Posted on August 27th, 2022
Check out our tour of Atlantic Tackle in West Ocean City!
We had some gorgeous weather today and the rest of the week looks very promising as well. Now that the big money offshore tournaments are over for the summer it’s back to charter fishing for most of the fleet. Thankfully some fish have shown up over the past week so there should be some marlin, wahoo, tuna and dolphin showing up in the report on a more regular basis.
Captain Austin Ensor and his #gang on the Primary Search did a little deep dropping today in between wahoo trolls and they found some jumbo sea bass. Captain Austin reported a very good class of fish with one huge fish at 25.5″ long. The digital scale read 6.3 pounds so I think it’s safe to say it was a big one!
The crew of the Spring Mix II with Captain Chris Watkowski had a great day with the mahi today putting a limit of “peanut” sized fish in the box.
Blake Gunther and crew hit an inshore reef today and had a two man limit of flounder in no time.
Fishing in the back bay has been pretty good lately on the high tide and this angler took advantage of it on the Tortuga out of Bahia Marina.
Svend Sheppard caught this keeper flounder in the Thorofare this morning using the Fish in OC Deadly Double.
Captain Chris Mizurak of the Angler reported tough sea bass fishing, but the flounder cooperated nicely for some anglers.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star had another good trip today with sea bass, flounder and some mahi.
A fine start this day. Sunrise left nothing to complain about. No sea with mentioning and about no wind either. Kelvin sent our reef material to the bottom at Dr. Al Berger’s Reef. We pressed on.
At lines in we had a light southerly current; perfect speed for sea bass apparently. Man did they bite. Very likely caught more sea bass on our first drift than we had the last two days put together.
“Dang Man! I’ve got this day in the bag,” I thought.
Yeah.. Um, No.
After one drift the current came a bit further west—quick too—and we slogged through the rest of the day for sea bass.
Thank goodness flounder were biting.
Had 3 guys limited out and helping to pay the rent by 12:30.
Mahi, mini-mahi, made several showings with some schools of over a hundred.
Nick two, nick three.. Watch em swim around and nip at lures a while..
Made great fluke bait. Tossed some back too.
Ron bagged the day’s first fluke limit. Bernie was not far behind – maybe it just took longer to wind in the 6+ pound pool winner? Bernie was also high man on sea bass with 9..
On our very last drift and perfectly atop a mountain of sea bass – crickets. Except for the guy who caught back to back keeper fluke and limited ..
All told? A day with Plenty of reward for perseverance.
Had a party beg off the other day owing Covid. “The Party Boat That’s Never Too Crowded” was seriously not crowded today!!
Weather looks just fantastic through Thursday. No wind and calm..
Have just a few spots for tomorrow’s XXL trip and Monday’s regular run.
Have a bunch of room on trips through the week. Tuesday & Thursday’s XXL Long Trips will be my best bet for catching mahi I’d think.
See morningstarfishing.com “Fish Report“ for booking info if you’d like to start the ‘second season’ with a trip.
Across 42 years of partyboat fishing out of Ocean City it’s seemed as though the fewer people we have, the more fun it is.
That’s why “sold out” I only have 18 anglers. That’s not enough for most party boats to start the engines. Fares are also more expensive of course. In traditional partyboat fashion, plenty of boats charge lots less and carry more anglers. For me it’s about elbow room and giving clients 100% effort. I wish I could say we don’t have any tangles, but no – sure we do. But with two experienced mates and a light rail? Usually work out pretty quick.
I often have expert anglers aboard. It’s also true that I usually have inexperienced anglers too – complete newbies. My crew are all about both & try to make sure everyone catches.
Impossible to say what will bite best in this end of August fishing. It’s been different everyday of late. If the weather’s fit, we’re going to find out!
Cheers
