Posted on April 22nd, 2017
What a difference a day makes! Except for a concentrated fog bank over Ocean City, yesterday was beautiful…..today….not so much. We had rain overnight and then today started with overcast skies and much cooler temperatures. The wind wasn’t terrible and the rain was intermittent so it was nice enough for some to get out and give it a shot.
My good friend Dale Timmons took a short trip and fished the Virginia surf the other day and was rewarded with some nice fish. Dale caught and released a 41″ black drum and this beautiful 51.5″ red drum that had a 29″ girth. Dale was assisted by Chief David Cropper, Scott Bruning and gives photo credit to Patti Cropper. Dale mentioned that this is the earliest he has ever caught a red in the DelMarVa surf.
Mike and David Burt of the offshore charter boat Pumpin’ Hard fished the Virginia flats yesterday in their kayaks and had some great luck with a couple of big red drum. The brothers caught and released two 45″ reds while trolling the flats in their kayaks and said that this double were the largest fish that they’ve caught from the “yaks.”
The big bluefish being caught all around Ocean City are starting to take over the fishing scene. Big blues are being caught in the Assateague surf, in the inlet and at the Verrazano, route 50 and route 90 bridges. Another hot spot for the big bluefish has been the Oceanic Pier in downtown Ocean City on the inlet. Bear submitted several pictures of big blues caught today from the pier including one whopper.
Will from Sykesville, MD with a big blue this morning.
Dan from York, PA caught this big blue on the pier’s fresh bunker.
Luke from Mt. Airy with a nice one on the pier’s fresh bunker.
Howard and his son landed this big bluefish at the south end of the pier on the inlet.
Donald from Alexandria, VA used finger mullet to land two nice bluefish including the biggest they’ve seen at the pier this year…..a huge 39″ fish that weighed over 13 pounds.
Captain Jeff Coats of Pitboss Fishing had the Bad Influence out for two trips today, both on the south jetty. Captain Jeff said the northeast wind made it “nautical”, but fun and productive. The first trip was a 50/50 mix of about 35 rockfish and bluefish that ate a little bit of everything.
The second trip was a saltwater “therapy” trip to spend some quality time with his fiancé Karen where they added some more rock and blues.
The trophy rockfish are still being caught in good numbers up and down the Chesapeake Bay. My uncle Tim Spesick had an opportunity to head out and try it today and was rewarded with a good fish that was 40″ and 27 pounds.
Captain Luke Blume and the crew of the C Boys just finished the final day of the White Marlin Round Up in the Bahamas and had a great tournament for the second year in a row. Last year they won the event and this year they finished third. The crew of Captain Luke, mate Jon Henry, Paul Crampton Jr., Paul Crampton III, Lance Crampton and Travis Rhoton caught and released a total of eight white marlin during the event and won second place in one of the daily calcuttas.
