Article by Larry Jock
Right now, out of Ocean City, we are experiencing some of the best fishing we have seen in many, many years. Marlin, yellowfin, bluefin and bigeye tuna are being caught offshore and flounder fishing in the bay and on inshore structure is the best we have seen in at least 9 years.
If you are interested in any kind of fishing and don’t have a boat, now is the time to look through the pages of this issue and view the Charter Boat Directory at www.coastalfisherman.net, to help you select a boat to charter for the day. Fishing is red hot, so now’s the time to go for it!
Flounder
As I stated above, the flounder fishing we are seeing in our bays and on inshore structure is simply incredible, and I don’t believe it is because the minimum size was reduced to 17-inches since many of the fish we are seeing are well over that length.
The local charter and head boats really knocked it out of the park last week with big catches on several days. On Monday, the “Get Sum” returned with 10 keepers from the East Channel and followed that up on Tuesday, with another 12 keepers. The “Lucky Break” had 6 keepers on Wednesday in the East Channel. On Thursday, “Ocean City Guide Service” had 9 keepers in the East Channel and came back on Friday with another 11 from both the East and West Channels. On Sunday, the “Bay Bee” brought back 7 keepers during their afternoon trip from the bay behind Assateague Island.
Several private boats also had stellar days, like “One More Drift” who returned with 11 keepers from the East Channel on Wednesday and the “Baron Sea” who had 8 on Saturday. Many other boats ended their day with 5-7 keeper flounder in the box.
The best spot continues to be in the East Channel, along the rocks, from the Rt. 50 Bridge to past 1st Street. Drifting live spot or mullet has produced the best catches, with white Gulp! Swimming Mullets a distant second. Flounder snipers fishing off the 2nd Street Bulkhead had a great week!
Anglers also saw good hook-ups in the East Channel, south of the bridge, near the Coast Guard Station and along the rocks off Martha’s Landing. We even saw a big 27-incher, that weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz., caught by Jim Simon while fishing off the wall on the north side of the Ocean City Inlet near the Oceanic Pier. It seems like anywhere you can find rocks, there are flounder laying around them.
Those who didn’t want to fight the large number of boats in the bay and ventured off to inshore structure did very well. The Bass Grounds, the Old Grounds and other reefs and wrecks are producing some excellent catches. Rumor has it that the draggers along the coast are bringing back tremendous catches of flounder in their nets just off of our shoreline.
Striped Bass
With the flounder bite being so hot right now, not many anglers are focused on stripers, but there has been a pretty decent bite in the Ocean City Inlet and around the Rt. 50 Bridge at night. Anglers drifting live spot, eels and mullet have been able to put a few keepers in the box.
Cobia
Although it was landed in Delaware, Joe Costello’s catch of an 82 lb. cobia on Saturday is worth mentioning in this column. Joe was fishing at Russell’s Reef and caught the “man in the brown suit” on a live spot. Joe received some tutoring from Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s Bait & Tackle before heading out in search of cobia. An interesting tip that Bruce gave him was to rev the motor a couple of times when you arrive at your site. Cobia are a curious fish and the noise from the motor can sometimes attract the fish to your boat.
Tuna
We saw several bigeye tuna come in from the Washington Canyon throughout the week. On Monday, Susan McCart on the “Reel Joy” boated her first bigeye, a 230 pounder. On the same day, the “Reel Chaos” continued their hot streak with another 4 bigeyes, the heaviest weighing in at 250 lbs. Also on Monday, the “Jade II” boxed a 190 pounder. On Tuesday, “Total Chaos” boated a bigeye that weighed 215 lbs. gutted and the “Reel Chaos” captured a 231 pounder. The bite quieted down until Friday when the “Magic Moment” returned with 3 bigeyes from the Washington Canyon. On Saturday, “Moore Bills” caught 2 bigeyes and the “Fish Bonz”, “Sea Slammer” and “Tighten Up” each returned with one eyeball in the box. The weekend ended with the “Reel Chaos” catching their 9th bigeye of the week.
Yellowfins were caught in the Baltimore Canyon early in the week and shifted to the Poor Man’s Canyon on Wednesday, where captains found 75-degree water around the 70 fathom line. Over the weekend, the best catches came in from those trolling in the Washington Canyon.
Bluefins are being caught on the chunk primarily around the Hot Dog, but a few were caught on the troll in the canyons.
Marlin
Quite a few white marlin were released throughout the week by boats trolling in the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons. The best days were on Wednesday and Thursday when several white marlin were released in the Poor Man’s. On Sunday, the “Billfisher” had the best day of the week, releasing 4 white marlin in the Baltimore Canyon.
At least a half dozen blue marlin were hooked last week. On Wednesday, the “Pumpin’ Hard 58” released a blue marlin in the Poor Man’s. Blue marlin releases were also recorded by the “Wigg One” (2), “Reelentless” (2) and the “Indian Outlaw” (1).
In the Surf
We are seeing the typical summertime catches coming from anglers fishing from the beach. Those baiting up with Fishbite bloodworms are hooking into kingfish while those using cut bait are finding snapper bluefish and sharks on their line.
Upcoming Tournament
The 25th Annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament will be held at the Ocean City Fishing Center this weekend. Weigh-ins will be held from 4:00 to 7:30 PM on Friday and Saturday and 4:00 to 7:00 PM on Sunday.
See you at the scales.
