Posted on September 1st, 2016
Ocean City was spared any bad weather at all by tropical depression #8 when it decided to head to the north east sooner than expected. Conditions were supposed to deteriorate in the ocean starting on Wednesday and maybe ruin offshore fishing through the coming weekend. TS #8 stayed well offshore and we had really nice weather and good fishing for the past few days…..that’s all about to change. What was once called tropical depression #9 is now called hurricane Hermine. As I write this on Thursday evening she is just hours away from making landfall on the Florida panhandle and make her way to the north east. The forecast for Ocean City is not a good one for the Labor Day holiday weekend. We are under a tropical storm watch through Sunday which means that tropical storm conditions (sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph) are possible for our area within the next 48 hours. There are several boats already cancelling trips through the weekend and beginning to make preparations for strong winds, flooding and heavy storm surge. Better safe than sorry. I’ll keep you updated on conditions in Ocean City as they unfold on my Facebook page. Facebook.com/fishinoc
Being that sea conditions weren’t expected to be too bad today a couple of the local party boats gave it a try. Thunderstorms and heavy rain literally put a damper on that. Captain Chris Mizurak on the party boat Angler turned around just a few miles offshore and Captain Monty on the Morning Star came back to the dock early and gave his clients 1/2 their money back. Captain Monty did put some fishing in today and did catch some fish. High man on the boat today had three keeper flounder and some others had enough for a good dinner before they called the trip due to weather. Wes Pollitt sent me this photo saying, “this pretty much sums up our day.”
I got a late submission from Captain Dave Black of My Cin who had a good day in the canyons yesterday. Captain Dave put his anglers on two white marlin releases, a handful of mahi and a really nice 65 pound yellowfin tuna.
Brady Pierce of Salisbury released this beautiful red drum last week while fishing the mouth of the Wicomico River.