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.

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.

We did have some weigh-ins this week with one of the high lights being long time friend, Captain Bill Leinemann formerly of Ocean City, now living in Del Ray Beach, Florida. Bill was a great customer back when I owned Skip’s, usually bringing fish to the scales daily. Bill is one of Ocean City’s top Jetty an d Bulk Head fisherman. This day was no exception, Bill brought a nice Trigger Fish in that he had just caught at the 2nd to 4th Street Bulk Head. Anyone who fishes that area knows that Trigger Fish are very seldom caught, especially this time of the year. I have heard of a few Triggers caught this year but all came from offshore wrecks and reefs. Bill told me the fish hit on a live Sand Flea, he also was using a small black hook which is also very affective for Tog and Sheephead. Stop by the tackle shop and one of our sales associates will show you how to set that rig up.
Another weigh in this week was a father and son team, Jack Koslosky of West O.C. and his son Jack Jr. from Lanham, Maryland. They were fishing near Harbor Island when Jack Jr. hooked into a nice flattie that measured 26” and tipped the scales at 7lbs. 2 oz. Jack Jr. was using a minnow and squid combo. With the new size and creel limits imposed over the past few years , we are starting too see nicer size Flounder coming from the Ocean City waters. I’m a true believer in managing fisheries, and I believe the new 18” limit on Flounder will just improve the fishier for years to come.

I had a lot of reports come in this week from Tackle Shops, Charter Boats, and Head Boats , here are those reports: Adam from Bahia Marina reports, Flounder fishing has been decent with several anglers reporting catching their limits. The Therefore, Harbor=2 0Island, and the bay behind Assateague still seem to be producing the best. Jim Benke caught a 21 ¾” 3.4 lb. Flounder in the Therefore. Stripers are still being caught at the tip of the South Jetty. Brenton McCleary of Captain Mac’s Bait and Tackle reported catching several Stripers this past week with the largest being 35”. Bluefish have been plentiful at the Inlet and Route 50 Bridge, especially on the incoming tide. Spec Rigs and Gotcha Plugs are always a safe bet when trying to catch Bluefish. Adam also reports the Judith M had a private charter for the fishing club at Stephen Decatur High school, with Scott Stienhoff, Mike Murray, and Cody Smith all from Ocean City catching 3 of the nicest Seabass all weighing over 3 lbs. They caught them all on clams at a artificial reef.

Jen from the Ocean City Fishing Center reports a great week for offshore fishing with most boats having lots of action with Blue, Mako, and Thresher Sharks. The boat “Wayne’s World” caught a 443.4 lb Thresher which was the biggest of the week. Jen also boats also brought some small Blue Fin Tuna back to the docks.

Noha at Ake’s reports, they weighed in some nice Mako’s this week, one of those boats was “Cat Tails” they weighed in a 93 lb. Saturday, then came back on Sunday with a 112 lb. Mako. Both Sharks were caught on Bluefish fillets. Noha reports that the Flounder bite has turned on in the south bay at the=2 0Airport and Snug Harbor.
At Buck’s, Cindy reports the striper bite has slowed at Assateague, but they still had some come to the store for weigh ins. One of the nicest of the week was caught by Skeets Zinkhim, it was 35” and tipped the scales at 14 lbs. The Striper hit on Bunker.

All Tackle in West Ocean City reports, Lots of Sharks being caught, Blue Fish bite off the Route 50 bridge and inlet. Also not many Flounder brought in this week.
Sunset Marina reports, lots of Flounder but most are short with a few keepers mixed in. Stripers coming from the Route 50 Bridge, and the South Jetty. Sharks plentiful, best we’ve seen in years, they also report 6 Yellow Fin were caught this week.

Bill’s Sport Shop, in Lewes tells us the Flounder Tournament ends the 12th with Randy Jensen leading with a 6.87 lb. flattie worth $1,000.00. Bill Zisskay of Ocean Veiw is in 2nd place with a 6.09 flattie that measured 24 ½”. Captain Bill took some time off this week to do a little fishing with family and friends. They had a great day at the Tea Cup, with 6 Blue Sharks, and 1 Mako all released, The crew on that trip was Sue & Roy Hillen, Joey Neely, and Bill Jr. they fishing on Bill’s boat “Slicker III”. All the Sharks were caught on Rigged Blue Fish. At Bower’s Beach the 65ft. “Reliable II” reported the Flounder fishing is heating up, with Ben Bolton of Newark, Delaware catching the largest at 3lbs. Skip Stewart also scored with a 3.8lb Flounder, Ben also caught 6 keeper Tog that he released due to the Tog season being closed till July 1st. Jim Kenworthy of York, Pa. caught 3 nice Stripers at the Cape Henelopen Pier, Two measured 25” the other came in at 32”. All were caught on Squid Heads. Bill also reports the Flounder bite has turned on at the Cape Henelopen Pier and Spot are also being caught now.

JJ at the Oceanic Pier reports the Blue and Shad run still is heavy , with night time under the lights producing better then the day light hours. The Flounder bite still continues to improve with lots of angles catching their limits of keepers. Most Flatties are being caught on Shinner and Squid combos. Finally JJ reports we still have a good tog bite at the end of the Pier near the wall, with lots of keepers.

The last report comes from one of the top charter boats in Ocean City “Restless Lady” with Captain Jim Duncan, and Captain Sean. They report, Shark Fishing is red hot, we’re catching Mako Sharks, and Blue Sharks, there is so many Blue Sharks they are swarming the boat and we them in by hand before we release them . They also are running bottom trips with good bites of keeper Sea bass. We are continuing to look for the steady Blue Fin bite which has started top the south. The “Restless Lady” is docked at the “Whit e Marlin Marina”. If your interested in fishing with them stop by Talbot Street Tackle Shop for a brochure and more info.

Well that does it for the reports this week, If you would like to send me a report and picture for the next issue of the “ Coastal Dispatch” you can email me at Skipstackleshop@aol.com. Also don’t forget to check out the web site for the latest fishing reports at tips at oceancityfishing.com. By the time this issue hits the street, I will have finally started my charters for the season, so next week’s issue should have reports and pictures from those trips. I would also like to let you know that the Tackle shop received its first load of Striper sized spot baits. So if you’re a Striper fisherman these are the hot baits for the big ones. Stop by and check them out.

The Charter Trips we offer this summer are a choice of three boats our 32 Foot Topaz with twin diesels for off shore trips; a 30 foot Mako CC with twin outboards for offshore, inshore, wreck and inlet trips: and a 24 foot Sea Ark CC, single outboard for bay and inlet fishing. I also use the Sea Ark for my family adventure trips, which are a great deal at $375.00 for a half-day of fishing, sightseeing, clamming, and crabbing. So Give me a call at 410-289-FISH(3474) or my cell at 410-430-5436, and lets talk fishing.
The fishing is improving daily and the weather looks good for this weekend, so get out there an d fish. Who Knows? Maybe I’ll be writing about you next week.