Article by Larry Jock
As this report is being written on Monday morning, I do so with a heavy heart. An Ocean City icon, Capt. Jack Kaeufer passed away overnight and he will be greatly missed. Capt. Jack was one of the very first people I met on the dock when I moved to Ocean City in 2000. He was always the first to congratulate you on a nice catch or give you some tips when the bite was tough. Jack had a long history in Ocean City, from running offshore boats back in the day for the DuPont family to spending time on the water in his later days in search of speckled trout, stripers and flounder. Jack will be sorely missed and I am grateful to have been able to call him my friend.
As far as the fishing report is concerned, what a difference a year makes. Last year, anglers were tangling with a good number of big bluefish cruising all over the bay and in the surf. This season, what seems to be a never-ending stretch of miserable weather has delayed boats from getting into the water and has seemded to keep anglers from getting excited about the season.
Interestingly, on Sunday Capt. Kurt Howell took his crew on the “Reel Vibrations” out to the San Gil wreck where they hooked into a mako shark, estimated at 150 to 175 lbs., but unfortunately it shook loose after a 15-minute fight.
Those fishing for tautog are still seeing big fish hooked on ocean structure. On Saturday, Lou Collins on the headboat, “Judith M” released a 23-incher at the Jackspot. On Sunday aboard the charter boat, “Fish Bound”, Alex Cortezio released an 18 pounder in 45-feet of water and Bill Pizarro released a 16 pounder in 75-feet of water near the old Delaware Lightship. As always, green crabs have been the top producers with whiteleggers right behind.
In the bay, short tautog have been found along the rocks in the West Channel off Martha’s Landing but a few keepers, in the 17 to 18-inch range, were caught on Sunday by John and Matthew Papathakis while fishing with sand fleas.
Although the bluefish run is NOTHING like what we saw this time last year, a few larger fish were caught throughout the week. Big Bird Cropper and Dave Hrycyk were fishing the outside of the South Jetty, down towards Assateague beach, when they came across bluefish on top with small schoolie stripers underneath. Big Bird ended his trip with a 9 lb. 1 oz. chopper in the box that he hooked on his famous Roy Rig. There was also a good bluefish bite for anglers who were fishing off the Oceanic Pier on Saturday night around 9:00 PM. If you have never fished off the Oceanic Pier down at the Inlet, you are really missing out. Being all lit up at night, it is a great place to enjoy fishing for bluefish, stripers, flounder and croaker.
In the surf, anglers are still frustrated with the lack of striped bass typically found migrating up the coast and close to the shoreline this time of year. They really haven’t seen many bluefish either and have been mostly hooking into an occasional black drum and a bunch of skates and blowtoads.
Obviously, most of the boats fishing in the bay waters behind Ocean City are in search of flounder and as we typically see this time of year, those fishing the Thorofare and slow trolling over the flats, north of the Thorofare, are producing the best results. Water temperatures have been reported as high as 68-degrees on the last of the outgoing tide, so conditions are improving and the fish are definitely snapping better at that time of the tide.
On Friday, Capt. Nick on the charter boat, “Get Sum” kept his anglers in the Thorofare channel and ended up with 6 keepers measuring up to 23-inches and weighing up to 4 lbs. 11 oz. All were caught on white Gulp Swimming Mullets, a Capt. Nick favorite.
Several other anglers, including Mike Johnston, had good days in the Thorofare, returning with limits of flatties. Mike has done well slow trolling Aqua-Clear rigs tipped with Gulp or bellies. Working the edges found in shallow channels on the flats has been an effective method for nailing flounder. The channel on the western corner of the Thorofare and north past the Hole in the Wall has also produced good catches of keepers.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!
