Recently the weather has not been kind to fishermen looking to venture outside of the Ocean City Inlet or to fish along the beaches; strong winds and heavy surf have prevailed. This week holds the promise of good opportunities for fishing as the weather appears to be rather stable for a while. Despite weather conditions good or bad the fishing for tautog from shore at the Ocean City Inlet has been very good. Fishermen have been catching limits of nice tautog from the Route 50 Bridge, piers, bulkheads and the jetties. Sand fleas and pieces of green crabs have been the preferred baits on the change of the tide. Angela Fadely went fishing for tautog for the first time and caught this nice one at the end of 6th Street on a sand flea.

Striped bass and a few bluefish continue to be caught in and around the inlet this week by fishermen casting swim shad type lures, Got-Cha lures or live baits such as spot and eels. The water temperature is down to about 60-degrees this week and fishermen will be looking for the front runners of the fall migration of striped bass from up north. A few striped bass were caught in the surf over this past weekend despite heavy surf; dogfish and skates continue to be a pesky problem so many fishermen are using the heads of menhaden as a durable bait.

Yesterday a few of the Ocean City party boats ventured out to the wreck and reef sites to catch tautog and that they did; limits of tautog were common and some boats found trigger fish as well.

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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

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OFFSHORE MAP Click Map Icon For a Larger View	Please click for the latest sea surface temperatures from Rutgers University Marine Remote Sensing
	Please Click for the latest automated weather observations from Station 44009 - DELAWARE BAY 26 NM Southeast of Cape May, NJ
Please click for the latest automated weather observations from THE HOTEL BUOY.

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:

• Date

• Angler(s)

• Hometown(s)

• Photo credit

• Location

• Weight/length of catch

• 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

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