Once the water cleared up this week the flounder fishing really began to take off. The flounder will start to be more concentrated near the inlet as cooler water temperatures in the back bays urge the flounder towards the inlet. There are still a high number of throwbacks being reported but some larger ones are also being caught. Live lining spot or finger mullet continues to be a good way to target only the larger flounder. The croaker fishing has really picked up this past week and fishermen report that the size of the croakers has greatly improved. Small sea bass, sea robins and an occasional dogfish are also part of the mix for bottom fishermen.
The night crew at the Route 50 Bridge/inlet area report that bluefish are moving in and out of the inlet on a daily basis. Most fishermen have been catching them on Got-Cha plugs if they are targeting bluefish. A few striped bass are being caught on soft plastic swimming shads, jigs and bucktails. There have been a number of small red drum being caught also in the inlet and fishermen report that some of them have actually fallen into the legal slot size.
Surf fishermen saw their first of the large red drum migration recently and from now until the end of the month fishermen can expect to see more of these big fish. Small sharks will of course be part of the mix when one casts out a large piece of cut bait; but it comes with the territory. Fishermen with smaller offerings have been catching a few
kingfish and croakers and fishermen using strip baits have been catching flounder. Small bluefish are in the surf and finger mullet apparently do not last long when cast out into the surf.
The boats heading out to the wreck sites report excellent fishing for big croakers off the beaches with limits achievable. Sea bass fishing continues to be slow and flounder fishing has been good on most days. Underwater photographer Michael Eversmier took this picture of a nice flounder nestled in near one of the reef sites off Ocean City.
There doesn’t seem to be many boats heading offshore these days but the ones making the run out to the canyons have been coming back with some big wahoo.
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)
-
Hometown(s)
-
Photo credit
-
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.
