The fishing this week in Ocean City is starting to improve daily with the Route 50 Bridge producing keeper stripers at night. The Oceanic Pier has a hot bite of blues and shad , 2nd to 4th streets bulk head is giving anglers, tog, trigger fish and keeper flounder. The South and North Jetties are bending rods with sheephead tog, and stripers in the 40-inch-plus range. The east channel, Harbor Island and the airport are giving flounder fishermen nice limits of keepers. Offshore anglers are experiencing one of the best shark seasons we’ve seen in years, plus bluefin and yellowfin are starting to make their appearance at most marina cleaning stations.
Here at Talbot Street Bait & Tackle, the store is starting to take shape, with shipments of tackle and bait showing up daily. One of the new things is our front porch called “Liars Lounge” with lots of seating for fishermen wanting to share stories while enjoying a free cup of coffee. Stop by and check it out.
We did have some weigh-ins this week with one of the highlights being longtime friend, Captain Bill Leinemann, formerly of Ocean City, now living in Del Ray Beach, Fla. Bill is one of Ocean City’s top hetty and bulkhead fishermen. This day was no exception, Bill brought a nice trigger Fish in that he had just caught at the 2nd to 4th streets bulkhead. Anyone who fishes that area knows that triggerfish 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 sandflea, using a small black hook which is also very effective 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 Ocean City and his son Jack Jr. from Lanham, Md. They were fishing near Harbor Island when Jack Jr. hooked into a nice flattie that measured 26 inches and tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 2 ounces. 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-inch limit on flounder will just improve the fishiery for years to come.
I had a lot of reports come in this week from tackle shops, charter boats, and head boats.
Adam from Bahia Marina reports flounder fishing has been decent with several anglers reporting catching their limits. The thorofare, Harbor Island and the bay behind Assateague still seem to be producing the best. Jim Benke caught a 21 ¾inch, 3.4-pound flounder in the thorofore. 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 inches. Bluefish have been plentiful at the Inlet and Route 50 Bridge, especially on the incoming tide. 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 three of the nicest seabass, all weighing over 3 lbs. They caught them on clams at an artificial reef.
Jen from the Ocean City Fishing Center reports a great week for offshore fishing with most boats having lots of shark action. The boat “Wayne’s World” caught a 443.4-poumnd Thresher, the biggest of the week. Jen said boats also brought some small bluefin tuna back to the docks.
Noha at Ake’s Marine reports weighing in some nice mako sharks this week. One of those boats was “Cat Tails”, which weighed in a 93 pounder on Saturday, then came back on Sunday with a 112-pound mako. Both sharks were caught on bluefish fillets. Noha reports that the flounder bite has turned on in the south bay at the airport and Snug Harbor.
At Buck’s, Cindy reports the striper bite has slowed at Assateague, but she still had some come to the store for weigh ins. One of the nicest of the week was caught by Skeets Zinkhim, who hooked a 35 incher that tipped the scales at 14 pounds and hit on bunker.
All Tackle in West Ocean City reports lots of sharks being caught and a bluefish bite off the Route 50 bridge and inlet.
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 staff has seen in years, they also report six yellowfin were caught this week.
As of presstime, Bill’s Sport Shop, in Lewes tells us Randy Jensen’s 6.87-pound flounder is leading the tournament that ends today. with The catch is worth $1,000. Bill Zisskay of Ocean Veiw is in second place with a 6.09-pound flattie that measured 24 ½ inches. 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 six blue sharks and one Mako, all released, The crew on that trip included Sue and Roy Hillen, Joey Neely and Bill Jr. fishing on Bill’s boat “Slicker III”.
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 still having 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, catching mako sharks and lots of blue sharks. They also are running bottom trips with good bites of keeper sea bass. The Restless Lady is docked at the White Marlin Marina. Stop by Talbot Street Tackle Shop for a brochure and more information about offshore charters with them.
That does it for the reports this week, If you would like to send me a report and picture for the next issue, email me at [email protected]. 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 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 and fish. Who Knows? Maybe I’ll be writing about you next week.
(The writer is the owner and operator of Skip’s Charter and Guide Service.)