Fishermen have had a tough time this past weekend with rain and windy conditions in the back bay areas of Ocean City and their search for flounder. The Assawoman Bay area has been generally cloudy but the Sinepuxent bay area behind Assategue Island has been clearer. The area above the Route 90 Bridge in Assawoman Bay has been accounting for some of the better flounder fishing in the region with the area in front of the Ocean City Airport a close second.
The water has been churned up at the Inlet as well and fishing for tautog and striped bass was off over the weekend. The striped bass are certainly around and clearer water will do much to improve this fishery. Fishermen have been catching some nice legal-sized striped bass in the inlet area and the Route 50 Bridge by casting bucktails and swim shads.
Surf water temperatures are running around 54-degrees and there continues to be a lot of wind chop and floating grass in the surf. There are still a lot of large striped bass moving northward along the coast and surf fishermen have been enjoying good fishing. A little better weather situation will do much to improve this fishery. Fishermen have been using chunks of menhaden on bottom rigs for the best results; but are also using mullet. A few large “spring runner” bluefish continue to be caught along with a few small black drum. Skates and spiny dogfish are unfortunately also part of the mix.
The boats headed out to the wreck sites and artificial reefs are reporting good tautog fishing and fair fishing for sea bass. The region has been blanketed with cold water and captains feel this may be holding the sea bass fishery from developing fully.
Marty Gary has some exciting news for sport fishermen and sport divers in the Ocean City area. On May 16, 2008, 44 , cleaned and inspected, decommissioned New York City subway cars were deployed in 85 feet of water on the Jackspot, 19 nautical miles SE of the Ocean City inlet. The stainless steel cars are anticipated to attract marine growth over the coming months and years, attracting myriad species of inshore and offshore fish, including: tautog, black sea bass, summer flounder, amberjack, tuna, wahoo and possibly marlin. Thanks to the generosity of Holland Point, MD resident Jack Power, the first barge load of subway cars has been deployed off Ocean City. The Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI), working with the Ocean City Reef Foundation continues to seek funding for additional subway cars for up to four reef sites off Ocean City. For information on how you can help, please visit:
www.marylandreefs.org
www.ocreeffoundation.com
Click here to view recent bay region satellite images at mddnr.chesapeakebay.net/NASAimagery/EyesInTheSky.cfm
A Couple of Closing Notes...
Don't hesitate to e-mail your recent
fishing/crabbing photos and trip information. Send your photos via E-mail by the
following Monday in order to be included in the next update. The file should be
in .jpg format with the longest side sized at 600 pixels. Please keep the file
size under one megabyte if possible. The photo should clearly depict the angler(s), fish, and ethical
handling practices. For information on ethical angling practices please
reference the Catch and Release information located at URL:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/articles/catch_release.html
Include the following information:
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Date
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Angler(s)
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Hometown(s)
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Photo credit
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Location
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Weight/length of catch
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Bait/lure
Important Note:
If anyone in your picture is under 18
years of age, we must have a
photo release
signed by that person and a parent/guardian before we can post your picture. By sending any photos or art to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources you are giving DNR permission to use the image(s) online and in print. You are also giving DNR permission to distribute the photo for non-commercial purposes to other media, print, digital and television for their use. You are not giving up your copyright, but are allowing the photo(s) to be used for educational and news purposes.
Send your photos and information to
Keith Lockwood
The Fisheries
Service is pleased to have you visit. We want to make this
site as user friendly as possible, if you have any suggestions, please
mail them to
Paul Genovese.
