Article by Larry Jock
This Week Last Year
• miserable weather kept boats out of the water
• flounder bite good on the western end of the Thorofare
• tautog bite was good on structure, especially near the DE?Lightship
• tautog caught in the West Channel
• a few larger bluefish were hooked at the South Jetty towards the Assateague side
• good bluefish bite at night off Oceanic Pier
• mainly skates and puffers in the surf
You could feel the fishing season coming to life last week with a good increase of boats on the water. We had some nice warm days, but windy conditions never seem to end.
On Sunday, I worked the door of the Annual Ocean City Reef Foundation Dinner & Spring Fund Drive. Once again, the event was held at Seacrets and it was a blast. Over 200 people attended the fundraiser and they were rewarded with some outstanding auction items to bid on. Capt. Monty said it was a recordbreaker for the organization. If you have never attended the event, mark it on your calendar for early May next year. It’s a great organization that does a tremendous amount of good for our fishing community.
It would be difficult to say that bluefish weren’t the star of the show last week with fish caught both in the bay and out front. Most of the blues were snappers, but it looked like there was a definite increase in the average size, with some up to 24-inches. Good catches came in around the sandbars, both north and south of the Rt. 50 Bridge in addition to around the South Jetty. When anglers got tired of the tails of their rubber shads being bitten off they found success tossing Gotcha plugs and flashy lures to the ravenous fish.
Schools of shad were also found in the inlet and the bay behind Ocean City.
Flounder fishing in the bay was good last week with the Thorofare flats still producing most of the flatties that ended up in coolers. Keepers were also found while drifting the main Thorofare as you saw on the cover of this issue. The throwback ratio was still very high, running around 4-1, but the fish are fat! Gulp artificial baits and flounder bellies continue to be the best producers with minnows right behind. Most anglers are fishing white Gulps, but we did see some caught on pink as well last week.
Some big tog were caught last week, especially by anglers fishing on the charter boat, “Fish Bound”. Capt. Kane had his anglers fishing in 40-feet of water and several 10+ pounders were hooked, including one that weighed 16 lbs. caught and released by James Dicano. Green crabs were the ticket on blackfish. Tautog season will close from May 16th to June 30th.
Surfcasters got into some black drum off Assateague last weekend but we still haven’t seen the spring striper run materialize which is scary since the Jersey guys have been into them in a big way over the last couple of weeks. The bluefish bite was stronger in the surf last week with an ocassional chopper being hooked, but most of the fish were slightly larger than snappers. The largest bluefish we saw last week was caught further north off Cape Henlopen when Chuck McKenzie muscled in a 10.5 pounder.
Just a reminder that black sea bass season opens on May 15th! Anglers will be able to keep 15 fish per trip measuring 12 1/2-inches or greater.
Also, right around the corner is cobia season with the minimum size set at 40-inches and a daily limit of 1 per person or up to 3 per boat.
Upcoming Tournament
The 10th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Memorial Day Tornament is May 25th and 26th (fishing 1 of 2 days) with weigh-ins at Sunset Marina. The tournament has both bluefish and tuna calcuttas, opening it up to both inshore and offshore anglers. You do not have to be a Marlin Club member to fish in this event.
Until next week, I’ll see you at the scales!
