Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
White Marlin week in Ocean City always brings a bevy of tourists and that means lots of anglers wanting to be on the water with the big boys. The increased boat traffic in the inlet and through the bridge has put fish down deep or has moved them to less traveled areas. Flounder still remains pretty good despite the traffic, however you'll need to search out less pressured spots. Sea bass are still around despite last week's hot and humid weather. Deeper wrecks are producing some nice keepers as well as a few mahi thrown in.
Flounder, Sea Bass & Tautog
Near Shore Wrecks
The near shore areas were very busy this past week with tons of boats fighting for the prime spots on the artificial reefs outside of Ocean City. The African Queen was the hot spot inshore last week with the wrecks and cable piles being the best chance at taking home some fish for dinner. Flounder on the wrecks is pretty solid despite the large numbers of baits on these reefs. Big Gulp baits and long strips of squid on a bucktail are the best choice. “Bad Wind Charters” was out again last week bringing home lots of flatties, with many of them of up to 6 lbs. Last Friday they went out for some mahi on the pots which they said were slim pickings, however they did find some nice fluke, the largest at 7 lbs. That's a great consolation prize when the mahi don't cooperate!
The mahi were around for other anglers this past week with Pete Renzi fishing with Skip Courtney out at the bass pots near the lightship. The crew managed to bring home a few nice inshore mahi for dinner. The bite was very scattered and not constant in any one area. The pots near the lightship are still reported as the best location, but I heard that many anglers trolling and casting to the pots retired to the dock with nothing in the fish box.
Jeremiah Kogan and Capt. Monty Hawkins were out last week diving the Ocean City Reefs and spearfished some nice flatties while exploring the reefs growth. Douglas Robinson got a citation sea bass last week. This is a true trophy catch as not many citations are caught in the middle of the summer.
Sea Bass Further Offshore
The deeper reef areas such as the Jack Spot and Great Eastern Reef are still producing keeper sea bass. These deeper wrecks in 100 ft. of water or more have remained cool enough to keep the bass inshore during the dog days of summer. Using fresh clam was the ticket to bringing home dinner last week on these deep wrecks. Jigs are still working to some degree, however the fish are not really snapping at the baits and prefer a slower presented bait right in front of their faces. Many of the charters that fish these wrecks in the summer were entered in the White Marlin Open so the areas were less crowded, making it a prime area to target these black beauties.
Back Bays of OC
The back bays are productive, although the main inlet areas as well as channels up to Harbour Island were loaded with boat traffic wanting to catch a glimpse of the returning vessels from the tournament. Areas such as the Rt. 90 Bridge and the area behind Assateague Island reported much better fishing.
Jay Phillips had the back bays dialed in and reported he snuck out for an hour or two and returned to the dock with a cooler full of flat fish.
Stacey Schindler took a trip on the “Delicious' and ended up with 3 flounder up to 20”, as well as a 32” striper at the break. All the fish were caught on peanut bunker.
Charlie Donohue was fishing a natural reef and brought home 5 bass and 2 fluke with his big fish at 22 ½ inches.
Nicole Heba of Landcaster, PA, was fishing sand fleas on the south jetty and hooked a nice 16” tog. There are still a few red drum around as witnessed by 12 year old Josh Dover from Elkton, MD, when he hooked and landed an impressive 31.5 inch red from the 6th Street Pier. He rigged up a pink swimming mullet on a jig head. This year has been quite the year for our youth catching some real trophy fish. Great job guys and gals showing the adults how it is done!
Preston Walls was fishing live spot for flounder at the Rt. 50 Bridge when he hooked a 31” striper.
Eric Gibbons and Chris Day were also dialed in on the striper fishing, catching a pair of 33” and 34” fish at the OC Inlet while fishing on the charter “Lucky Break”.
Bluefish are also still around the inlet as seen by Alex Bew with a quality 10 lb. 34” fish caught while fishing on the “Jean Machine”.
Doug Marshall of Frederick, MD, caught a 22” 4 lb. fluke at the inlet using squid strip and live minnow.
Behind Goose Island, Rick Chestnut caught 3 keepers up to 20” fishing on the “PA Posse” with Brad Richwine.
Lastly, Charlie Richter from Baltimore, another youngster, caught a nice croaker behind 28th Street.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up §
