Ocean City Pointers, if you don't mind sharing...

[XXXMedium]

Hello Yakers,

My bothers and I have just firmed up a Friday 10.6 trip to Ocean City with our kayaks and rods. We have been watching the weather reports and as of now wind is predicted at 10 to 15 southwest with a shift to the south mid day. I plan to do more research tonight but figured i would ask for any suggestions on locations to launch, fish to target this time year and patterns that might work. I am not locked into any specific species the goal is to have fun to get pulled.

Thoughts suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

XXXMedium

[Slobber Bob]

If you want to fish the inlet area the best launch is at the commercial harbor off Sunset Rd. in West Ocean City. From there you can fish the north end of the back bay behind Assateague, the South jetty, Martha's Landing area, or Rt. 50 Bridge and north. There are sheepshead, tog, stripers, black drum, and some puppy drum available around the jetty, Rt. 50 bridge, or Martha's Landing. The shallow flats and holes north of the Rt. 50 bridge between the bridge and the islands is called the "fish bowl". This is usually a good time of year to flounder fish there. I'm sure flounder are still in the back bay area behind Assateague as well along with some puppy drum.

The Verrazano Bridge that crosses over to Assateague has a launch too if you want to fish the south bay. It's state park land so there is a fee there though. Stripers, specks, puppy drum, and flounder could be caught there.

For the north bay, there is a Town of OC launch on 64th st near the RT. 90 bridge. Again, fee to either use it or to park there though. From what another member here told me, the price is a little steep. I always launch off the side of the road whenever I fish up. Just pick one with street parking that butts up to the water. Stripers and flounder up there and maybe some puppy drum. It's fairly shallow unless you head 2/3 of the way across the bay west towards Isle of Wight. You can also put in at the Isle of Wight soft launch.

Coefficient for the weekend is supposed to be very high meaning you'll have some pretty decent current to deal with if you're near the inlet, so be careful and choose your spots and tides wisely!

I would only suggest fishing the south jetty on incoming tide (jetty provides a good current break); the current really rips along there on an outgoing so avoid it. Martha's Landing is more easily fished on an outgoing current as there is aslo current break there then; incoming flows pretty strong at Martha's. With a very high coefficient, I'd also suggest only trying the Rt. 50 bridge around slack current. The pilings really funnel the current and make a high coefficient even worse - down right dangerous for a kayak at times. You can fish the "fish bowl" area though during peak current no problem, you just have to watch the area right near the bridge. At the Verrazano bridge and Rt. 90 you really don't have to worry about the currents/tides as you are far enough from the inlet you can fish there any time without any issues.

And just an FYI, slack current is about 2 - 2.5 hours after the posted peak tide time.

It's looking like a beautiful weekend to get out! Good luck and stay safe!

[XXXMedium]

Slobber Bob Thank You Very Much! Specifically with your call to safety and what to avoid. To be honest, I was out there last week while Maria was directly off shore, the inlet, Martha's landing and the 50 bridge all looked like the boogieman! The flood tide was so strong that there were 5 foot waves pushing from just off the beach at Martha's Landing from the inlet toward the bridge. Our plan is to launch from the commercial harbor off sunset rd, hightail it to Assateague Island, hugging the mainland to avoid the inlet as much as possible, beach our boats and fish on the south jetty for sheepshead then float the back bay area behind Assateague for flounder. All of this to try to avoid the inlet's flow. If we are fishing the back bay and creating some space from the inlet we figure that to be a safe plan versus trying to fish structure at the bridges without knowledge or someone with knowledge of the area.

For those who may be watching this post I found a great daily fishing report site for OC:
https://fishinoc.com/category/daily-angle/
This has got me and the bros really excited to hopefully lock into some nice sheepshead and flounder.

I'll post some pics and report after the trip!

[Slobber Bob]

Yeah, the inlet can be a intimidating at times. I always advice caution out there. Especially not knowing someones skill or comfort level in heavy currents and around boats running back and forth.

So do you plan to fish for sheepshead from the south jetty by land? If so, just know that you are not allowed to walk on or fish from the rocks east of the south jetty's big "hump". And west of the hump really isn't the best for sheep because most of the rocks underwater there are covered in sand. Your best bet is probably going to be to fish right from the hump. It's deeper there and you'll have rocks on the bottom that aren't sanded in. Or do the north jetty from land.

If your comfortable going out there in the kayak, the south jetty really isn't that bad on an incoming tide. The angle of the jetty blocks a lot of the current from the hump east to the tip and you can fish in relative ease all along that section. A wreck anchor, or an anchor you don't mind losing - like a rock or dumbbell, will keep you in place. Just be out of there before the current turns to outgoing and you'll be good. And try not to get much closer than 10 - 15ft to the rocks if you anchor to avoid getting pushed into the rocks by boat wake. You really only have to worry about the wakes from the offshore boats coming and going.

[daolai]

sheesh this makes me want to plan a trip to ocmd... nice write up slobberbob thanks.. and yes be careful of the rt. 50 bridge if the tide is moving... for me it was 1 way only street

[XXXMedium]

Hey Slobber Bob should I get permission from the commercial harbor/marina to launch? Do you suggest a tackle shop that we should buy our bait from. Since you're a local I figured you would know best and thanks again!

Daolai call in sick tomorrow We will be there around 6am.

[Slobber Bob]

The launch is public, open 24/7 and is 6-wide, so no permission is needed or worries about it being clogged up this time of year.

As far as bait goes for sheepshead, All-tackle on RT. 50 in West OC, Atlantic Tackle on Sunset Rd., or Sunset Provisions on Sunset Rd. of course, all usually start carrying green crabs this time of year and sometimes sand fleas. Those are your best bets if you want live crabs. If you beach at Assateague and walk over to the surf you can dig all the sand fleas you'd ever need for a day. Grocery store/fish market shrimp or blue crab works too.