Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Last week in Ocean City saw the kids returning to college and high school and a lot less traffic both on the roads as well as the waterways. Fishing in the back bays remains very strong with some big fluke as well as redfish and trout being caught on a more consistent basis. Nearshore wrecks are producing good numbers of big fish as well as a few dolphin on the bass pot balls.
Nearshore Wrecks & Reefs
The near shore reefs have been producing a good pick of both nice sized flounder as well as some big sea bass. Deeper wrecks near the Great Eastern Reef as well as the Jack Spot are holding the best chance for big knothead sea bass. These two areas are also giving up some trophy sized mahi which are staging on the bass pots. Tossing cut bait or squid on a small circle hook near the pots and allowing it to sink down is producing the best hook-ups.
Blake Gunther and Sam Yobst pulled in their 3 man limit of flounder with the biggest fish measuring 25 inches. Jeremiah Kogan had a fun dive with Pete Kelly, Alex Sterling, and Rich Fouts spearing several big flounder and exploring some new inshore wreck sites.
The “Angler" was out this past week and reported that the beginning of the week started out with a slow but steady pick of both sea bass as well as some nice flounder. After some rougher days at sea the bite continued to improve yielding better catches for their clients. The boat also reports a nice catch of dolphin up to ten pounds.
The “Judith M” also had several good trips bringing home coolers full of the ocean's delights for the anglers. Captain Rick Shoaff had a great day with Paul Pedone and Debbie Lappe Erhardt, with Paul’s nephew winning the fishing pool on the boat.
David Price got a 3 man limit of fluke on the reefs, several of the fish being over 20 inches.
Wendy Reynolds along with Angelina Merryman and Garrison Cooper fished with the “Pole Dancer Sport Fishing Charters” and caught several knothead sea bass on deep ocean structure. Clam and squid accounted for the vast majority of keepers they caught.
Chuck Sharpe was out at the African Queen and scored a limit of sea bass using small 2 oz bass jigs.
Capt. Kane of the “Fish Bound Charters” stated his 8 hour trips are still seeing excellent catches, but the anglers are having to work at it a bit harder than in past weeks. He reported that the slowest day yielded 22 keepers for the 6 anglers and the best day was 48 keepers for a group of 12. Their largest fish of the week was Duke’s 7.75 pound flounder. Some good catches of spanish, blues and cutlass were also reported by the boat.
Jennifer Hanwell fished with her husband aboard the “Sea-N-Double” and found big schools of hound fish about 3 miles out of the Indian River Inlet. They also caught about 20 mahi. The group fished near the southern end of the shipping channel, near the Lightship.
Brooke McGinnis had a rare catch while fishing the Bass Grounds catching a lookdown fish. The fish was a good size, weighing 1.5 pounds. This is another species we have seen this year that rarely venture this far north.
John Foreman also had some summertime exotics catching juvenile moonfish as well as blue runners and lizard fish.
Jeffery Donnelly hailing from Wrightsville, PA caught a big 28 inch 3.8 pound flounder at the Bass Grounds.
Back Bays & Inlet
Some really nice catches are coming out of the back bays and inlet area now that the boat traffic around Ocean City has calmed down.
The Jetty Wall along the Inlet is producing big flounder, a few tog and even a few nice redfish along the rocks. The Rt. 50 Bridge is holding decent size blues along with several smaller rockfish, and even an occasional keeper.
“Lucky Break Charters” was out in the south bay of Ocean City last week and scored their anglers several big flounder. The crew used Gulp baits to entice the fish to bite the hook.
Tom Tatum had a good day of fishing at the East Channel. He caught 5 throwbacks along with 2 nice keepers measuring 17.5 inches and the second one at 18.5 inches. Pink Gulp Alive 4” mullet paired with live minnows were the trick to catching these fish. He fished aboard his boat, the “Open Debate”.
Dave Deitrich from Perry Hall, MD got a nice 21.5 inch fluke at the 2nd Street Pier using squid strips and a live minnow combination rig. Dave reports this was his biggest flounder from the pier and is still quite excited about the catch.
12 year old Caleigh Hutson caught her first keeper flounder, a nice 17 inch one while fishing on the “Schools Out” boat in the East Channel. Caleigh’s younger sister convinced the boat to release the fish to live another day. Great work girls!
Danny Cox was out at the Rt. 50 Bridge and caught a nice limit of fluke measuring 17 to 26 inches, and the biggest one weighed 7 pounds 13 oz.
David Weller and Jeff Weeks of Ocean City caught some big sheepshead at the South Jetty of the inlet using sand fleas. The two also reported catching around 30 throwback tog. Live sand fleas are readily found along the water lines of the surf at this time of year and make an excellent bait for both tog, sheepshead and stripers. Most tackle shops are also carrying live sand fleas if you don't want to dig up your own.
Matt Ritter fished the 22nd Street area using white Gulp bait on a bucktail as well as green Otter Tail bait to catch his flounder dinner.
“Beach To Bay Guide Service” had a few good trips last week keeping a few big fish for their clients' dinner. Their motto is “Take what you need; thou shall not freeze. Bleed ‘em if you need ‘em”. A great motto for all anglers to live by.
The “Happy Hooker” and “Bay Bee” reported lighter crowds on their boats this week making it easier for anglers to hook more fish. The bay boats are a great way to see the bay areas of Ocean City and even catch a nice fresh fish for dinner.
Until next week,
Tight lines and fins up! §
