Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Ocean City has greeted us with warmer weather and much better fishing. On the nearshore reefs, the flounder have shown up along with good sized bluefish.
The Great Eastern Reef is the hot spot of the week, with the Jackspot a close second.
At the Bass Grounds the sea bass is plentiful, however, most are undersized. In the back bays the flounder are into their summer mode and being caught everywhere.
Nearshore Reefs
On the nearshore reefs the sea bass are still around and eager to be caught. The problem is, many are undersized. The average day on the Bass Grounds or African Queen site is yielding around 6-8 keepers per angler, per day. Fresh clam is doing better than squid, but larger jigs are producing the best chance for keeper bass. Flounder are on the down current side of most wrecks and can be caught with squid strips and live minnows.
Joe Sansone was fishing for sea bass and managed to bring home a few nice knotheads for dinner.
“Double Trouble Charters” was out on a few trips last week, including an overnight, and got a nice mix of sea bass and tilefish, as well as a bag of tuna. Capt. DJ Churchill stated the inshore bass trips have been good with limits or close to limits.
The “Judith M” stated they have gotten lots of bass bites along with a few keeper flounder thrown into the mix. The headboat is doing their last couple of 8 and 10 hour trips before changing over to the summer schedule. Captain Rick Shoaff stated that the rail has been pretty light lately making the trips almost like a private charter. So get over to Bahia Marina and book a trip before our big summer crowds arrive in the upcoming weeks.
Matt Moran of the “Ocean Princess” told me that last week started out a little slow for the bass bite but improved as the week went on. Several big bluefish along with a few nice flounder were also caught. As for sea bass, the clients are averaging 4-5 keepers on the 5.5 hour trips which is about average for this time of the year.
Judy Schaible was on one of these trips and performed her fluke magic by catching a limit of big flounder.
James Grier, Patrick Connelly, Dave Connelly, Ethan Grier, and Richard Grier were out on the boat "Blue Eyed Lady” fishing the Great Eastern Reef and returned to the docks with a cooler full of bass up to 16 inches. The father and sons fished hard and caught some quality fish.
Dr. Ozzie Nicastro and Mike Matha from West Ocean City, MD were at the Jack’s Spot using fresh clams as well as jigs and caught a limit of bass. The crew fished the deeper wrecks of the area hard and found the bass willing to take the jigs tipped with clam. Great job on the limits when so many others have struggled to find quality keepers.
Kevin McNelis had his first wreck trip of the year, and despite the water visibility being awful, he managed to capture a 19 and 20 inch fish using his Bomb Sauce and custom made rods. Kevin reported a few triggerfish caught in the trip. “Action Jackson Sportfishing” had Wade Oddy and his family out for a quick 4 hour trip last week and found 4 nice flatties ready to bite. They also got a bluefish which will become crab bait as well as a few sea robins that were returned unharmed.
Inlet & Back Bay Fishing
The OC inlet has been producing some nice bluefish and smaller rockfish mostly on the evening flood tides. Shawn Varner was out with his fly rod and managed to get an undersized but respectable rock to take his fly. For the record, any rockfish taken on a fly is a trophy in my book.
Luke Wrye was out looking for rock and blues at the Rt. 50 Bridge and took his personal best blue measuring 33 inches. Luke was worried about losing the fish when the lure got tangled in the net. Good job keeping your composure and landing a trophy fish.
“The Miss Ocean City” fished the bays and took home several nice flatties for their clients.
The “Happy Hooker” was also out on the bay and Mr Sanders couldn't stop raving about how helpful the crew was and how great they were working with the kids on the trip. It should be mentioned that all of the back bay head boats are a great way to see Ocean City from a water bound view as well as a great activity for the kids. Many boats run a 2 or 4 hour trip which is short enough not to let the kids get bored and still leave enough time in the day for other beach activities.
“Ocean City Guide Service” fished the back bays behind Assateague Island and put their anglers on some quality fish. Large fluke as well as bluefish went home for dinner last week. Mila and Brandon finally got out with them and everyone caught, laughed, and had a great time.
Dan and Jay Betz from York, PA fished their boat the “Rev-Er-Up” in the west channel and came back to the docks with 4 fluke between 19 and 22 inches.
Pat DeGroodt had a great day in OCMD which started out with a bald eagle on a flag, had some big blues tear up their gear and then got a few nice black drum. They kept the smallest one at 20 inches and sent the other larger ones back to be caught another day.
Tommy Perry got a limit of flounder with the biggest one at 23 ¼ inches. Tommy said Marie Perry will now be happy that she has fresh fish for dinner. So it is true , happy wife, happy life.
John Foreman got a few nice spanish mackerel last week. Aubrey Jersey from Pittsburgh, PA got a 16.5” flattie on a 2 hook float rig while fishing the Thorofare which was big enough to win the pool on the bay boat the “Tortuga”.
With fishing getting hot, now is the time to get out and wet a line.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up §
