Article by Larry Jock
It was a pretty tough week for fishing. Weather wasn’t ideal on many days and water temperatures are still below what we normally see this time of year, hovering between the mid-and-upper 50’s. Heck, only 20 miles off the beach water temperatures still haven’t broken 50-degrees.
All this should change very shortly. Upcoming days are scheduled to be sunny with temperatures in the 70’s, so we should see an increase in water temperature and an improvement in fishing.
Sharks
In last weeks report, I forgot to mention that the crew on the “Nontypical” had ventured out to the Baltimore Canyon where they hooked a 100 lb. mako on March 25th. This was the earliest mako catch that anyone can remember for quite some time. Capt. Terry Layton said that they had to chip ice off their boat but eventually came across 65-degree water in 200 fathoms. Looking back, most of the makos caught by Ocean City anglers occur in late April or early May.
This past week, Capt. Terry and angler Andy Smelter were at it again, this time landing a 170 lb. mako in 60 fathoms in the Poor Man’s Canyon where they found a 51 to 63-degree temperature break. The anglers were trying to hook a 250 pounder when the smaller shark came up and took a bonita fillet that was left over from last season. The mako was feisty, taking Andy 75 minutes to get to the boat.
Bluefish
Looking through this weeks and last weeks Coastal Fisherman, it is easy to see that bluefish are taking center stage so far this season. This is interesting since we really haven’t seen a good spring or fall bluefish run in several years. The blues aren’t just plentiful, but they are also big.
The run is definitely better for Delaware anglers than it has been for Maryland fishermen and I’m not sure why. Big blues are not only in the surf, but they have been found around the bridges and in the back bays as well.
Tautog
When boats were able to get out, tautog fishing was pretty good on ocean structure. On Wednesday, the charter boat, “Fish Bound” had a great day with a boat limit of 32 tog caught by 9:30 AM near the Jackspot.
On Sunday, the “Fish Bound” was finally able to get out again,, this time returning with another boat limit of 32 tog caught on spider and white crabs. Fish weighed between 5 and 7 lbs.
Hats off to Capt. Monty Hawkins on the headboat, “Morning Star”. Capt. Monty took some time off from fishing and with the help of his crew dropped 2,400,000 lbs. of concrete on various spots within the Ocean City Reef Foundation system. There is no doubt that this work will create some incredible wreck fishing in the near and distant future. Capt. Monty and his crew should be commended for their efforts!
Striped Bass
In the bay, we are still seeing “short” stripers being caught around the Rt. 90 Bridge pilings and a few around the Rt. 50 Bridge.
On Thursday afternoon, Big Bird Cropper called in to report nice schools of stripers and bluefish right off the tip of the North Jetty waiting for the Roy Rig to be tossed.
Flounder
The combination of cold water and not too many people fishing has prevented us from seeing many flounder at the dock. Early in the week, Gary German fished the outgoing tide in the Thorofare and only caught 1 throwback in 53-degree water.
On Saturday, Wally Havren did manage to catch himself a keeper, landing a 20-incher while drifting a Gulp! Swimming Mullet north of the Rt. 90 Bridge during the outgoing tide. Also on Saturday, Danny Cox (pictured on left) drifted minnows in the Thorofare and returned with 3 keepers measuring up to 24-inches. Danny has an electric trolling motor on his boat so he can really get into those shallow, tight spots where flounder like to lay in warmer water this time of year.
In the Surf
On Sunday, the Cropper family got into some nice linesiders (see page 9) while fishing off Assateague Island in the afternoon. Their largest fish, caught by Hugh Cropper, III measured 40-inches and weighed just over 20 lbs. Myra and Hugh Thomas Cropper each caught stripers measuring 34-inches but Myra’s fish weighed 3 lbs. more primarily due to her fish gulping down a 2 lb. flounder.
Maybe this is the week we will finally see the start of a good striper run for Ocean City surfcasters. I really hope so because those guys really put in their time and deserve a good season.
Besides bluefish, surfcasters are also hooking into an occasional black drum with peeler crabs being the bait of choice.
See you at the scales!
