Article by Larry Jock
This Week Last Year
• Fishing off to a slow start.
•Tautog dominating action on ocean structure.
•Short tog in West Channel.
•Flounder fishing decent on Thorofare flats.
•Small flounder behind Frontier Town.
•Short stripers around all 3 bridges.
•A lot of skates in the surf. Also black drum and schoolie stripers in the wash.
Welcome back to another season of the Coastal Fisherman!
Before I get to the report, I wanted to let you know, with an extremely heavy heart, that the Jock Family lost our patriarch back in March. My dad, Larry Sr., was 85 years old, and even though that would be considered a good run in anyone’s book, it is still a blow to us all. Quite a few of our readers knew my Dad and he was well liked by everyone. He was, by far, the finest man I have every met and will probably ever meet in my lifetime. He was a man of the highest integrity and honesty. He was extremely loyal, sometimes to a fault, and treated everyone with kindness and respect. He was an incredible father and the ultimate role model. I have always lived my life with one primary goal. I always knew that if I made my Dad proud then I was doing things right.
My dad absolutely loved to fish and we heard countless stories time and time again about his memorable days surfcasting with my Uncle Bob, whether in the Delaware Bay or off the Brigantine Jetty. Some of the stories we heard a hundred times and dreaded it when he uttered the same opening line, knowing verbatim what was to follow. Now I would give anything to hear those stories again and again.
After a month and a half, I still sometimes find myself reaching for the phone to call my dad with some fishing news or something I saw on TV, only to catch myself as I begin to dial. It’s getting better, but it’s tough. He was not only my dad, but my best friend. I am going to miss him dearly, but he absolutely loved the Coastal Fisherman so I know he is proudly looking down, sitting next to my Uncle Bob, making sure I don’t write any cutline under a photo that goes over the line. He was always the last line of defense, keeping me out of trouble from writing something that I thought was funny but could possibly be taken wrong and hurt someone’s feelings. He definitely was the conscience of the Coastal Fisherman.
Now onto the Fishing Report. It was a rough winter and so far, the spring hasn’t exactly been ideal with rainy and windy conditions showing up on far too many days.
The worse part was that for the 5th year in a row the fall/winter striped bass season was a complete dud. The past few years were bad, but nothing like we saw this past year. The majority of local striped bass fishermen were skunked. Me included! The fish just never showed up. Well, they never showed up inside the dreaded 3-mile line (can’t fish for them outside 3-miles). Some days it was all the fish you wanted cruising along the 10-mile line, taunting us with diving birds overhead. Now the feds are saying that the stock is in trouble. Virginia even closed their Spring Trophy Rockfish Season. It doesn’t look good.
Tautog fishing on ocean structure was strong as you can see from all of the pictures in this issue. Some really big fish were caught with several in the upper teens. From what I see, one of the keys to a successful tautog trip is the ability to double anchor your boat. Setting a line off the bow and one off the stern allows you to position your boat exactly over the piece of ocean structure that are holding fish. Captains like Kane Bounds and Monty Hawkins have this down to a science and is one of the primary skills they possess that contribute to successful trips. There are several videos on YouTube that show you how to double anchor your boat.
The 2019 sea bass season opens on May 15th. Once again, anglers can keep 15 fish per trip measuring 12 1/2-inches or greater.
Although there are currently no regulations for sheepshead caught in Maryland waters, at a meeting last week with DNR representatives, we were told that there are some coming down the pike, so stay tuned.
Right now, the best flounder bite is up on the Thorofare flats. Trollers are definitely outfishing those who choose to drift.
Zigzagging across the channels, running up and down the edges has always been a good early season tactic and this year is no exception. Most anglers are trolling Gulp Swimming Mullets with the color white being the most productive right now. Pink is sometimes a good early season color to use also.
Surprisingly, I haven’t heard of or seen any flounder being caught around the South Jetty, but it may be just because not many anglers are giving it a try.
Those who fished around the South Jetty, like Big Bird Cropper and his fishing buddies, got into bluefish and short stripers. Most of the gators were medium-size, but a few larger ones were also hooked.
For quite a while now, anglers have been getting into stripers around the Rt. 90 Bridge. Most of the fish are in the 18 to 20-inch range and were caught while casting or trolling bucktails tipped with Gulp. Big Bird found success tossing his ever reliable Roy Rig which is a salt and pepper shad on a short shanked jig head.
Surfcasters fishing off Assateague have found striped bass to be scarce, but they have been able to hook into some black drum. Allen Sklar (pictured on the right) caught the first one of the year, 10 days sooner than he did last season.
One final note... the Annual Ocean City Reef Foundation Dinner will be held at Seacrets again on Sunday, May 5th with doors opening at 4:30 PM. It’s a great event and there are always a lot of fishing related items there that you can bid on. I will be working the door for the 15th or 16th year in a row, so swing on by and say hello, grab a bite to eat, bid on some items and support a great organization.
In the meantime, I’ll see you at the scales!
