Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Last week in Ocean City we saw our first week of large crowds and the fishing slowed a little bit from all the pressure. The bite was still pretty good, however you had to look around for areas that were less pressured.
Sea Bass & Tautog
Inshore, the Bass Grounds & African Queen
Captain Chris Mizurak of the “Angler” headboat told me that fishing was decent, with mixed catches of sea bass and a few flounder thrown in. John Myers was the top angler on one of his trips bringing home some really big knotheads, especially for this time of the year. Tom Adkins also had a good day on the “Angler” with both sea bass and flatties for dinner that night. The flounder weighed 4 lbs. Great catch Tom, enjoy a tasty dinner! Captain Mizurak fished various inshore wrecks and reefs this past week using various baits to get the job done.
The “Judith M” was also on the reefs targeting the coveted black fish with some good success. Captain Eric Shoaff reports the rail has been fairly light with lots of room to move around and spread out. There is also a good number of larger fish in the area despite the warming water temps. Sea bass normally begin to head offshore to deeper water this time of the year, however the past few years has shown more keeper size sea bass inshore.
“Fish Bound” charters with Captain Kane and Captain Kevin said that fishing was tough last week with the captains having to pull out a few tricks to keep clients happy. Captain Kane told me flounder has been hard with one fish coming off one spot then having to move to another location for the next one. They also reported they had some good quality days on the water, even with having to fish a little harder. Captain Kane stated that the spanish mackerel have really turned on this week making many trips very productive and keeping clients happy. Small spoons trolled near the Fenwick Shoals are your best chance for these fish. Fresh clam and squid are the top baits for fishing the ocean structure.
The Bass Grounds reef area was the hot spot for last week with plenty of keepers still available for the anglers. The African Queen made it a close second. On the Queen reef, the cable piles and lobster habitat were said to be the most productive.
Looking to the bay area, the flounder are coming on strong as full summer begins. Lots of keeper flounder are being caught all along the Thorofare and along the rock walls of the Ocean City Inlet. John Engler had a good day on the water catching a limit of flatties. The fish size ranged from 17-22”.
The unique catch this week was from 13 year old Sophia Reinsel of Pennsylvania who was fishing sand fleas about 3 miles off Ocean City and caught a nice triggerfish, a porgy and an 11” weakfish. Great job Sophia!
Triggerfish should begin to occupy our waters in much greater numbers as the weeks progress though the summer. They are a great tasting white meat fish but very difficuly to fillet due to their extremely tough exterior. If available, be sure to use the fish cutters at the marina. It’s a smart choice if you have never tried to fillet one.
Deeper Wrecks
The deeper wrecks have been producing much better keeper ratios. Capt. Minh Dang was out at the Great Eastern Reef on his boat the “Ronin' with Liam Grapes and Hayden Grapes and brought home some big sea bass up to and including Liam’s 21 inch citation fish. The trophy was caught using jigs. The Jack Spot also produced some quality fish.
Assawoman Bay
The area behind Assateague Island is reported to have some quality fish, but you must be able to find the deeper holes to catch them. Try fishing the west side of the channel in the area of the Ocean City Airport and look for the changes on your sounder. The area along the 2nd Street bulkhead is also a great spot to go for fish, however this area is known for heavy boat traffic by both fishermen as well as boats traveling along the backside of Ocean City. It’s a “no wake zone” but still has numerous vessels moving through at any given time of the day.
Mike Leonard caught a beautiful 18.5” flattie in the West Channel on white Gulp tipped with a minnow. Kim Taylor and 8 year old Brayden Nolan were out for his birthday and caught 4 flounder, with two being keepers at the Thorofare. What a fantastic birthday treat! Cousins Joseph Dixon and Laban Toupal caught some nice keepers in front of Castaway’s campground.
Surf Fishing
The beaches of Assateague Island have been hit or miss. Anglers are steadily pulling in small sharks and cow nose rays along with spot and kingfish. The rays and sharks are being caught on cut bait such as bunker or mullett. The best time to target these fish is late afternoon as the sun is setting or early morning just as the sun begins to break the horizon. Be sure to check your bait to assure freshness and change the bait out every half hour. Fresh bait gives off a chum type sent to the water and attracts fish.
For the spot and kingfish, a small bright colored pompano/kingfish rig tipped with squid, sand fleas or bloodworms is your best option. Kingfish and spot will bite a hook all day, but high tide is usually a better time for more numerous bites. Chris Peters caught a rare cusk eel last week on a kingfish rig tipped with bloodworm Fishbites.
I heard of a few redfish and some bigger sharks being caught close to the Virginia line but reports were not very good compared to previous weeks.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up §
