Fishermen have been experiencing some tough fishing conditions this past week due to strong northeast winds. The worst of it seems to be over and bay waters should clear up quickly and fishermen will again be targeting flounder in the back bay areas of Ocean City and Assateague Island. The cooler water temperatures are beginning to urge flounder to move through the inlet area and out into the ocean for their fall migration offshore to their spawning grounds. The best flounder fishing at the moment tends to be in the channels leading to the inlet. There are still a large portion of throwbacks but some impressive flounder are being caught; especially by those fishermen using large baits such as live spot or finger mullet.
A few tautog are starting to show up in the inlet area this week and fishermen are catching a mix of bluefish and a few striped bass and sea trout at night. Most fishermen are casting swimming shad type lures with good success but a number of anglers are also drifting live spot with good results.
Surf fishermen are finally starting to see surf conditions calm down and they will be able to test the annual migration of large red drum once again. Last week a number of large ones were caught and released despite the heavy surf; hopefully the run will continue through this week. Bluefish are still very prevalent in the surf and most fishermen are using finger mullet to catch them.
The boats have only sparingly been able to fish the wreck and artificial reef sites recently due to heavy weather. When they were able to get out small sea bass, large flounder and croakers was the bill of fare. Cooler ocean temperatures should do much to spur the sea bass and tautog fishery into action.
The offshore fleet also had to deal with rough sea conditions recently but those that ventured out early this week after the seas laid down found large numbers of chicken dolphin and a mix of yellowfin tuna, wahoo and white marlin in the canyons.
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.
