Fishermen were out in force in the Ocean City area over the Memorial Day Weekend and enjoyed some good fishing along with good weather for a change. Fishermen in the back bay areas caught flounder from above the Route 90 Bridge in Assawoman Bay south to Sinipuxent Bay. The area around the Route 90 Bridge, the Thorofare, and the main east channel near the Route 50 Bridge all produced some nice flounder over the weekend. The area in front of the Ocean City Airport in Sinipuxent Bay also was a good place to fish for flounder and some real nice ones were weighed in from there.
The Route 50 Bridge/Inlet area produced a variety of fishing opportunities this past weekend. Tautog continue to be caught from the bulkheads along the inlet and for those who are fortunate to have a boat the south jetty has been a hot spot for tautog. Fishermen are catching some nice legal-sized striped bass at night by casting swim shad lures and are also catching a few small bluefish.
Surf fishermen continue to enjoy good fishing for large striped bass that are migrating north along the local beaches. Fresh menhaden baits on a hefty bottom rig have been the best producer. Small bluefish are also being caught in the surf and finger mullet seems to be the bait of choice for these fish. Kingfish continue to show up in the surf for those fishermen that put out appropriate sized rigs for them baited with bloodworms. Dogfish, skates and even a few cow-nosed rays are also part of the mix for bait fishermen.
The boats headed out to the wreck sites are reporting fair to good fishing for sea bass and tautog on the closer in wreck and artificial reef sites and better sea bass fishing on those wreck sites that are farther offshore. Big bluefish are being caught at the Hambone and most likely can be found at other locations inside the 30-fathom line. A small Thresher shark was brought into Ocean City over the weekend from a location reported to southeast of the Jackspot. Perhaps the most exciting offshore news comes from an Ocean City charter boat that brought in a catch of yellowfin tuna, dolphin and a bluefin tuna from the Norfolk Canyon this past weekend.
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.
