Posted on December 13th, 2020
It was an absolutely beautiful day today and the wind didn’t blow quite as hard as the weatherman said it would so there were was plenty of fishing going on. Temps got into the upper 60s around midday and some anglers reported being able to shed layers down to a tee shirt for a while which is always nice in December. There was some good fishing too with multiple species captured by multiple anglers including some jumbo tautog out in the ocean.
Anglers fishing on board the Fish Bound with Captain Kane Bounds and mate Kevin Twilley had an insane day of tog fishing today when they boxed their limit of fish and released several other jumbos. Captain Kane put his group on 10 fish over 10 pounds today with the largest fish being caught by Kevin Olbrich and weighing 20.4 pounds. This is the 10th tautog over 20 pounds caught on Captain Kane’s boat since he’s owned it including the 28.8 pound world record tautog caught on board in 2015. All fish today over 10 pounds except for one were released healthy.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star had an awesome day for his anglers today was well with a boat limit of sea bass and was back to the dock an hour and a half early.
Closing in on Christmas. Sea bass pushing off, dogfish coming south; it’s even becoming ‘normal’ to see some decent scup off here as everything heads for the deep.
Dropped our blocks on a flat-topped barge and went a bit further.
In 20 minutes I had more more sea bass aboard than I did at 1:30 yesterday. At 45 minutes Pat Hagerty of Reisterstown had boated our first limit. Wouldn’t be too long and folks were giving my mates fish. And soon after that? We couldn’t legally have kept another sea bass.
Boat Limit – in an hour and a half early.
Nice when it happens.
If I can find a weather window the boys and I will be working on PJ Aldridge’s Reef this week. Dern sure doesn’t look like any fishing weather. Thought we’d first have to load the 22yd dumpster. But no, Brooks from down Whiton Rd came and took care of that task all by his dernself Saturday in the rain! Have a lot of wood to remove though, then give her bilge a good scrubbing, and finally add some heavy ballast before we sink her.
If you want to help, pay attention here or sign up for emails at ocreefs.org .. I’ll announce these volunteer opportunities and hope for some weekday help..
Cheers
Back bay fishermen enjoyed the beautiful conditions today and lots enjoyed catching fish. 7th grader Claudia Weller of Stephen Decatur Middle School caught and released this short rockfish while trolling the Route 90 bridge with her dad and sisters.
My buddy Big Bird Cropper fished the back bay with Shaun today and the guys caught several different species today on Roy Rigs (which are back in stock at www.fishinoc.com/product/RoyRig) They caught rockfish, shad, red drum, a 19″ legal weakfish and a small shark on today’s adventure.
Bird was also able to photograph the action of some nearby anglers that were having luck catching and releasing rockfish. Sierra Schultheis and Weston Heck were fishing with Phil Heck today and had some fun releasing fish in the OC inlet.
John Wooldridge fished the mouth of the St. Martins River in 52 degree water with his son Grayson, Jeremy Smith and Ben Smith. The boys had a great time releasing small rock from 18″ to 22″ and ended the day with a double header.