Article by Larry Jock
Tropical Storm Hermine blew through our area early last week and by Thursday, anglers couldn’t take it anymore and headed outside the Inlet. Understandably, dirty water conditions made fishing in the bay and on inshore lumps very difficult with cloudy water found all the way out to 6-miles off the coastline.
The Bahia Marina Flounder Pounder was held on Sunday with Rich and Baron Daiker sweeping the leaderboard with flatties weighing 3 lbs. 6 oz., 3 lbs. 12 oz. and 6 lbs. 15 oz. Rich told me that all of the fish were caught while using live bunker for bait. He fished the outgoing tide around the inside of the South Jetty where he picked up the first place fish before heading to the West Channel, just south of the Rt. 50 Bridge, where Baron caught the 2nd place fish and Rich landed the 3rd place flattie, both during the incoming tide.
Rich has become known for catching big flounder and he told me that the best tip he could give someone looking for a big flattie would to not be afraid to let them eat, especially when using live spot or bunker. He said, and I agree, that those large fish need time to swallow the good size bait and too many anglers don’t give them enough time and end up with a spot or bunker with scrapes down it’s side and a lot of missing scales. Rich told me a story where he was fishing with his cousin when a Beatles song came on the radio just as a flounder took his live spot. He simply turned to his fellow anglers and told them that when the song was over to clear all the lines and get the net. Well, that’s what they did and Rich ended up boating a flounder that weighed close to 9 lbs. after waiting almost 3 minutes to set the hook. Kind of a funny story, but one that also drives the point home.
Many anglers in the tournament said that the bite was slow, with most of the fish coming to the scale after being caught in the West Channel off Martha’s Landing (see page 25). This makes sense since this is the time of year we start seeing flounder “stacking up” in preparation for their trip to ocean structure. The bulkhead along the East Chanel, the pilings around the Rt. 50 Bridge, the holes along the South Jetty and along the rocks off Martha’s Landing are all prime spots right now.
Anglers were surprised this week with a good weakfish bite in the Ocean City Inlet and around the South Jetty. Fish were keeper size and caught on squid and Gulp!. There were also a good number of sea bass in the Inlet late in the week and throughout the weekend. We should also be coming up on the time when speckled trout can be caught just north of the Rt. 50 Bridge between the East and West Channels.
Inshore, we didn’t have a single cobia report after the storm, which was kind of disappointing since before Hermine it was as good as we have seen it.
Anglers venturing out to ocean structure, and even along natural bottom, found solid catches of flounder and an improved sea bass bite. Capt. Kane Bounds on the “Fish Bound” continued to put his anglers on the meat, returning with boat limits of flounder after fishing in 100 to 120 feet of water.
Offshore, the inaugural Shoot Out between members of the Ocean City Light Tackle Club and the Ocean City Marlin Club took place on Thursday and Friday with the Light Tackle Club prevailing 2,700 points to 2,400 points. Both teams caught and released 24 white marlin during their 2 days of fishing, but the difference was the 2 blue marlin releases by the Light Tackle Club anglers. On Thursday, most of the action took place near the 800/800 in the Washington Canyon and moved to north of the Poor Man’s on Friday. Outside the tournament, most of the boats headed to just south of the Baltimore Canyon and returned, on average, with 4 to 6 white marlin releases. On Thursday, anglers on “Rhonda’s Osprey” had an exceptional day, returning with a Grand Slam consisting of 16 white marlin, a spearfish and a blue marlin release.
A few yellowfins were caught over the weekend in the Washington Canyon but we didn’t hear of any bigeyes. Late on Sunday, I did see the “Game On” returning to the Ocean City Fishing Center with 4 tuna flags flying after fishing in the Washington.
The wahoo bite before the storm was really turning on and we did see a couple caught last week out of Indian River in addition to a pair caught on the “Par Five”on Friday and one caught on the “Moore Bills” last Thursday.
Dolphin are all over the ocean with catches coming back from anywhere between the Baltimore and Washington Canyons and closer to shore at the Hot Dog and other inshore lumps. The fish aren’t as large as we have seen, but the numbers are strong.
Upcoming Tournaments
This weekend is the 6th Annual MSSA Mid-Atlantic Flounder Tournament on September 7th & 18th. Registration is Friday at Atlantic Tackle from 6-8 PM. Fishing is from 7:00 AM?to 3:30 PM with local weigh-ins at Hook’em & Cook’em and Atlantic Tackle.
Also this weekend is the 38th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Challenge Cup pitting members of the Ocean City Marlin Club against those from the Cape May Marlin & Tuna Club. Our local guys have been on the short end for the last couple of years, so hopefully this years event will see an end to Cape May’s successful run.
The A.M.S.A Red Drum Tournament, scheduled for September 15th, 16th and 17th has been cancelled.
See you at the scales!