Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Sailing out of West Ocean City, Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing reported that mahi fishing has been improving as of late. Over the weekend, Saturday brought the best mahi fishing of the season in terms of both quality and quantity. As the skipper himself put it, there was “absolute mayhem” on the rail, which was a nice change of pace as mahi fishing has left much to be desired until this point. There were also a couple of false albacore in the mix. And despite such great fishing, they had a super light rail on Monday. The fishing on Monday’s trip started out hot, but as the day progressed, the captain had to work to find a couple more schools of mahi, which they did, so everybody went home with enough meat for the dinner table and then some. Give them a shout to get in on the dolphin action!
From Ocean City, Taylor Bakke of Always Bent Fishing OC reported that in the Bay, keeper flounder have been chewing well and there are striped bass and bluefish lurking around the inlet. He also said they’ve seen more cobia as of late, which has been a nice change of pace. Offshore, Bakke said his group had plans to make the run out to Spencer Canyon late last week but they decided against it due to Hurricane Ernesto moving up the coast. Instead, they ended up hitting Wilmington Canyon—a slightly shorter run. There, they set up to troll as dusk approached, which is when they received a knock down from a bigeye that they unfortunately wound up losing. Thankfully they did end up sticking a large one shortly afterwards; that fish fell to a daisy chain and spreader bar and, according to Taylor, it had mostly squid in its stomach. So if you’re heading towards Wilmington, Baltimore, or Poorman’s Canyons out of Maryland or Delaware, bring plenty of whole squid and keep a few squid bars at the ready. If you want more detailed local and offshore reports, check out their website alwaysbent.com.
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
As a reminder to all Maryland anglers, please participate in the Department of Natural Resources’ Volunteer Angler Surveys by reporting your catch of any number of species. This allows citizen scientists to contribute valuable data to the monitoring and management of several important fish species.
Lower Bay
A mix of Spanish mackerel and bluefish is a major focus of anglers in the lower Bay this week, at least those who like to troll or cast into breaking fish. Reports are that the bluefish outnumber the Spanish mackerel but there seems to be enough to go around to satisfy anglers. The Spanish mackerel are being caught on small Drone and Clark spoons and the bluefish on surgical tube lures, both are being pulled behind planers. The mouth of the Potomac, the east side of the shipping channel below Hoopers Island, and Tangier Sound are good places to troll. Anglers are reporting catching a few cobia on the surgical tube lures so it pays to have a varied trolling spread.
The lower Potomac River, the lower Patuxent River, the Hoopers Island area and Tangier Sound are all wonderful areas to cast a variety of topwater lures or paddletails for a mix of striped bass, speckled trout, and puppy drum this week. At times the puppy drum are the most common fish being caught and many of them are falling within the 18-inch to 27-inch slot size. Drifting soft crab baits is another great way to fish for puppy drum on an outgoing tide from the many tidal creeks emptying the Eastern Shore marshes in the Tangier Sound area. Live-lining spot is also a great way to catch large speckled trout.
Large sheepshead are being found at the Target Ship and most are being caught on peeler crab baits fishing close to the ship. Bottom fishing for a mix of white perch, spot, croaker, and kingfish is good in several locations this week. Tangier Sound and the mouth of the Patuxent are at the top of the list. Anglers are now seeing croaker over the 9-inch minimum and some exceeding 12 inches. The spot are getting larger also and the kingfish are a welcomed addition. Those who are targeting them are finding flounder near Point Lookout and Tangier and Pocomoke sounds.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Along the beaches of Assateague Island, surf anglers fishing small baits are catching a mix of kingfish, spot, and a few croaker and blowfish. The kingfish tend to like bloodworms or the artificial alternative but will take small strips of spot. The croaker will take strips of spot or squid as will the blowfish. Anglers using larger baits of finger mullet or cut mullet with cork float rigs are catching bluefish.
Inside the Ocean City Inlet casting soft plastic jigs during the early morning and late evenings is a great way to target bluefish and striped bass. The jetty rocks of the South Jetty, the Route 50 Bridge piers and piers and pilings are all good places to cast and work those jigs. During an outgoing tide, drifting cut bait is a good way to catch bluefish. Live lining spot is another good option when fishing in the inlet for striped bass, bluefish and large flounder and maybe a large sea trout. Sheepshead are also in play and can be caught near the South Jetty rocks or bulkheads and bridge piers on sand fleas or peeler crab.
The back bay channels are the place to drift for flounder but be careful of boat traffic, the larger boats have no where to go but to stay in the channel. Drifting traditional baits of squid and minnows catch a lot of flounder but drifting live spot or other small fish will catch the larger ones. Gulp baits are another option when targeting large flounder, white and pink tend to be the most popular colors.
Outside the inlet, boats that are trolling near some of the 30 Fathom Lumps are catching a mix of bluefish, false albacore and Atlantic bonito for their anglers. At times they may even encounter small dolphin, also known as mahi, near floating debris or weed lines.
Fishing for black sea bass has been good this week and anglers are also catching quite a few small dolphin that are attracted to the anchored boats. Flounder are also a welcomed part of the mix. Heading out farther offshore the small dolphin become more prevalent, and the lobster buoys are a favorite location to catch a limit of 10 small dolphin per person. Recently an angler fishing on a charter boat targeting offshore black sea bass caught a fish we usually see in the deep waters off New England.
A lot of boats are out trolling the canyons in the Mid-Atlantic Tournament and showing us what is out there. Some nice bigeye tuna, white marlin, blue marlin, yellowfin tuna and wahoo have come to the scales already. Other boats who are not in the tournament are loading up on small dolphin and blueline tilefish as well as a mix of bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.