Article by Larry Jock
It was one of those weeks where you really could write the fishing report on a napkin. For some reason, it just seems like nobody is fishing. You look out at the bay and it is empty. Fish are there, but not many are fishing for them.
Now, that doesn’t mean that fish weren’t caught...
Tautog
Tog were the star of the show this week with several bruisers caught. You have to head to inshore wrecks to get them, but they are definitely there. The largest tog we saw this week was the 17 pounder caught at the Star Wreck by Jerry Scruggs on the “Fin Chaser”. Capt. Monty Hawkins on the “Morning Star” also returned with some big blackfish last week, weighing up to over 15 lbs. On Sunday, Steve Hoffman caught and released a tog that weighed 15 lbs. Nice!
As always, crabs were the bait of choice, with the boys from up north (NJ & NY) having success with white crabs (also known as rock crabs), and locals mainly using green crabs.
Some tautog were also caught along the rocks just south of Gudelsky Park.
Sheepshead
The first sheepshead of the season was caught on Sunday by Sheldon Thomas during a trip to Winter Quarter Shoal.
Flounder
It was a fairly slow week for flounder fishing.
The majority of the flatties being caught are coming from the flats, north of the Thorofare, although the bay behind Assateague is also producing some keepers.
The majority of keepers are in the 19-inch range, with a lot of throwbacks still being recorded.
It looks like the hot bait right now is the Gulp! Alive Swimming Mullet. Some anglers are finding luck combining the Gulp! bait with a minnow or shiner.
Striped Bass
The striper action, especially at night from the Rt. 50 Bridge was sporadic last week, but when it was hot, it was hot! Some nice fish were landed, with several over 30-inches hitting the deck. Mike Cenci stopped by the office on Friday with a 40-incher he caught the previous night on a spec rig. The fish fought so hard, it broke Mike’s rod. Pretty fish!
Boat anglers fishing with spot also had good luck pulling nice fish from the pilings.
From the Surf
It looks like the good striper run surfcasters experience every spring is starting to take place with several nice linesiders landed off Assateague this past weekend. Several fish over 40-inches were reported. Anglers still had to weed through annoying dogfish sharks, skates and some snapper bluefish.
The bite off the beaches in North Ocean City and up into lower Delaware also heated up towards the end of last week. On Thursday, Nathan Follmer beached himself a couple of beauties, measuring 37.5 and 38-inches. On Sunday, Lenny Potenzo caught a 40-incher from the surf in North Ocean City.
The bait of choice for stripers in the surf continues to be fresh bunker, although we saw a few hooked on clams.
In addition to striped bass, we also saw a few black drum caught, although the numbers are down from what they were in previous weeks.
Cod
The “Morning Star” continues to bring back some nice catches of cod.
On Saturday, a group of four anglers returned with 9 cod in their cooler and threw back another 15 during the trip. The fish were caught in 51-degree water on clams.
So far, this has been a very good year for catching cod and Capt. Monty on the “Morning Star” attributes it to the work done by the New England Fishery Management Council over the last three years who have identified and protected the essential habitat needed for the fish under their jurisdiction to survive.
With water temperatures warming up into the 60’s and the striper run starting to form, I’m sure I will see more of you at the scales. If you want a picture taken of your catch, just give us a call at 410-213-2200.
