Rough weather kept everyone at the dock this past weekend so many fishermen made the best of it and fished in and around the Ocean City Inlet for a mix of tautog, bluefish and striped bass. The tautog are being caught from the bulkheads and jetty during the day on fresh or frozen sand fleas. A large number of the catch are throwbacks but the action is strong enough that fishermen are having little trouble catching a limit of legal tautog. Small sea bass have been pesky bait stealers so fishermen recommend bringing plenty of bait. Improved weather conditions will allow fishermen to also venture over to the south jetty in small boats and fish the holes there for tautog with good success.
Small bluefish have been moving in and out of the inlet and can be caught by casting Got-Cha lures and heavy spoons. At night drifting live spot or casting swim shad type lures have been accounting for good catches of legal sized striped bass. The current water temperature at the inlet is about 64-degrees.
Surf fishermen will see conditions improve this week as the surf begins to calm down. Small bluefish have been thick in the surf and fishermen have been catching them on finger mullet. Most fishermen refuse to give up on the fall red drum run that escaped fishermen this year due to heavy surf conditions. They will be casting out large fresh menhaden and spot baits for striped bass that will be showing up soon and the last of the red drum. Skates and dogfish have been pesky bait stealers so many fishermen favor the head of the menhaden or spot for their durability.
Calm seas will bring boats out to the wreck sites in search of tautog this week and perhaps out to the canyons for possible yellowfin tuna, dolphin and white marlin. This last blow may have pushed these fish south but until boats go out to the fishing grounds nothing is certain.
Real-time water information for selected points in the Coastal Bay
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.
