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.

Fall is not here yet, however, as I know my air conditioner was turned up on high this past week. The fish also seem to know that summer is here as well. All of our typical summertime species have been present. One of the major pluses that comes hand in hand with the arrival of the finger mullet, is that oftentimes the largest flounder of the season show up to feed on them. Big finger mullet are flounder candy, and in a couple of weeks I would look for that fishery to be in full swing. Another summertime fish that we see a lot of is snapper bluefish. Generally this time of the year you will see them in the inlet in the mornings and evenings and also along the beachfront chasing silversides, or whatever else they can catch. Spot and croaker also abound this time of the year, and they can be caught all through the bay and along the beachfront where kingfish can be caught as well. Some bigger sharks will also be running the surf this time of the year—coming inshore to feed in periods of low light. Croakers and kingfish beware!
Since we have had so much warm weather and clear skies lately, anglers have had some great opportunities to get out and fish. I have quite a few fishing reports to share with you so let’s get started.

At Buck’s Place Shannon reports; surf fishing is slow, most anglers are fishing for sharks with cut baits. There are some bluefish up to 15” being caught also, the best20baits for blues are finger mullet. Some anglers are catching a few kingfish and spot mostly on bloodworms and fish bites. Shannon fished the Poor Girl’s last weekend, which was the first offshore fishing trip she has ever been on and had a great time, she landed a 20 lb. plus dolphin.

At the Oceanic Pier, Terrible Ted reports; A lot of keeper flounder during the day on incoming tide. Minnows, shiners, squid, and Berkley Gulp are the best baits to use. The croakers are biting good at night, and the size are getting bigger, over 12”. The best baits for them are bloodworms, fish bite, and squid. There are some blues still around, their biting on Gotcha Plugs and Spec Rigs. Sea bass, spot, and sea robins are plentiful for the young kids to catch. The tog are over now till the weather cools and fall weather nears. The sea wall and Rt. 50 bridge are producing small stripers on live eels.

John at Alltackle reports; The flounder seem to be getting bigger this past week, minnows, squid, and Berkley Gulp are the ticket. The croaker fishing is getting better by the day, with bloodworms and fish bites working best. The tuna bite has slowed, but most offshore anglers are still catching white marlin and dolphin. The wreck and reef fishing for flounder is red hot, we also had a fisherman weigh in a red snapper, yes I said red snapper, that weighed 40 lbs. coming off a wreck some where off the coast of O.C . The Rt. 50 bridge is good during the day for flounder and small blues, bridge spreader bars and floats are working the best. There also is still some night time striper action.

At the O.C. Fishing Center, Katie reports; The tuna bite has slowed, but the white marlin and dolphin are still there heavy. The offshore flounder fishing is red hot, with most anglers getting their limits with fish over 4lbs. The bay fishing is all about croakers, with bloodworms and fish bites working best.

Lori at John Henry’s Bait & Tackle reports; There’s lots of spot and hard head in the bay, a few keeper flounder also, mostly on live mullet and bunker. The surf fishing is slow with most anglers targeting sharks at night with cut baits.

At Harbor Tackle, Bev reports; Fishing has not changed much this past week. Not much happening in the surf except sharks, skates, and rays. Maybe if you are lucky there are a few croakers, blues, kingfish, and flounder. During the AMSA Camporee Fishing Tournament only one spot was caught by any of the entrants. A few more legal flounder are showing up in the back bays but most fish are under the 18 inch mark. At the Inlet some triggers, stripers, blues and croakers are showing. The Rt. 50 Bridge is producing some stripers, small blues and lots of small flounder.

At Ake’s, Noah reports; Wreck fishing for flounder is picking up, nicer size fishing being caught. Tons of croaker being caught in the bay and just offshore, bloods and fish bites work best. The offshore tuna fishing has slowed but there’s lots of dolphin to be caught. Also the white marlin bite is still red hot. The Rt. 50 bridge is still producing flounder during the day and stripers at night.

Captain Steve, on The Happy Hooker, reports: Slow bite on the out going tide. But the incoming tide has been producing keepers every trip. The croaker bite is still strong and fast paced.

I had several charters this week, inshore light tackle shark, offshore wreck and reef flounder fishing, and bay flounder and croaker, with all good results. The inshore sharking is still going strong with plenty of action with small sharks in the 3 to 5 foot range. The offshore wreck and reef flounder fishing is the best I’ve seen yet with lots of action with flounder tipping the scales 4 lbs. and up. And the bay fishing is still good with lots of flounder action, with every trip producing several keepers. I’ll be booking the flounder fishing trips till September 15 when the season closes, and I’ll be doing the shark trips till the bite stops which should be into October. I’m starting to book my fall season striper trips now, with the best dates going quick. So if your interested please call me on my cell at 410-430-5436 for the best dates and tide s. I’m also booking all the fall striper tournaments here in O.C. and there are still a few left so give me a call.

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.

Offshore fishing was not the only action going on around town this week, however. A lot of anglers reported good fishing inshore as well. Schools of croakers have been continuing to filter into the bay, along with spot, and some more decent-sized summer flounder. Striper fishing contin ues to be good around the Rt. 50 Bridge and the inlet. In addition to fishing in the bay and inlet, a lot of anglers like to fish from the surf this time of the year as well. Some very respectable sharks can be caught inshor e during the summer months, and a lot of anglers have been turning out to catch these toothy critters from boats as well as from the surf. An 80 lb. spinner shark can take drag like a tuna and will leap from the water like a marlin, an exciting experience for any angler for sure!

A lot of reports have filtered in from around Ocean City this past week. So, let’s take a look at them now. The first reports I’m going to write about are a few of my charters this past week. The first was a inshore shark fishing trip, which are very popular with children of all ages, and even adults. We travel anywhere from 4 miles to 10 miles off the beach, so you can still see land from the boat, which is good for first time anglers who aren’t sure how they will be fishing off the coast of Ocean City. It’s a good mix of sharks mostly small dusky and thrasher sharks in the 4 to 5 foot range on light tackle, which is a great fight for most anglers. What’s nice these size sharks are small enough that their easy to handle and everybody on the boat gets to see these toothy creatures up close and actually get to touch them before their released. I’ll be booking these trips for the rest of the summer and i nto the fall, so give me a call if your interested in some great light tackle action that’s sure to make that drag sing.

The other charter I want to talk about was another great family trip, my bay flounder and croaker charters. This trip was a great group from Chicago, IL. The Hoffman family, David and Lisa and their children Lindsey, Josh, and Ethan, and their Pop Pop Neal Hoffman who put the trip together for them. We started in the east channel with a lot of action with small flounder which the kids had a blast catching. By the way the hot bait was Berkly Gulp with shinners or smelt. After a couple of hours we made a move to the south bay by the airport. We had another good bite with the flounder being a little bit bigger with most being 16 to 17 ½” just shy of that 18” we were looking for. Pop Pop Neal ended up catching a 18 ½” flounder to put in the box, plus little Ethan landed a legal croaker that also went in the box. I’ll be booking these bay flounder and croaker trips for another month until the Flounder season closes on September 15th. Another great trip is offshore flounder wreck and reef fishing which is really starting to heat up quick and will only get better over the next few weeks. I will being doing some of these trips in the next few days, so hopefully I’ll have some great stories and pictures for my readers the next few weeks. Lets get to more reports from around Ocean City.

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,=2 0some 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 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 better 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 Oceanic Pier, JJ reports; Good week for flounder, lots of numbers and lots of keepers. We’re seeing lots of croakers now, with most anglers using blood worms for baits. We are seeing lots of small spot and sea bass, great for the young kids to catch, non stop action, also blood worms are the best bait for them. Lots of stripers from the seawall and Rt. 50 Bridge, most anglers are fishing live eels. Here at the pier at night, their catching mostly blues, and a occasional shad, mostly on Got-cha Plugs and Spec Rigs.

Beverly at Harbor Tackle, reports; Nothing much has changed in the past few weeks. The surf fishing is producing more big sharks, croakers, blues, and kingfish, along with p lenty of rays and skates. Lots of flounder caught in the usual places, however, most are under the 18 inch minimum. The croaker catch is getting better. Some small tog are around. The Inlet and Rt. 50 Bridge are producing legal stripers, blues, and flounder.

Captain Victor on the Ocean Princess reports that fishing has been great! It is the best I’ve seen in a long time. We are catching croakers and plenty of them. They aren’t the biggest fish but there are some nice ones mixed in. Some trips we catch small ones with a few big ones and other trips we will catch all nice size croakers. If you want to catch fish, now is the time to come. There are a few flounder, sea bass or trigger fish mixed in with the croakers but don’t count on them, this is a croaker fest.

At AllTackle John reports; Bay fishermen are seeing lots of flounder and hard head. The surf fishing has definitely slowed down the last few weeks, but anglers are still catching some kingfish, croaker, and spot. Offshore fishing is hit or miss for most boats, but the marlin bite is better, with most boats catching them not far offshore.

Here at Talbot Street Bait and Tackle, the flounder fishing during the day is red hot off the Rt. 50 Bridge. Bridge spreader bars are the ticket, rigged with minnows and squid or shinners and squid. There s still a good night bite off the Bridge, with anglers scoring some keeper stripers and blues. Most are being caught on Gotcha Plugs , Rubber Shads and Buck Tails. The croaker bite in the bay has gotten red hot the last few days, with most fishermen using blood worms and Berkley Gulp. The tog bite is mostly in the inlet area with some anglers also catching triggerfish also.

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.

Right now we are in a transitional phase here in Ocean City, and a mixed bag of fish is present. Some of the bigger flounder have finally arrived to the area, which has been a delight to many of our local bay and bridge anglers. Most of the migratory rockfish have moved through, and the summer residents have set up shop in the inlet and around the bridge. There are always some nice-sized resident fish that are pulled from the inlet during summer months, so anglers should look for patter ns to begin to develop for these fish. Blue fishing continues to be good. Rays and some nice “biter” sharks are being taken along the beach. Trigger fish are now being caught inshore in the bay and probably off the wrecks. I heard of a cobia that was taken last week. And speaking of a mixed bag, we caught a very pretty red drum on one of my charters just yesterday.

A lot has been going on around Ocean City this past week, and I have quite a few reports to share with you. So let’s get started, we’ll start out with a few of my charters this past week. During and right after the full moon things definitely slowed down out at the south jetty and in the bays. Actually, it was some of the slowest action I’ve experienced this summer. But we got through it and the last few days we have seen a big improvement with striper and flounder fishing. One of the trips this week we had a little excitement with a unusual catch for the south jetty. It was with a great group from Bradford County, Pa., Marilyn, Jacob, and Jordan Grover, plus Jordan’s girlfriend, Jessica Tunnicliff. I had taken Marilyn and Jacob fishing a few years back when they were on their honey moon, so they were experienced in fishing the south jetty. We made a few drifts over the tip with a few small stripers hooking up but nothing to get excited about. Then Jacob hooked up with a big fish that started to burn up some drag on the reel, at first I thought we h ooked up with that big striper that everyone is hoping for. Jacob did a excellent job fighting this fish, with it making several runs back towards the jetty, but he always seemed to get it slowed down before it reached the rocks and cut the line. After about a five minute fight he finally got it close enough for us to see the fish, it turns out to be a big red drum. It still made two more runs from the boat before it tired enough for us to get it in the net. After a quick measurement of 32”, we realized it was to big to keep and released it back into the water for another angler to hopefully enjoy some day. Its funny, with customers most of the time your telling them the fish is just short of the legal limit and you have to release it back into the water, but its very seldom you tell them the fish is to big and you have to release it. With red drum there is a slot limit of 18” to 27” so needless to say Jacob was a little disappointed, but he still had the thrill of the awesome fight the fish gave him.

The next charter was just yesterday with a great group from Rochester, NY. It was a mixed group of two families that vacation together every year in O.C., the Cardamore’s and the Schlegel’s and Jerry Pelano who put the trip together. It was one of the charters that we had action from the very first drift to the last which always makes for a great day on the water. We started out at the south jetty with plenty of striper action, but we just couldn’t seem to get that 28” we needed for a keeper fish. But finally after 2 hours of non-stop shorts, Brent Schegel hooked into that big one we had been waiting for. It gave Brent a awesome fight with several drag burning runs that he barely stopped. But after what seemed like ten minutes the beautiful stripper gave in and came to the boat and was netted, with lots of screams of excitement and high fives from everybody on the boat. After everybody calmed down we measured the fish at 38 ½” with a weight well over 20 lbs. Not bad for Brent’s first keeper striper. We fished the south jetty for a while longer with still plenty of action, but no keepers. Then we decided to head up the bay for some flounder fishing. Once we got there and got the lines in, it didn’t take long for the first flattie to hit. It was a good bite but most fish were on the small side, until Jerry hooked up and the way the rod was bending we knew he had a keeper on. The flounder was a nice fat 19 ½” which put a little excitement back into everybody. We fished about another hour or so with all the other fish coming in under the 18” minimum. Well I had a lot of other trips this week I would like to write about, but unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the room in this article if I’m putting in other reports from around O.C. But I would like to thank all my customers for fishing with me and hope they have lasting memories for years to come.

The first report comes from JJ at the Oceanic Pier; Lots of flounder this week, the best week of flounder fishing yet from the pier. Lots of spot and small sea bass all caught on bloodworms, great action for the kids. The tog are still biting, but all are undersized. The night fishing, lots of croaker, and still catching blues and shad some nights.

At the O.C. Fishing Center, Kathie reports; Lots of bluefin tuna hitting the docks, just a few yellowfin here and there. Lots of dolphin and also a few white marlin releases reported. Flounder fishing in the bays still is red hot, most fish are on the small size, with a few keepers mixed in.

Kathie at Buck’s Place reports; Tyler Dubois of Baltimore caught some nice fish from the Rt.50 Bridge, a bluefish that was 34 ½” plus a striper that measured 29”. we had lots of reports of good bluefish and striper bites from the bridge at night mostly on Got-cha Plugs. Surf fishing is slow, with most anglers catching, blues, sharks, skates, and rays. Flounder fishing is still good in the south and north bays, but most fish are throw backs.

At John Henry’s Bait & Tackle, Tim reports; Catching big blues and striper from the Rt. 50 Bridge. Coastal bays still producing good fl ounder bites. Surf fishing is slow but most fisherman are catching sharks and rays, but the kingfish are starting to show uo with the spot and croaker.

Here at Talbot Street Bait & Tackle, Rick reports; seeing some keeper flounder at the scales, most flatties are 18 to 22” range, most caught on Berkly Gulp, and shinners. Also weighed in some big blues from the Rt. 50 Bridge all caught on Got-Cha Plugs. Also reports of sand sharks from the surf.

Beverly at Harbor Tackle reports; Fishing with their dad’s at Fenwick Shoal, Rayn Starner caught a 46 ½” 27 lb. 5 oz. cobia, and Austin Bainbridge caught a 4ft. hammerhead shark. Bev also reports, more sharks in the surf, along with kingfish, bluyes, croakers, skates, and rays. Some trigger fish and spade fish at the inlet. A few more legal stripers from the Rt. 50 Bridge and finally, lots of flounder but most under 18”.

Capt. Victor Bunting on the Ocean Princess reports; Fishing has been good again over the past week. We still are seeing a good number of flounder and triggerfish coming in on most of our trips. Our biggest flounder this week was a 24” caught on a morning trip by Joe Smith along with some other throw backs and keepers. Went back down to the same area in the afternoon and didn’t see another flounder the rest of the day. We still are picking away at the sea bass, some trips better than others. The first signs of ocean front croakers have appeared and hopefully we’ll be having some good days fishing for them coming up.

Finally our offshore report comes from the boat the Restless Lady, they report; We went to the Hambone and caught 4 bluefins. We kept1 at 36” and 40 pounds. And 1 at 64” and 140 pounds. All caught on ballyhoo and spreader bars on the troll. We went out to the Baltimore Canyon and hooked a mako and a white marlin and both threw the hooks while making jumps. Them fishing seems to be improving as the water warms.

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.

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.

Here is a quick wrap of the hot spots here in Ocean City before I get into the reports from tackle shops, charter boats, and anglers. The Rt. 50 bridge still continues to produce flounder during the day, with tog fisherman also doing well during the day light hours. At night the stripers are still feeding on both tides with anglers catching nice size blues. The 9th Street Pier had a good week with reports of nice size flounder. The 2nd to 4th Street Bulk Head also is giving anglers good flounder action, with some anglers also targeting tog and triggerfish with good results. The tip of the South Jetty is still hot with great reports of anglers in boats having epic striper trips in the early morning, on incoming tide casting bucktails, and drifting live spot. The South Jetty is also producing tog, sheepshead, and triggerfish for anglers using sand fleas and green crabs. The Oceanic Pier is still seeing good day time flounder and tog action, while night time angler are hooking up with shad and blues nightly under the lights. The surf is seeing lots of skates, rays, and sand sharks, with a occasional nice bluefish mostly on mullet. And finally the crabbing here in the bay is starting to turn on with most action in the upper reaches of the bay.

We have lots of reports coming this week so lets get right to them; Beverly at Harbor Tackle in West O.C. reports, lots of flounder most are under size though. We saw blues, kingfish, and sharks coming from the surf, and we also heard of croakers being caught at Assateague Island. Beverly also reports tog and triggerfish at the Inlet and the 2nd to 4th Street Bulk Head. And finally the Rt.50 Bridge and Inlet are producing shad, blues, and striper. Some of Bev’s high light this week at the tackle shop are Lee Phillps of Ocean Pines weighed in a 25 ¼ inch flounder from the Rt. 50 Bridge. Also Darin Turner and his buddy Matt Buziak caught a 3.86 lb. 22 ½ inch flattie. And finally Chris Wilkinson also weighed in a nice flattie from the Rt.50 Bridge that was 19inches and 2.8lbs.

At the O.C. Fishing Center, Charlotte reports; flounder fishing in the bays has been good with lots of boated fish, but most fish are under size. The keepers that anglers are catching are seem to be in the 20 to 23 inch range. The O.C. Shark Tournament this past weekend was full of action with 14 sharks weighed in and 137 released. Charlotte also reports that George Merrick on the “Ursula Priscilla” boated a thresher shark on Tuesday am. that tipped the scales at 172 lbs. and finally, lots of yellow fin, dolphins, and a few bluefin hitting the docks daily.

At Sunset Marina, Kristen reports; Lots of flounder, mostly throw backs, but all keepers seem to be in the 20 inch slot range. The tuna fishing is picking up with most boats catching yellowfin and a few bluefin.

At Alltackle.com Steve reports; the sharks being caught at the Poormans and the Parkinglot are on the smaller side, bit the Fingers are producing the larger sharks. Bluefin are being caught at the Hambone, Parkinglot, and Lumpy Bottom. The yellowfin reports are good from the Poormans and the Rock Pile. And finally the flounder bite is good but mostly throw backs, and the sea bass slowed down this week due to the spawn.

At John Henry Bait & Tackle they report; seeing nice flounder, some croakers, and blues. Surf fishing has slowed down in the last week, most anglers catching rays, skates, and sharks on cut baits.

JJ at the Oceanic Pier reports; mostly shad and blues at night, the tog fishing has really picked up this week with anglers catching lots but most fish are on the smaller side. Some small sea bass and croakers making their appearance during the day light hours. The flounder fishing is really turning on with the best week of the month so far. And finally anglers are getting lots of hook ups with rays and skates.

At Ake Marine Noah reports; Russel Applegit of Ocean Pines caught a 642 lb. thresher shark on Saturday, but was not in th e tournament, the monster still got him a pending state record. The thresher was caught at the fingers on a mackerel bait, on a 30 class reel with 40 lb. line. Noah also said he got to do a little fishing this week for flounder and did real good. He was fishing the East Channel, jigging pearl white Berkley Gulp and boated over 30 flounder with 12 keepers. He kept the three largest a 23” 22” and a 20”.
At Oyster Bay Bait & Tackle they report; Denny Blessing just brought in 3 nice keeper flounder for weigh in, all came from the west channel on live minnows and squid. The surf fishing has slowed down, with most anglers catching skates, rays, and blues. The bay fishing seems to be getting better, with flounder really turning on. And finally the Rt. 50 Bridge is producing nice flounder during the day and stripers and blues at night.

At Buck’s Place they have had a good week at the scales, with flounder, black drum, and striper all making their appearance. Some of those anglers were, Parker Kreppel, of Berlin, Md. Catching a nice rockfish at 9 lbs. 31 inch. He was fishing near the Verazano Bridge with Captain Jason Mumford on the Lucky Break. Also another great catch was John Garrow of Hollywood, Md. With 2 flounder 21 ¾” and another at 22 ½” both caught on squid in Assateague Bay.

We also had some nice fish weighed in this week at Talbot Street Bait & Tackle. First in was longtime flounder fisherman, Mike Reeves. Mike was fishing the 2nd to 4th Street Bulk Head, when he hooked into a nice flattie measuring 27 inches and tipping the scales at 6.3 lbs. Mike caught the flounder on live spot. The second group to weigh in fish were the Hanna’s from Lock Haven, Pa. These guys used to charter me till they bought their own boat. They brought in 2 nice stripers and a sheepshead all caught at the South Jetty. The rock were caught on live spot and the sheepshead on live sand fleas.

We had a couple reports from charter boats and they are as follows; Captain Todd Kurtz of the “ Restless Lady reports they fished the O.C. Shark Tournament and unfortunately only came up with 15 releases of blue sharks and dusky. Todd also says we are fishing 3 times this week Wed., Thur., and Fri. two trips are for tuna and one shark trip. We’ll keep you updated on hot bites.

And finally our last report comes from Captain Steve on the Happy Hooker a bay flounder boat. Lots of flounder with some keepers, doesn’t matter where you fish their everywhere, you just have to weed through the small ones to get your keepers. It seems the bait of choice is shinners. They also saw their first sea trout of the year at 17”.

Well that about does it for this week’s fishing report, remember if you have a report or pictures you would like in the “Coastal Dispatch” or on my Web S ite WWW.OCEANCITYFISHING.COM shoot me a email at SKIPSTACKLESHOP@AOL.COM.

Finally a few things about what’s going on here at “Talbot Street Bait & Tackle” our hours are 7am. To 7pm. 7 days a week, and we do have “LIVE SPOT FOR SALE” along with other great baits and tackle. We also are booking Bay, Inlet, Wreck, Inshore, and Offshore Charters on my 3 different boats. Plus we have a great ½ day “Family Adventure”, fishing, crabbing, clamming, and sight seeing for only $375.00 which is a great deal in these tough times. So stop by the Tackle Shop or give me a call at 410-430-5436 cell or 410-289-FISH(3474)Tackle Shop, and lets talk fishing.

The fishing is better then its been in years , so get out there and fish. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be writing about you next week.

I still have lots or reports, so they are as follows; Chris at the Ocean City Fishing Center reports, The Tuna fishing this week is starting to turn on with mostly Yellows, with some boats scoring their Bluefin. The “Day Dreamer” came to the docks with 5 nice Yellowfins. Seeing a lot of Seabass from offshore wrecks and reefs, and a few Stripers from the surf hitting the scales at the Tackle Shop.

At Sunset Marina, Jim reports, Flounder bite was excellent in the South Bay, but most were under the 18” minimum size, the water was extremely clear. Pretty good Trigger Fish bite on the North and South Jetties, Sandfleas working the best for bait. Mako bite is good, with “Pumpin Hard” catching 4 Makos and 2 Bluefins, bring one of each to the dock.
At Buck’s Place on Rt. 611, Leigh reports, a few Stripers and Black Drum from the surf, mostly caught on Peelers and Clams. She also reports a hot bite of Flounder in the South Bay by the Airport, on shinner and squid combos.

Adam at Bahia Marina reports, Flounder fishing continues to be good with plenty of fish being caught. Today I caught 28 throwbacks, but only had one keeper. The Tortuga has also been catching plenty of Flounder with similar results. The Judith M returned to the dock with Seabass and Tog. Captain Kane reports that a lot of the Seabass have been under the minimum size limit. Fortunately, the Triggerfish showed up this past week adding to the a ngler’s catch. Offshore there still some Makos being caught, but several boats have been starting to target Tuna. The “Fugitive” “Seamistress” and the “Yellowfin” all returned to the dock today with Bluefins in the 50 lb. range.

Beverly at Harbor Tackle reports, Lots of Flounder in the Bay, however most are under the legal mark. Triggerfish, Tog at the Inlet, 2nd to 4th street Bulk Head. A customer ran into some Croakers behind the Airport. Shad and Blues at the Inlet. Also at the Bulk Head at 2nd to 4th Street nice legal Flounder 19 to 24 inches. The ticket is live Spot, on the Beach some Kingfish, Blues, Dogfish, and Sandbar Sharks.

We had a email report come in from Jessica, Ayrton Pryor, Jillian Lebling, and Colby Hook of Fenwick Island, De. Teamed up to catch two keeper Flounder 18 ½” and 19” while trolling shinners near the airport behind Assategue Island. They also had 15 throw backs on the same day.

Captain Steve on the “Happy Hooker” reports, The second half of this week had the best numbers of Flounder we’ve seen this year, even if most of them were smaller fish. The best of the fishing was near the Route 90 Bridge and the South Bay, with better ratio of keeper Flounder behind Assategue Island. We saw the bait of choice changed as it normally does this time of the year from live minnows to silversides. The near shore wre cks and reefs also saw increasing numbers of Triggerfish and Seabass with a few scattered Tog, with crabs and sand fleas the best baits. Overall a great week for fishing in Ocean City.

Finally our last report is from the charter Boat “Restless Lady” , We fished 6/15 hooked 3 nice Makos and kept one 130 lbs. all bites were south west of the Hambone. Was a great trip with all children anglers, Ian, Cole,and Sydney Duncan and Jessica Walsh. Their second report came from a trip on 6/16, fished the Rock Pile today, caught 25 Yellowfin Tuna, kept 12. Lots of bait and nice temperature break 66’ to 70’ . We have openings on a open boat trips on June 23, 24, or the 25th and another July 15th . Captain Todd Kurtz also reports they are open for the Ocean City Tuna Tournament. Call me for their # or stop by the Tackle Shop for info.

Well that about does it for this week’s fishing report, remember if you have a report or pictures you would like in the “Coastal Dispatch” or on my Web Site WWW.OCEANCITYFISHING.COM shoot me a email at SKIPSTACKLESHOP@AOL.COM.

Finally a few things about what’s going on here at “Talbot Street Bait & Tackle” our hours are 7am. To 7pm. 7 days a week, and we do have “LIVE SPOT FOR SALE” along with other great baits and tackle. We also are booking Bay, Inlet, Wreck, Inshore, and Offshore Charters on my 3 different boats. Pl us we have a great ½ day “Family Adventure”, fishing, crabbing, clamming, and sight seeing for only $375.00 which is a great deal in these tough times. So stop by the Tackle Shop or give me a call at 410-430-5436 cell or 410-289-FISH(3474)Tackle Shop, and lets talk fishing.

The fishing is better then its been in years, so get out there and fish. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be writing about you next week.