Article by Sue Foster
“I don’t know where these places are? What do these things mean?”
When you are a local you just assume that everybody knows what you are talking about when you mention going to the Inlet or fishing the East Channel! Some people just don’t know what you are talking about, so we’re going to go into a little detail here about some of these places.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
An inlet is a narrow body of water between islands or leading inland from a larger body of water, often leading to an enclosed body of water, such as a sound, bay, lagoon or marsh. In sea coasts, an inlet usually refers to the actual connection between a bay and the ocean …. Well, that’s us folks.
The Ocean City Inlet, located at the southernmost end of Ocean City, is the body of water between Ocean City and Assateague Island that leads into our coastal bays! Rocks line the Inlet and the water rushes in and out during the tidal changes bringing fish in and out of the Ocean City bays. The bay is actually one big bay but different areas of the bay have been given certain names. The bay area between the Route 50 Bridge and the Route 90 Bridge is called the Isle of Wight Bay. The area North of Route 90 is called the Assawoman Bay. The area north of Rt. 54 Bridge is called Little Assawoman Bay.
The Sinepuxent Bay is the name of the bay between the Rt. 50 Bridge and the Verrazzano Bridge (the bridge that crosses over to Assateague Island). The Sinepuxent Bay is actually an inland waterway that connects Chincoteague Bay to the Isle of Wight Bay.
All these areas are just one big bay with different names to confuse us. Regardless, the Inlet is an excellent place to fish when the tide is moving in, bringing fish in with the tide such as flounder, blues and stripers. The rocks hold certain species including triggerfish and tautog.
We locals always refer to the bridge that comes into Ocean City as the Route 50 Bridge. It is officially called the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge. It is named after a longtime mayor of Ocean City. It connects the downtown area of Ocean City to the mainland. It is one of four ways to enter Ocean City. Other ways to come into Ocean City are Maryland Route 90, Delaware Routh 54 and Delaware Route 1. Many people come into Ocean City through the northern routes and have no idea what the Rt. 50 Bridge looks like! There are two sidewalks along the Bridge with a wire mesh protection where anglers can do all kinds of fishing. Nighttime anglers use lures to catch blues, trout, stripers and shad. Daytime anglers use bait to catch flounder, blues, croaker and tautog.
This Bridge was built in 1942 to replace a bridge that was slightly south of this location. The old bridge was located at Maryland Route 707 (Old Bridge Road) and crossed the Sinepuxent Bay at Worcester Street. The remnants of this old bridge is now all underwater and is located at another popular fishing spot called the Homer Gudelsky Park. (13055 Old Bridge Road, Ocean City, MD 21842 if you’d like to plug it in to your GPS.) Now the locals sometimes get confused over this location, because they remember it by its former name, Stinky Beach (because of the marshy smell at low tide). When we were kids we’d go fishing on the rickety old bridge and catch flounder and blues. The bridge has long since washed under and the area has been developed. The Gudelsky’s preserved this area as a park and it is now a one-acre stretch of sand reinforced with rock in West Ocean City. You can walk and fish this beach between Old Bridge Road and the water entrance to the Ocean City Fishing Center. What is left of the old bridge is underwater at the southernmost end of the Park and is a popular tautog and striper fishing hole. You must be careful because it drops off into a 40 foot hole! Anglers also like to fly fish here. It’s also a good place to cast net some bait. Go early, as there’s limited parking here.
Anglers in boats look for this hole to catch big flounder, stripers, and tautog. From the water it is located just North of the Commercial Harbor where many people launch their boats. Look for the rocks and the sandy beach. The deep holes have some serious snags but it’s a good place to fish when the tide is easing.
“People keep talking about the Main East Channel!”
The main East Channel runs from 14th Street (the grey townhouses called Harbor Island) to the Rt. 50 (Harry Memorial Bridge) in the East Channel of the bay. The tide runs hard here, but when it slows down it’s an excellent flounder catching area because it’s deep and big flounder move thru this channel. Anglers in boats and anglers from the shore all get into the action. (And sometimes some conflicts.) Anglers from the shore can fish from the public pier at 9th Street, the end of 6th Street, and the bulkheaded public fishing area between 2nd the 4th Streets. We locals call this the BULKHEAD. The city calls it the Downtown Recreation Complex with the fishing area referred to as Chicago Ave.
“Promenade” area. Regardless, if you go to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Street and drive as far as you can to the bayside, you can’t miss it! It’s where the city ball park and the skate board rink is. There is some free parking along the street and quite a bit of pay parking right by the water. (Slide your credit card and pay- real easy.)
You can also reach the Main East Channel from the Rt. 50 Bridge by casting your line near the draw of the Bridge. Anglers slipping a live spot over the rail right at slack tide can catch a whopper. Don’t forget your Bridge Net!
Good fishing….
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE.
