I would like to welcome all my readers back to Fish’ N O.C. in the Maryland Coastal Dispatch. As some of you know its been a couple of years since the Dispatch has featured this section. But I’m back In O.C. for the 2009 fishing season and writing for the Dispatch this year. Just to get everyone caught up on what I’ve been up to for the last 2 years after I sold Skip’s Bait & Tackle Shop. In 2007 I decided I needed break from the fishing game here in O.C. I spent a lot more time at my farm in Pennsylvania with my family and friends, just relaxing, fishing and hunting. In 2008 I decide I wanted to go to the great state of Alaska and work as a fishing boat captain. I was lucky enough to land a job in Seward, Alaska running a boat that fished for halibut and salmon. What a experience, this is one state that every person should at least visit once in their lifetime regardless if they fish or not. The scenery and nature in Alaska is unique, and the fishing is like something from a dream. I have a lifetime of memories just from the one year that I spent there working as a charter boat captain. In this first article I’m including a few pictures from my adventures there.
Some other good news I would like to share with my readers is about the tackle shop “Skip’s” on Talbot street. The new owners decided after they bought it that they would turn it into a coffee and ice cream shop. Well after 2 years of hundreds of people coming in looking for bait and tackle and showing signs of disappointment when they were told the shop was no more, they decided to turn it back into a bait & tackle shop again. As I’m writing this article they are stocking the shop and getting ready to open back up, they are hoping to be opening this weekend if all goes well. There’s going to be a few changes and improvements with the store but its still going to have the old time mom and pop shop feel which it was always known for.
The new name is Talbot Street Bait & Tackle. You will find me there on occasion, hanging out talking fishing and giving advice on what’s hot and what’s not. One of the new things will be a front porch with plenty of seating for all you fisherman to hang out on, so you can talk fishing and enjoy free coffee, while you take a load off your feet from fishing the Rt. 50 bridge, 2nd to 4th street bulkhead, and north jetty. Another new feature at the shop will be the weigh station, bring your catch to Talbot Street Bait & Tackle for weigh-in and receive a free color picture of your catch at the scales. They also will be running a weekly biggest Flounder contest with a free T-shirt to the weekly winner.
The fishing here in Ocean City was a mixed bag of inshore and offshore species this week with some days producing nice catches while other days being very slow.20In the surf the striper bite still continues to have its good days. It seems there are still schools of nice stripers moving north up the coast , with some lucky anglers being there at the right time. The Rt. 50 Bridge is producing keeper flounder and tog during the day and at night the striper bite is good but most fish are short. The bulkhead at 2nd to 4th street is producing its usual amounts of tog with some nice flatteis coming from the 2nd street area. The north and south jetties are producing some nice catches of tog and some nice keeper size stripers are being caught at the south jetty casting bucktails tipped with rubber worms. And finally the offshore bite has turned on with lots of sharks being caught with O.C. already seeing its first mako and thresher sharks being brought back to the docks. Here’s some reports from local Tackle Shops: Libby at Oyster bay reported they had fishermen with stripers 42” 41” & 39” all caught in few hours time on Saturday morning, then the bite turned off as quick as it started all the Stripers came from the surf at Assateague Island. One of the better striper bites on the surf here in O.C. was reported at 94th street. Oyster bay also reported there was a good bluefish bite on the surf at 125th street. Libby also said the striper bite on the Rt. 50 bridge at night has been good but most fish are short of 28”.
At Buck’s Place on Rt. 6 11 they reported they also weighed in some nice stripers from the surf in Assateague . Ron Humphfree, of Berlin caught a nice one that measured 39 ¼” caught on a bunker . Darrell Pepper of Georgetown, landed a fat 40” striper also from the surf on bunker head. One of the nicest flounder weighed there this week was a 25” flattie caught by Sidni Schleder of Stevens Pa.
Beverly at Harbor Tackle reports some nice stripers being caught at Indian River, a 22” flounder and a 22” black drum caught by Snug Harbor. The best flounder fishing was south of the Assateague Bridge as the water was cleaner there. She also had 2 anglers weigh-in nice catches from the surf at Assateague, they were Bart Cox with a striper that tipped the scales at 13lbs. 6oz. and measured 32 ½” caught on fresh bunker. His friend Adam Thompson caught a 14lb. 12 oz. black drum on clams.
JJ at the Oceanic Pier reports good catches at night under lights with blues and shad running hard on incoming tide, with spec rigs and got-cha plug working the best. JJ also reports legal flounder being caught during the day at the end of the incoming and the first hour of the out going tide, most flatties being caught on shinners or live minnows. The Oceanic Pier is now open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, with a new and larger tackle selection.
Our last reporting station was Captain Mac’s, Paul reports the Fingers, Hambone, and Hot Dog have been good this week with sharks really starting to make their appearance at those spots. Paul was fishing on his boat the “Spring Mix” and landed and released 10 Blue Sharks all caught on blues and mackerel.
We also had some reports from some charter boats this week , Captain Dustin Lorah was working on the “Islander” as a mate and reports they had several good wreck fishing trips this season with some nice keeper togs and sea bass. All the tog hit on green crabs, and the sea bass hit on minnow squid combos.
All The party boats are now running in the Ocean City, with most running daily, some of the reports are as follows:
Capt. Victor Bunting of the Ocean Princess reports that over the past several days the fishing has been excellent, with several fisherman catching their limits of sea bass. A number of sea bass tipped the scales at over 4 ½ lbs. with the biggest coming in at 5 ¼ lbs.
Capt. Dan Stauffer of the “Fin Chaser” reports, inshore wrecks not producing the keeper size sea bass we are looking for so headed deeper with good results. Most sea bass were of keeper size once we set up on deeper water with some fish coming in at 19” plus. Some of Capt. Dan’s trips last week produced catches of near sixty keeper sea bass for his customers.
Well, that will about do it for the fishing reports for this week, If you have reports or pictures feel free to email me with them at
skipstackleshop@aol.com and I will put them in next weeks article. They also will be posted on my web site www.ocencityfishing.com.
I’m also doing charters this year with the 3 boats to pick from, a 32 foot Topaz with twin diesels for offshore trips for Tuna, Shark, and Marlin fishing. A 30 foot Mako CC with twin outboards, for offshore, inshore, wreck and inlet trips. I also have a 24 foot Sea Ark CC, single outboard for bay and inlet fishing, which I also use for my family adventures, which are a great deal at $375.00 for a half day of sightseeing, clamming and crabbing, children love it. Plus you’ll have plenty of crabs and clams to take with you. So give me a call at 410-430-5436 or email me at skipstackleshop@aol.com and lets talk fishing.
The weather looks good for fishing this weekend with rising temps and calm seas, so get out and fish . Who Knows? Maybe I’ll be writing about you next week.