Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Sailing out of West Ocean City, Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing reported continuous good fishing across the board this week until a slight lull yesterday. A mostly clear and calm week of weather (before Tropical Storm Debby) brought quality keeper sea bass over the rail and plenty of shorts to keep things interesting. There were also a few nice mahi caught before air temperatures dropped a bit, and red hake (ling) continue to come over the rails in the mix with sea bass. The storm shouldn’t hang around too long, so give them a call to check availability of upcoming charters.
In Ocean City, Taylor Bakke from Always Bent Fishing OC reported: “Very cold inshore water temps have kept the rockfish and bluefish biting good in and around the inlet (mostly at night for whatever reason). We’ve also seen a good run of of weakfish, maybe from the cold water, or they’re just making a rebound. Flounder fishing is picking up and, eventually, after weeding through lots of shorts, keepers ranging from 20 to 24 inches are being found inside the inlet! The wreck fishing out front has been tough because of the cold inshore water. Offshore is still inconsistent too; the billfish guys are finding white and blue marlin deep in 1000 fathoms, and tuna are being picked off here and there in the canyons, but still not consistently like we’re used to at this point in the summer.” Give them a follow on Instagram @alwaysbentfishingoc to stay up to date with what they’re catching in the OC area, and check out their website for membership options to get detailed offshore fishing reports each week.
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The 51st Annual White Marlin Open based out of Ocean City is off and running! On Monday, day one of the tournament, nearly 200 of the 314 registered boats went out to find a lack of billfish, making a few bigeye tuna the center of attention at the scales come the end of the day. On Day 2, despite declining conditions due to Tropical Storm Debby in Florida, 210 boats made the trip out of Ocean City inlet with hopes that Tuesday would bring better billfishing. As it turned out, the worsening weather conditions may have played a role in billfish putting on the feed bag. Two enormous, head-turning blue marlin were brought in—one 897-pound fish courtesy of Stone Cutter, and one 789-pound fish courtesy of Bobojo. However, that same day, the crew of Waste Knot brought a 77-pound white marlin to the scales, knocking Blue Runner and their 220-pound, $1 million tuna out of first place. The Waste Knot‘s white marlin currently sits atop the leaderboard with an estimated purse just shy of $4.2 million. Day 3 of the 5-day tournament found 272 boats fishing, but no significant changes to the leaderboard. You can follow along with the tournament here.
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Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
Bluefish and small puppy drum have been the name of the game for the past week. Most anglers up and down the Bay have been reporting puppy drum (redfish) while perch fishing around the shorelines. Anywhere from the Upper Bay to the southern portions of the bay, they are seemingly everywhere. Small swimbaits in the 3- to 4-inch range paired with a 3/16- to 1/4-ounce jighead has been the rig of choice to catch a mix of white perch, striped bass and puppy drum. Some of the better areas to find some puppy drum in the Middle Bay area are the Eastern Bay and the Severn River.
Big bull reds are what everyone has been talking about in the southern portion of the Bay. The only thing keeping anglers from chasing them is the consistent southwest wind. Scanning the channel edges from Solomons to the Target Ship area has been the best way to run in to some of the big schools of red drum.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Opportunity is often described as a favorable or promising combination of circumstances. This certainly describes what is available for anglers in Maryland this time of the year. Hot days and the cooling effects of water with the bonus of catching fish, it’s hard to get better than that.
Hot weather with low winds and a chance of T-storms all next week could make for uncomfortable fishing conditions. Main Bay surface water temperatures have cooled slightly to 82 degrees while Potomac and Susquehanna river temperatures are holding in the mid to upper 80s. Maryland’s part of the Bay continues to run fresher than average. Areas with suitable amounts of oxygen – greater than 3mg/l – have moved towards typical summer conditions, however, when combined with high water temperatures, current conditions remain stressful for gamefish.
Middle Bay
Recently, anglers are finding good shallow water fishing for striped bass, white perch and a mix of red drum and speckled trout during the early morning and late evening hours. The striped bass are being caught on paddletails, poppers, soft plastic jigs and jerkbaits. The white perch are being caught by casting a mix of small spinnerbaits in white or chartreuse, Beetle-Spins and Roadrunner lures along promising looking shorelines. Red drum measuring around 12” or so are being caught by anglers casting for white perch. Slightly larger red drum, slot size red drum and speckled trout are being caught by anglers fishing for striped bass.
Anglers who keep their eyes on the horizon are encountering schools of breaking striped bass out in the main part of the bay on both sides of the bay. Many of these breaking fish tend to be striped bass in the 16” to 18” size range with some measuring over 19”.
Lower Bay
The lower bay region offers a wide variety of fishing this week. Perhaps on the top of the list is the arrival of the Spanish mackerel. Schools of Spanish mackerel can be found at the mouth of the Potomac River, along the edges of the main channels in the bay and Tangier Sound. Trolling small Drone, Clark spoons and similar spoons behind #1 planers at about 7 knots is a very popular way to fish for Spanish mackerel. At times anglers may be lucky enough to encounter schools of Spanish mackerel and bluefish chasing schools of bay anchovies. Speed reeling a metal jig through the breaking fish is a good way to catch the Spanish, slower retrieves will often allow bluefish to chase down a jig.
Trolling at slower speeds with spoons and surgical tube lures behind planers and inline weights is a great way to target bluefish and there is always a possibility that a cobia will chase down a surgical tube lure or a large red rum attack a large spoon. For this reason, many anglers are placing a variety of lures and sizes in their trolling spreads. The main channels in the bay and especially near Point Lookout, the east side channel edge below Buoy 76, the Target Ship area and Tangier Sound are popular places to troll or look for breaking fish.
Slot size red drum are being caught along with a mix of speckled trout, striped bass and bluefish along the shallow waters of the bay shores this week. Casting a mix of topwater lures, paddletails, soft plastic jigs, spinnerbaits and small crankbaits are popular lures to use. The lower Potomac near Point Lookout, Hoopers Island, Tangier Sound and Pocomoke Sound are excellent places to fish.
Large red drum are being found near Point Lookout, the Target Ship area, the Middle Grounds and Hoopers Island. At times they can be spotted on the surface chasing bait, other times slicks will reveal their presence, or they can be spotted on side scan depth finders. Jigging with large soft plastics is popular or dropping soft crab baits to the drum also works well for some fun catch and release action.
Cobia have been a bit sparse in Maryland’s portion of the bay but anglers who are patient and drift live eels of cut bait to the back of their chum slicks are catching a few. Smith Point and the Target Ship area are popular places to set up a chum slick. Some anglers will be lucky enough to spot cobia swimming close to the surface when waters are calm, cast to them with large soft plastic jigs or live eels.
Those that fish for them are catching flounder near Point Lookout and Tangier and Pocomoke sounds along channel edges with hard bottom shelves. White or Pink Gulp baits have been popular baits. Sheepshead are being caught at the Target Ship on peeler crab baits.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
The big news in the Ocean City area this week is of course the White Marlin Open and there have been some notable catches including two large blue marlin, a qualifying white marlin and some large bigeye tuna. Some weather is forecast towards the end of the week so many boats are getting in their allotted days of fishing as soon as possible.
Surf anglers continue to enjoy a nice summer mix of kingfish, spot and croaker in the surf. Those fishing finger mullet or cut mullet are catching bluefish and a red drum now and then. At the inlet when boat traffic is down anglers are catching bluefish and striped bass by casting soft plastic jigs and Got-Cha lures. At night drifting cut bait is a good way to fish for bluefish. Sheepshead are being caught at the South Jetty and inlet bulkheads on sand fleas.
Flounder fishing has been good in the back bay channels this week, but anglers are warned to be careful in the East Channel and Thorofare due to large sportfishing boats here for the White Marlin Open. Channels farther away from the inlet and Sinepuxent Bay can offer calmer conditions. Larger baits of spot, finger mullet and Gulp baits offer better opportunities for larger flounder.
Fishing for black sea bass remains very good this week and it is not uncommon for anglers to catch limits of sea bass. At times small mahi-mahi (chicken dolphin) and flounder round out the mix.
The boats headed out to the canyons this week have done well, with two large blue marlin, some notable bigeye tuna and large dolphin being caught. The large fleet of sportfishing boats fishing in the tournament is always a great way to show us what is out there.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.