Posted on May 14th, 2016
It was absolutely beautiful in Ocean City…..THIS MORNING!! The day started with warm temperatures, loads of sunshine and light winds and gave some of us an opportunity to get out on the water. The day ended with some thunderstorms that had high winds and heavy rain, and the front that pushed through will bring 15-25 knot winds to the area tomorrow. In the time that we did have to fish today I got some great reports.
I’ll start with my own report. Dave Messick and I decided to take the Fish in OC Carolina Skiff out today with our kids and try our luck with the flounder and get a new episode of Hooked on OC in the can. We really didn’t know what to expect with the flounder fishing being so so right now, but we had to give it a shot with the gorgeous weather. We fished behind Assateague Island on the outgoing tide and did better than expected. Dave’s son Dorian caught the first flounder of the year for the Fish in OC and Ryan caught the first keeper of the season. The boys ended up with five total flounder with Ryan’s keeper measuring 18″. The fish were caught on white Gulp and shiners at the end of the outgoing tide just off of the Verrazano bridge. It’s always a great day on the water with the kids!!
Captain Wes Pollitt called in this afternoon with some awesome news from his trip aboard the Talk N’ Trash out to the canyons. Captain Chris Little and mate Wes and the crew were 12 for 15 on 40 pound yellowfins. They found 65 degree water in 1200 fathoms and caught all the fish on a combination of ballyhoo, “flippy floppies” and spreader bars. Not a bad trip for the middle of May!
My buddy Austin Ensor sent in a report from a trip to the canyons as well today. Austin left the Ocean City inlet at 4PM on Thursday and fished the deep in 500-700 fathoms in the Poor Man’s Canyon. They arrived at the spot in time to catch an awesome sunset and set up for sharking right away. The crew caught blue sharks up to 200 pounds all night long and at one point had a triple header and another fish hanging on the chum bucket. At the end of the night Daniel Bell and Will Stafford had caught and released their first sharks and the crew had caught and released 13 total. They also jumped off a mako at around 2 am. After a short nap they started trolling for tunas in the morning with no luck.
Captain Jeff Coats of Pitboss Fishing headed offshore in the Bad Influence with Karen today to try their luck with the sharks as well. They didn’t have any luck with the chum bucket in the water and three baits drifting, but Karen did work the spiny dog fish over with her spinning rod. They made it back to the dock just in time for this afternoon’s thunderstorms and caught a great shot of the front moving in.
Captain Chris Mizurak was at the helm for a bottom fishing trip aboard the Angler today and reported a slow tautog bite, but did manage a few keepers.
The Oceanic Pier in downtown Ocean City opened their 24 hour a day season with a bang last night. Anglers were catching short rockfish, shad and bluefish on the outgoing tide. The bite was so good at one point that there were fish coming over the rail “every thirty seconds”. During the day today there was a decent tautog bite with a couple of keepers mixed in.
Captain John Prather on the Ocean City Guide Service fished the south jetty today where he had some terrific action. The crew was only able to catch one keeper, but they did catch 40 fish which kept them busy for most of the trip.
Unfortunately the wind looks like it’s going to blow pretty good tomorrow so most boats will have to cancel their trips for the opening day of black sea bass. That should give everybody plenty of time to get ready for the Ocean City Reef Foundation’s Annual dinner and auction. Tickets are $25 at the door only and it opens at 4PM. I hope to see you there!
