of folks are praying that the effects of Hurricane Irma won’t cause the tournament to be cancelled. It has really turned into a great event where anglers are only steps away from the scale and the bar at MR Ducks.
Hopefully, I’ll see you at the scales!
