One of the many responsibilities that comes along with being a charter captain, is taking the large amount of time that is required to maintain your boat. In my case, there are many times, even when I am not fishing, that you will find me at my boat slip—checking on the boat, prepping gear, organizing, etc… so that when it comes time to fish everything goes smoothly. Even though I usually associate my slip with work, most of the time I do enjoy being there. In fact, sometimes it can seem like a safe haven for me—like a home away from home.
As much as I enjoy my boat slip, and as much as it seems like home to me, you might be shocked to find out that I am not the only one living there. All you need to do is take one peak over the gunnels of my boat and you will see schools of baitfish that also call my slip home. In fact, the past three weeks I have been watching four different schools of baby (peanut) bunker grow bigger and bigger by the day. Like a proud papa, when the time comes I will almost be sad to see them go. Right now though, my peanut bunker are not alone in my slip either, there are many silversides (shiners) hanging out in there with them. And even better, you might be happy to note that just this past week I noticed some small finger mullet beginning to show up as well. This is a good sign, and is an indicator that—in spite of the heat—fall is not too far away.
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Joe Cavanaugh caught and released his first striper
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Dan Okerman and his brother Joe Cavanaugh from N.Y. caught these 2 small sharks
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Doctor Jack Mclean of O.C. caught and released this Striper
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Tyrone Manley Sr. & Tyrone Jr. & Tyrelle Manley & Jaden Manley & Alonzo Henderson from York Pa. with some nice keeper flounder
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Ethan Hoffman from Chicago, with mate Ben Mummford showing off his first flounder
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John and Dawn James from Baltimore with a nice Flounder
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John James from Baltimore with a nice 22″ keeper
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Brad Sparks, from Fostoria, Ohio caught this small shark on light tackle with Capt. Skip
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Lindsey Hoffman from Chicago posing with mate Ben Mummford with her first flounder
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Josh Hoffman from Chicago with his first flounder
If I had to choose only one word to describe Ocean City this past week, it would be “HOT!” Up until now, we have been lucky enough to have had cooler than normal temperatures, but that surly was not the case this week. The air conditioners were cranking around OC, and people were heading to the water to keep cool.
Fortunately for us, the air is not the only thing that has been smoldering; the fishing has been pretty darn hot as well. This past week concluded another “White Marlin Open” and the results were spectacular. An outstanding 93 pound white marlin took top prize, and a huge “grander” blue marlin took center stage and captured a new state record. The White Marlin Open always brings a lot of excitement to Ocean City, and this year was no different. In fact, with the extraordinary size of this year’s fish, the 2009 tournament has to go down as one of the best in the recent past.
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“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.”
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“Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates…” some famous words, spoken by one of my all time favorite movie characters—Forest Gump. “You never know what you’re gonna get.” Though Forest was without a doubt a very successful shrimp boat captain, chances are his profound statement was never intended to be applied to fishing. However, in my experience (and I’m sure many of yours as well) his words are definitely applicable to the world of fishing in general, as well as specifically here in Ocean City.
Those of you who have been around Delmarva for a while now, know that fishing is never boring here. Most saltwater fish are migratory, and our location along the coast puts us in a unique place to intercept many coldwater and warm water species. Summer gets very interesting as temperatures warm—fish move and begin to mix. As Forest would say, “You never know what you’re gonna get.” (more…)
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.
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I’m sitting here at the computer this evening, looking out the window… And all I can think about is fishing! It is beautiful outside. A soft blanket of clouds is blocking out the sun, and a slight breeze is blowing in from the South, not too much, but just enough. Tonight is a new moon, and I can almost smell the fish.
With the strong pull of the moon, tides will be extreme tonight—something predatory fish like. If I were fishing the bridge, tonight (or the next few nights) could be some of the best this season. We haven’t seen many weakfish the past few years, but if there are still a few left I would not be surprised at all to see a few of them slip into the inlet this evening and ride the flood tide up to the bridge. At the bridge they’ll set up to feed on the river of baitfish, crabs, and other tasty morsels brought to them by the ebb. Hopefully some of our local bridge rats will pick off a few of those tiderunners the next couple of nights.
Still, this is supposed to be a fishing report, so what use is talking about what could happen. let’s talk some more about what already did happen — and there is plenty talk about.
Probably the most noteworthy catch in Ocean City this week, was the monster mako shark taken this past Saturday. The mako was caught on Terry Layton’s boat Nontypical by angler Jim Hughes of Ocean City during the 29th annual Ocean City Shark Tournament . The Monster topped the scales at 876 pounds… a potential new state record! As some of you know Terry has been on a roll winning the Mako Mania Tournament this year plus also catching the first white marlin of the year. So a big kudos to Terry and his anglers.
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Welcome to another week of Fish’N O.C. its been another great week of fishing here in the waters of Ocean City, We have some great reports coming in from local fisherman, tackle shops, and charter boats. I finally started my fishing charters this past week, with a great start to my 2009 season with 2 of the best back to back Striper charters I’ve seen on the South Jetty in years. There also was a better then usual night Striper and Blues bite on the Rt. 50 Bridge, also with anglers catching keeper Flounder and Tog during the day. The 9th Street Pier started to turn on with nice keeper Flounder being reported along with Snapper Blues. The 2nd to 4th Street Bulk Head is still giving up keeper Flounder and Tog. The Oceanic Pier still has a good day time Flounder and Tog bite, while night time anglers see runs of Shad and Blues. The North and South Jetties have been producing nice day time catches of Trigger Fish, Tog, and Stripers, plus night time runs of Blues and Stripers. The South Bay is seeing good catches of Flounder but most are short with some nice size keepers mixed in. We even had a report of a school of nice Croakers reported in the South Bay, but just for one tide. The surf fishing still continues to produce catches of Snapper Blues, Stripers, Black Drum, and some good sized Sand Sharks, Skates, and Rays. The offshore fishing is having one of its best starts we’ve seen in a very long time, with good20catches of Sharks, Bluefin and Yellowfin Tuna, and Marlin. So it looks like a good year to get out there and fish , or even get a group of family or friends and book a fishing charter here in Ocean City.
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