Ocean City Fishing » yellowfin

You never know what you’re gonna get.

Capt. Skip — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:23:17 +0000

“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.”

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.

Best fishing in years

Capt. Skip — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:25:41 +0000

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.

The first report I’m starting with is the two charters I had this week. Both were Striper trips at the South Jetty, which most people know is some of my favorite fishing. The first was with Sam Burk of Ocean City and Rick Whittlinger of Duncannon, Pa. We didn’t hit the water till 7:00pm. But as soon has we made our first drift we had a double hook up with Sam and Rick both yelling with excitement. We boated both fish relatively fast , and headed right back for another pass over the tip with still another double hook up. Well this went on for the whole trip which lasted well into the night, with the bite really never slowing down. We ended up boating near 50 Stripers till we decided to call it quits around 11:00pm and head for the dock. We only managed to get one keeper Striper, that came in at 29” but all the other fish ranged from 22” to just under the 28” minimum, and all of them gave great fights for both anglers. By the way all the fish were caught on live Spot. Both Sam and Rick agreed that it was one of the best lite tackle Striper charters they ever been on.
The second Striper charter was the next morning at 7:00 am. With Tres Kelly, of Emmitsburg, Md. Doug Cooper and Paul “The Bass Master” Goodwin, both from Frederick, Md. These guys have fished with me a lot over the years and always have a good time on the boat regardless how the fishing is with their competitive nature between themselves, which is always good for a lot of laughs during the trip. On my Striper charters I always take along 80 Spot for bait, which in most cases is plenty of baits. Well not on this trip, we ended up burning through those baits in under 3 hours with a epic trip that I haven’t seen ever on the South Jetty, with double and triple hook -ups on every drift over the tip. These guys looked like they were square dancing on the deck of my boat, trying not to tangle their lines with double and triple hook-ups. So after a group decision, we raced back to the dock to get another 50 Spot, as soon as we loaded the bait back into the live well we headed right back to the South Jetty. Well, the action didn’t slow down one bit and we ended up running out of bait in less then 2 hours. I try to keep a good count on hook-ups and Stripers boated , and we ended up having around 120 hook-ups, with around 70 boated Stripers. Out of those 70 Stripers we managed to get 4 nice keepers with several other nice keepers lost right at the boat with these guys wild antics, which are good for a few laughs. I will be booking Striper charters while this hot bite keeps up, so if your interested give me a call at 410-430-5436 or 410-289-FISH(3474).

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.