Article by Larry Jock
We usually get one of these weeks every season where you could write the fishing report on the back of a matchbook cover. Constant winds kept offshore boats at the dock from Thursday right through the weekend. Those who wanted to drift in the bay had better luck, but water conditions left a lot to be desired.
Flounder
Mid-week, we saw a decent flounder bite in the bay when water clarity was still pretty good. The head boat, “Flounder Pounder” returned with 5 keepers in the box on Wednesday. Anglers caught the flatties on shiners and squid in the West Channel near Hooper’s Crab House.
On Thursday, the charter boat, “Get Sum” had 3 keepers caught on white Gulp! Swimming Mullets in the East Channel. Their largest fish measured 22 1/2-inches and weighed a little over 4 lbs.
J.J. at the Oceanic Pier was very excited to report a fantastic flounder bite during Friday mornings outgoing tide for anglers tossing bucktails tipped with 4-inch chartreuse Gulp! Swimming Mullets.
The good news is that it looks like the flounder bite in the East Channel is on the upswing. We even saw a few flounder caught by anglers fishing off the 2nd Street Bulkhead, where early in the week Tristan Drenner stopped by the office with a pair of flatties he caught while using live spot for bait. The fish measured 17 and 21-inches.
Red Drum
Anglers drifting in the bay behind Ocean City have been pleasantly surprised with the number of red drum being caught. Those fishing around the pilings of the Rt. 50 Bridge have hooked into a number of fish measuring over 30-inches while bouncing live spot under the bridge. Last week, we saw fish not only coming from around the Rt. 50 Bridge but also from as far north as behind Northside Park on 125th Street and further north in the Ditch. Most of these fish are in the 20-inch range, well within the 18 to 27-inch range needed to put the fish in the cooler.
Striped Bass
Before the windy weather moved in, anglers were catching striped bass pretty steady around the South Jetty, but rough sea conditions later in the week caused enormous swells making fishing difficult around the rocks. When you could get out there to fish, small stripers dominated the action with a few 30 to 36-inch fish in the mix.
Weakfish
Anglers looking for weakfish have been pleasantly surprised this season with better numbers of fish continuing to be caught all around our bay. J.J. at the Oceanic Pier reported excellent action at night with over 100 fish being hooked some nights on all types of rigs and bait. J.J. said that one angler in particular has been doing very well with Gulp! Jerk Shads.
Sea Bass
Rough sea conditions made it impossible for boats to hit their favorite sea bass spots on a lot of days last week. The head boats, “Morning Star” and “Angler” did get out before the blow and returned with good catches of sea bass. Most were in the 2 lb. range, but a few pushing 3 1/2 lbs. also found their way into some coolers. I’m hearing good reports coming from the subway cars at the Jackspot.
Bluefish
As stated earlier, anglers fishing around the Rt. 50 Bridge were surprised with the number of big red drum they were catching and to make matters even better, they were finding a few chopper bluefish around the pilings as well.
We have also seen big bluefish finally show up on inshore lumps such as the Hambone and the Chicken Bone. You saw Jeff Gottshall’s 14 lb. 10 oz. gator on the cover of this week’s issue that was caught at the Hambone. Anglers fishing mid-week aboard the “Reel Attitude” also found big choppers at the Hot Dog, where they boated a pair and released 13 others. Their largest fish weighed over 12 lbs.
Offshore
Needless to say, we didn’t see any boats out of Ocean City head offshore over the weekend.
One boat out of Indian River Marina made its way to the Hambone on Saturday and ended up with an 80 lb. bluefin and a pair of dolphin.
Early last week, the “Marilyn Rose” released a blue marlin while fishing in deep water at the tip of the Baltimore Canyon where water temperatures hovered close to 68-degrees. The fish was estimated at around 500 lbs.
Also early last week, the charter boat, “Restless Lady” took a trip down to the Rockpile and caught some gaffer dolphin.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the Ocean City Marlin Club Canyon Kick-Off. Weigh-ins will be held from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM on July 5th, 6th and 7th at Sunset Marina. You can bet that if the weather is nice there will be a lot of boats heading out of the inlet in search of tuna, dolphin and marlin.
See you at the scales!
