Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Last week in the Maryland waters we had big storms in the early part of the week and ended with calm warm days at the end. The storms churned up the water making bay fishing difficult due to dirty water. The nearshore waters started to heat up with the African Queen site being a hot spot for flounder and even a few keeper bass.
Nearshore Waters & Reefs
The African Queen has been producing the best results for flounder in the area. The rubble piles on the reef as well as those just west of the reef have given up some nice limits of fish. I am told that there are not a lot of trophy fish in the area, however limits of keepers are not hard to come by. Big bright Gulp baits have produced the best results. Live spot will get you a better quality of fish but you won’t get as many of the shorter yet legal fish. Austin Wagner was out last Wednesday and caught 3 nice keepers. “Bad Wind Charters” was at it again catching their clients boat loads of fish. They caught a plethora of nice size flatfish along with a good amount of sea bass. Sea bass, which is usually a tough fish to catch in the summer, has remained strong. The boys also managed a day or two of finding the mahi on the bass pots, bringing home plenty of prized fish for the dinner table. The mahi have been very sporadic on the bass pots. Many reports are that they are often found on the pots however, trolling and casting to them result in none wanting to bite. Getting out early is your best bet to target these pelagic beauties. Small poppers and trolled squids are the best baits for trolling, and strips of squid on a circle hook are your best baits for throwing to standing fish. Jeremiah Kogon was out for a daddy/ daughter day with Michelle Kogon and caught themselves several flounder. Jeremiah reports many were throwbacks, but they did manage a few for dinner and had a great family day on the water.
Strange to see our resident dive master fishing from a boat instead of under it! “Ocean City Girl” ventured a little further offshore and found the motherload of nice juvenile mahi. The crew returned with a table full of nice fish. That is going to be one big fish fry... hope I'm invited because I love mahi tacos!
Matt Moran from the headboat “Ocean Princess” stated that they had several good trips last week catching both sea bass and flounder up to 21”. Frank Balla caught the big flattie along with 3 others for his limit on Tuesday out at the African Queen site. Captain Chris Mizurak of the “Angler” headboat also reported good catches of flounder. He said the bass are getting tougher to find with a lot of throwbacks, but the keeper flounder have made up for the bass. Captain Walt Hammond of the “Judith M' had a good week managing to bring home nice catches of sea bass and flounder. The crew even got a few triggerfish. Squid, shiners and clams were used to catch the fish. With many of the colleges and schools starting up, the head boats are not as crowded as in mid summer, so now is the time to get out and enjoy some of the great fishing available.
Captain Dave Caffrey from “On the Run” charters caught some mahi and a nice quality keeper flounder.
Dave, Brendan and Manny from New York were fishing on the “Green Reaper” 17 miles out with sand fleas and brought home keeper sea bass as well as flounder.
Amy Jo Lopata from Pittsburgh, PA, caught a nice size ribbon fish measuring 37 inches. That's one of the biggest I've heard of this year. They were fishing off of Assateague Island.
Peyton Balliett went with her dad a few miles offshore to chum for sharks and instead hooked and landed a 50”, 37 pound cobia. That's quite the catch and will make for several great dinners. Cobia is a great tasting white meat which can be grilled or fried as well as served as sashimi. Cobia also makes for a great ceviche. The two reported seeing several cobia in the chum slick.
Back Bays
Flounder in the inlet was a little slower last week due to the storms on Monday. Good catches can still be found along the rock jetties at the OC inlet. Drifting along the rocks is still producing the best chances for quality flounder. Daniel Mattio was fishing the East Channel landing a 23” flatfish using a small live spot. Skylar was fishing with his son Jaxon Snead at the inlet and hooked a nice triggerfish on bloodworm Fishbites.
Aquarium OCMD Rental Homes reported a number of flounder out front of their place, but most of them were 12-13 inches. At night they are seeing tons of shad up to 16”.
Dan fished with Captain Bob Weaver on the “BoJo 2”. Squid and shiner combos are the most productive baits and a high incoming tide being the best tides. The area behind Assateague Island is producing a few nice flatties in the holes near the airport. This week I heard of a few croaker blitzes, however most of the fish are still small. These fish, although not giants, are great for teaching kids how to fish. The fish are very ferocious and will attack any bait put in front of them. If you have kids and can find a school of them, the action is usually very steady and will keep the young ones from getting bored. The inlet area is also producing some nice sheepshead as well as a few trout. The deep hole on the south side jetty wall is a prime spot but is often very crowded.
John Foreman caught a banded rudderfish. This is a unique catch as these fish typically don't travel this far north. Even though this fish is of the jack family it is very good table fare.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up §
