Posted on September 12th, 2018
Based on forecasts at the beginning of the week I would not have been one bit surprised if I didn’t do a fishing report all week long. Northeast winds blew on Sunday and continued into Monday and then everyone started to make preparations for hurricane Florence as she moved closer to the United States. The local marinas and service shops were all busy pulling boats and the public ramp in west Ocean City was so busy I had to wait :20 minutes to get a spot to pull my boat out of the water. As of the latest update Hurricane Florence has weakened slightly and now most forecasts are saying that she will make landfall somewhere in southern North Carolina and then move slowly to the west before dissipating. There is a real chance we could see no effects at all. We’re not out of the woods by any stretch as weather can change, and we are still forecast to see some wind in the ocean, but we are definitely looking at a much better forecast.
Today was actually a really nice day to be fishing both in the bay and in the ocean. There was a rolly swell pushed in by Florence, but otherwise conditions were very nice. The crew of the No Quarter with Captain Kyle Peet decided to do some pre-hurricane fishing in the canyon today and had a really good day. Captain Kyle put his crew on some mahi, three white marlin releases and a big blue marlin release that moves No Quarter into the lead for most blue marlin releases by a charter boat for the Ocean City Marlin Club with a few weeks left to fish.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star reported a 4′ swell today on his trip to the rip. He also reported that though the flounder bite wasn’t what it has been some nice sea bass made up for it. Keith Smith of Flemington, MD won the pool with a 21.5 inch sea bass. Hurricane Murray Adams of Ellicott City come in second with a 21 incher. Luke Koller of Lusby, MD had a 20 inch Flounder – Also pictured are Walter Cofiel of Butler, MD – Daniel Stehman of Huntingtown, MD – Kenneth Smith of Somerville, NJ – Brian Carneico (20.5 inch sea bass) of Lewes, DE – & James Russel of Kennett Square, PA. On deck were Taylor Thornton & Daniel Altfather.
Captain John Prather of Ocean City Guide Service rounded out the trifecta of pre-hurricane angling with a trip to the east channel where he put this crew on three nice keeper flounder.
