Ocean City Fishing » bluefish

A blanket of flatties

Capt. Skip — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:15:56 +0000

“Just one more drift…” I kept telling myself. “Why not?” I put my outboards in gear and headed back up current. Before I knew it, we reached the head of our drift, dropped baits in the water, and before long two rods were bent over with fish. I looked at my first mate and smiled, we had two happy anglers on board with another pair of flounder headed to the deck. After a couple moments of unhooking and picture taking, we dropped the flatties back in the water and watched them dive down to the depths. The charter probably should have been over, but it was time to head back up current for “just one more drift.”

Sometimes fishing is just so good, that at the end of a hard day, it’s still too much fun to stop—and that is how good fishing has been around Ocean City lately. It’s late July and we are still experiencing a lot of excitement on the water. There are some very nice rockfish around right now, and even the big migratory bluefish are still here.
In addition to the stripers and bluefish, this has been one of the best summers for flounder fishing in the recent past. Every week I continue to be amazed at the amount of flounder that seem to be blanketing the bottom of the bay. A lot of people like to complain about the 18 inch size restriction on summer flounder, but I am not one of them. These smaller fish, that we have been catching so many of lately, are eventually going to grow up into big fish. And In fact, we have been starting to run into a few more of the bigger fish recently. From this point forward, the fishing should only get better for the larger fish as the summer progresses. In the following months start to take a look at the near-shore wrecks for an even better shot at doormat size flounder.

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the reports that have come in from around Ocean City this past week.
The first report comes from Tim, at John Henrys Bait & Tackle; The surf fishing has really slowed this week. There are a few kingfish being caught, mostly on bloodworms, some surf anglers are still catching sharks and rays. The coastal bays are still producing some nice flounder, croaker, blues, and stripers. The tog are still biting around the jetties, and Rt. 50 Bridge, with a occasional triggerfish mixed in.

At Sunset Marina, Butch reports; Still have a good bite of 140 lb. to 150 lb. class bluefin at the Hambone. Yellowfin are still few and far between, gaffer dolphin at first lump, 12 miles of the coast. Flounder fishing has slowed this week due to the dirty water this week. Most of the flounder being caught are undersized, and the croaker are finally showing up in the back bays.

At Buck’s Place, Shannon reports; Big sharks from the surf, a 8 ft. and 9 ft. sand tiger sharks were caught this week on cut baits. Flounder fishing was bet ter towards the end of the week, but most anglers are still catching mostly shorts. Croaker fishing is really starting to take off, but most fish are on the smaller side, bloodworms and fish bites are the beast baits. Still some keeper stripers coming from the inlet and Rt. 50 Bridge.

At the Ocean City Fishing Center, Katie reports; The best catch of the week was a bluefin tuna that tipped the scales at 163 lbs. We also had bluefin at 139, 141, and 150 lbs. All the bluefin are being caught at the Hambone, the yellowfin are all on the small side. Lots of gaffer dolphin hitting the docks with a few king mackerel mixed in. Some boats also caught and released several white marlin this week. We even saw several mako sharks this week, in the bay the croaker are really starting to bite, we had one boat return with 43 croakers in their cooler. We weighed-in several nice sized flounder this week, one 5 lb. and one 7 lb. And finally the bay bee reported they are catching over 100 flounder throws back a day.

Pete at AllTackle.Com reports; The Twin Wrecks and the 20 line are producing bluefin and a few yellowfin on the troll. Most anglers have to weed threw the smaller flounder to get a few keepers. The Rt. 50 Bridge is still producing keeper striper and nice blues at night.

At the Oceanic Pier, JJ reports; Still have a good Flounder bite going on during the day, the croaker bite continues to improve daily, bloodworms are the ticket. We still have a few anglers fishing for tog, but most are undersized. The bluefish bite is still good when the schools move through, Got-cha plugs work the best along with Spec-Rigs. We are seeing some striper action from the sea wall at night, most fisherman are using live eels.

Beverly at Harbor Tackle reports; Not much to tell, more sharks at the beach along with a few blues, kings, rays, and skates. The Rt. 50 Bridge is still producing legal stripers at night, plenty of flounder but not many keepers. We did weigh-in a nice keeper flounder this week, caught by Jere Putt, it was 25” and weighed 7.5 lbs. it was caught in the east channel on live spot.

Adam at Bahia Marina reports; The founder bite remained steady this past week with many throwbacks being caught and a few nice keepers mixed in. A few anglers have been able to find some croakers in the bay so it shouldn’t be too long until they are in here thick. The Judith M continues to catch Sea Bass and Triggerfish. A few trips produced large flounder as well. Some of the flounder tipped the scales in the 5 to 7 lb range. Offshore angler continue to pick at large bluefins. Most of the fish have been in the 120′s. The Ebb Tide returned to the dock with a 66 inch bluefin that weighed 154 lbs. There are also plenty of gaffer dolphin being caught and some yellowfins as well for those who venture further offshore, but the yellowfin bite has definitely slowed down compared to what it was a couple of weeks ago.

Capt. Steve on the Happy Hooker reports; Fishing in the bay this week slowed considerable do to strong south winds in the early part of the week. There were still fish to be found, it just took a little extra work moving from spot to spot to find them. Monday showed signs of the water cleaning up and a few more fish being caught, with your best bet being in the deeper water.

Capt. Mark Sampson of Fish Finder Charters reports; I’m doing near shore shark trips 10 miles from the coast. It’s a ½ day charter for spinner sharks, Atlantic sharp nose, and dusky sharks in the 40 to 60 lb. range. This week we also caught 3 tiger sharks 35 lbs. to 125 lbs. it’s very unusual for them to be this close to the shore line. We also caught our first black tip shark of the year, it was in the 50 lb. range. It was a good week with a nice mixture of shark species. You can call Capt. Mark at 410-726-7946 or visit his web site at www. big sharks.com it’s a great trip for the young ones.

Captain Victor Bunting on the Ocean Princess reports; Some ups and downs with the fishing this week. Early in the week things started off pretty good with a steady pick of sea bass and the occasional floun der and triggerfish. By mid-week fishing had slowed down and we had some pretty slow days of fishing. I just came back in from our Sunday morning trip and we had a good day. Lots of throwback sea bass and some flounders, but the catching was fairly good. If your planning on filling up a 100 quart cooler with fish right now, it ain’t gonna happen, but you might pick up a keeper or two. I have heard reports from boats in the bay and from surf fisherman that there are a few croakers around. Hopefully they will be showing up any day and we’ll be able to fill that 100 qt. cooler.

Here at Talbot Street Bait and Tackle we saw several nice flounder at the scales, but the biggest was caught by a local. Howard Agnew, from Salisbury he was fishing on the party boat the Angler, when he hooked into a 27 ½” 8.5 lb. flounder while jigging with a bucktail. This week it seems that some of the best flounder fishing is coming from the Rt. 50 Bridge, and the east channel. The hot baits are live spot, Berkley Gulp, shinners, and live minnows. If your looking for croakers try the south bay by the commercial harbor, definitely use bloodworms and fish bites. If your looking for tog the south and north jetties are the hot spots. The best bait are sand fleas or green crabs. And finally for stripers both jetties and the Rt. 50 Bridge are the hot spots. Use live eels, spot, got-cha plugs, and rubber shads.

Finally the last report comes from the charter boat restless lady, they report a great week of charters with the highlight of the week being a overnighter. We left Monday at noon returned noon Tuesday, caught 3 yellowfin, kept one, released 2. The big bluefin was a 150 pounder, also caught a 124 lb. mako, and a 65” white marlin. Not bad for a 24 hour trip.

Chomp, chomp.

Capt. Skip — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Wow, what a tough week to be a soft plastic shad!—or a live spot for that matter. Every time I went fishing this past week my bait and plastic lure supply got smaller and smaller. Tons of plastic shads chomped in half, right behind the hook…and the poor spot, honestly, I sometimes feel bad for them. They seem so content when I set them loose to find me a trophy rockfish—only to come back in horror, like they have just been to a terrifying picture show.

On the flip side, this past week was a great week to catch bluefish… The gotcha plugs were flying from the bridge at night, and anglers were pulling the ravenous, yellow-eyed demons up over the rail at the inlet. One of the great things about fishing for bluefish is the fast action. When a school moves in, and the fish are feeding, sometimes you can catch one on every cast. If the fish are decent sized, like they were this past week, anglers can have a lot of fun. Just be careful of your fingers!
I should not say this past week was all about bluefish, because it wasn’t. The past couple of days have seen better action for the larger rockfish as well. I think a new school of decent-sized fish has moved into the inlet. We had a tough time finding keepers for a couple days last week, but now they seem to have some more size to them again. It’s just the way things go when you are dealing with migratory fish—they come and go a s they please, with no regards to our schedule. It’s one of the things that I love about saltwater fishing. We can keep log books, record all sorts of data, and spend tons of money on high-tech equipment; but we never know for sure what that next tide will bring into the inlet. It can be boom or bust, or just slow and steady. Saltwater fishing is a lot like life in general, really.

Okay, I will move down off my soap box for now. Let’s talk some more about what happened in Ocean City fishing this past week. I’m going to start with the charters I had this past week. As most of you know most of the charters I have been doing lately are for stripers. This week was no exception, all five were striper trips, but we did mix in some flounder fishing with it with great results. The first charter was a mother and son team, Ritz and Sherry Burgee from the Baltimore area. Ritz loves to fish, actually he lives and breaths it, this was his first South Jetty Striper experience and he was like a little kid in a candy store. We ended up boating between 40 to 50 stripers on the trip with 3 keepers, we also did a little flounder fishing with lots of action, but just fell short of that 18” minimum size. After the charter Ritz had such a great time he talked his mom into booking another charter with me just a few days later with even better action than on the first trip. I think by the end of the second charter Ritz had caught a good case of what I call “Striper Fever”.

Another trip worth writing about was a nice group of guys from Harrisonburg, Va. Jim Mason, and his 2 son in-laws Rusty Showalter and Seth Caldwell. This also was a South Jetty striper trip. This was the first time these guys fished with me, so they had no idea what they were in for. Well, it was another awesome trip with double and triple hook ups on every drift with non stop action. By the time we hit the dock these guys had boated well over 50 stripers with 3 nice keepers, one measuring 39” and Rusty even caught a 21” flounder. All the fish were caught drifting live spot.

Well the 3 other charters I had this past week weren’t any different then the two I wrote about. So if you’re a fisherman that likes lots of lite tackle action, this is the trip for you, the bite hasn’t slowed, if anything its picked up this past week with nicer size stripers moving in. Give me a call at 410-430-5436 and book a trip while the fishing is still red hot.

I still have lots of reports from local tackle shops, and charter boats so lets get right to them. Our first report comes from Chris at the Ocean City Fishing Center in West O.C. ; seeing lots of yellowfin tuna this week at the docks, the bluefin bite has slowed down with only a few anglers catching them. We did see more dolphin this week then in weeks past. The flounde r fishing is still red hot, with most fishermen having non stop action, but most fish are on the smaller side. Captain Mark is still catching lots of sharks on the “Fish Finder”.

At Buck’s Place on Rt. 611 Travis reports; The surf fishing has slowed down this week, but we did here reports of skates, blues, and the occasional sand shark being caught. The bait of choice this week is fresh bunker or mullet.

At Sunset Marina in West O.C. Haddarty reports; There’s still lots of makos being caught at the Hambone and Hotdog. Offshore fishermen are reporting the makos are feeding on the football size yellowfin in that area. The Bass Grounds are giving anglers lots of sea bass and flounder action, with one sea bass weighing over 6 lbs. Most anglers are scoring with cut squid and minnow combos. The bay flounder fishing is fast paced but most fish are not measuring the 18” minimum.

At Oyster Bay on 118th street Tom reports; The spot have showed up in big numbers from the inlet to 94th street, best baits are blood worms or squid. Croakers finally made their appearance in the O.C. inlet, the flounder bite continues to be good, but most flatties are short. And finally, the surf is producing sharks, skates, and spot.
Steve at Alltackle.com in West O.C. reports; yellowfin at the Washington, also big bluefish on the Chicken Bone. And still lots of makos being caught at the Fingers mostly on mackerel.

At John Henrys Bait & Tackle in West O.C. Tim reports; The surf fishing has slowed down, but in the coastal bays anglers are catching flounder, stripers, tog, and triggerfish.
Beverly at Harbor Tackle in West O.C. reports; Not much happening on the beach this week only small blues, some kingfish, lots of skates, and a few sharks. Flounder fishing seemed to be a bit better this week. I heard of more legal flounder being caught. The percentage of legal flounder to undersized was about 25%. Most legal flounder were in the 18 to 23 inch size. And finally, last Friday, Bill Snyder of Ocean Pines hooked up with a 25” 5.9 lb. flounder at 4th street bulk head using live spot for bait.

Teddy at the Oceanic Pier reports; The flounder fishing is picking up with more keepers being caught. Still lots of tog being caught but their starting to be on the smaller side with the weather getting warmer. We also are seeing triggerfish being caught by the sea wall and off the north jetty mostly on sand fleas. Teddy also said there are croakers finally starting to bite in the inlet, but most are on the smaller side. The bait of choice is bloodworms, and finally the night fishing still continues to be good for blues, shad and a occasional short stripper.

Here at Talbot Street Bait & Tackle we saw some nice fish at the scales this week. The first to come in was a unusual catch coming from the bay, it was a2032” cobia caught by Ray Delfera, from Brookheaven Pa. Ray caught it at the 2nd to 4th street bulk head on shinners. We also saw some nice flounder from the Rt. 50 bridge, which has been smoking hot lately for day time flounder fishing. First to come the scales was long time customer, Les Luco of Catonsville, Md., it measured 18 ½” and was caught on live minnows on a bridge spreader bar. The next day his son Scott Luco also from Catonsville came in with a nice 19” flattie, also caught on a bridge spreader bar rig with shinners as bait. I’m going to take a minute here to talk about these bridge spreader bars, if you happen to drive across the Rt.50 bridge you will see a lot of fishermen using a long bright colored bobber with a long wire rig attached about 2 foot below it. This is a bridge spreader bar, which is the most effective rig to use when targeting flounder from the bridge. If your serious about flounder fishing from the bridge this is the rig to use. Les tells me he has had over 25 flatties per trip this week from the bridge. If you need help setting up a rig for the bridge, stop by the tackle shop and one of our employees will show you exactly what you need to be a successful flounder fisherman off the bridge.

The last few reports come from a few charter boats here in O.C. The first is from Captain Steve on The Happy Hooker a bay flounder party boat. Steve reports; Once again this week the20flounder bite was excellent, we carried over 250 customers and all but 3 caught flounder. The only down side is there are very few keepers to be found. There really wasn’t any place better then any other, it seems the little fish are everywhere, just look for clean water and a good drift. Over the last few days there has also been several people that have reported good numbers of croakers by both the Rt. 90 Bridge and also the Verrazano Bridge. Which is almost a month earlier than last year and hopefully a sign of things to come.

The next report is from Captain Victor from the Ocean Princess, he reports; Pretty good fishing over the past week. Some trips are better than others, but we have been pulling in a fair amount of sea bass along with a few triggerfish and flounder. Most of our sea bass have fallen short of the 12 ½” size limit set this year, but we have had a few decent size keepers come over the rail. Triggerfish have been coming on steady, and its not uncommon this week to come home with more keeper triggerfish than sea bass. Hopefully the flounder bite continues to improve over the next few weeks.

The final report comes from the Restless Lady charter boat, Captain Todd reports; We went fishing at the Poormans at the 100f and landed 30 yellowfin tuna. 6 were keepers up to 35 lbs. We had a mako bite that threw the hook after two jumps. Water was 68degrees, and there was tons of bait in the water……squid. We never had a single hook-up, always 2 to 3 at a time, once we had six at a time, they hit the rasta bars and naked ballyhoos. Our best catch of the week was a 183 lb. Bigeye Tuna, the largest of the year landed in O.C.