Last Minute Inlet Trip

[Slobber Bob]

My Wednesday work schedule cleared out, and seeing the beautiful weather forecast, I decide to take a last minute fishing trip. I stayed local and hit the OC Inlet looking for sheepshead.

I launched at sunrise to thick, thick fog. 200 yard visibility at best. The first stop was to Assateague to add to my bait supply some live sand fleas. It was incoming tide, so as usual, I pull my kayak up above the current water line several feet while I cross the dune over to the surf. Now, on the way over the dune I was noticing how how the high tide line had gotten from the previous weekends storm; much higher than I'd seen in a long time. The surf was still rather large yesterday too, which made digging fleas tough, but it also should of indicated to me that maybe I should pull the kayak up a little higher on dry land than I normally do. Well, it didn't, and the tide came up fast! And when I was crossing back over the dune back to the kayak, while looking through the thick fog, my heart skipped a beat. My kayak isn't where I left it! In fact, I can't see it in the fog! Sh*t! I sprint down towards where I had left it and about half-way there the kayak emerges from the fog about 100 yards further down the beach, floating a foot or two off the bank. I race over and grab it. WHEW! Disaster avoided. Phone, radio, whistle.... I had left everything on it, and had I spent another 10 minutes digging fleas, the kayak may had worked it's way out to the current and really disappeared in the fog.

But on to the fishing. The sun eventually burned off all the fog and made for a wonderful day to be out. I tried various spots between the south jetty, Rt. 50 bridge, and Martha's Landing. I hooked some true monsters this day too. If I kept records on my PB toad, I probably would have broke 5 or 6 times this day. I'd never caught so many monster toads in a single trip. They were like a plague following me around! Many, many small sea bass too. The only saving grace for the day was a single 18" tog.

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[Mark]

Wow.

That was a close call.

[J.A. Veil]

Glad to hear that you recovered your kayak just in time.

[john from md]

I keep a 25 foot paracord in the front hatch just in case I want to tie up at a dock or if I need a tow. When I leave the yak near the water, I spike the line so it can't get away. I've heard some bad stories about run away yaks and I don't want one of my own.

[mchottie]

Thats an awesome looking plated fish!!!

[Jman]

Glad you didn’t lose the yak! I almost did that the other day when the incoming tide picked up. That’s a nice tog that you caught. Thanks for the report.

[Slobber Bob]

I've beached the kayak there thousands of times, but the tide came up really high, really fast. I was lucky and lesson learned for sure. Had it drifted out into the current, I'd had lost sight of it in the fog and really would have been in for an adventure.

[Slobber Bob]

@mchottie
Thanks. Smelled and tasted just as good.

[yellowyak]

Nice report- Thanks for sharing. I had some questions for you about fishing the Inlet, but I'll start a new thread- I'm very interested in fishing the inlet but had some concerns- nice to see that it may be possible.

[Slobber Bob]

I decided to take the day off from work today to try the inlet again. The thunderstorms they were calling for when I went to bed the previous night never materialized, so I was on the water by first light. The wind, however, was cranking in the morning. Which also had the water a little dirty. I brought some peelers and hard crabs I already had and stopped over at Assateague to load up on sand fleas. I had an incoming current until about lunch so I started at the south jetty. Fishing was very, very slow from the start. I was mostly fishing 15 - 30 ft. of water and not having much luck other than one dropped sheep. The last hour of current I decided to get super tight to the jetty and fish shallow (< 5 ft.) for the heck of it. I'm wishing I had tried it earlier in the day now! No sooner I dropped down I hooked a sheep. Re-bait and drop back down. Hook and lose another. A couple minutes later, land a second sheep. I moved around a few times hoping to find more, but never did. The current was starting to slack anyway so it was time for me to move.

I headed to Rt. 50. Fished the pilings around slack current but only found tiny sea bass and snatched up a few snagged sinkers hanging from the pilings. Once the current started to move again, I had to vacate from the pilings, so I headed to a couple spots under the drawbridge where I knew I could pin my kayak in to fish a couple eddys. I had already fished those spots during slack and only had sea bass. Once the current started though I was able to pick up a handful of tog, including a keeper almost 17", another sheep, and an over slot sized red. I haven't heard of many reds behind OC this year, so I was thinking monster sheep when I was fighting it, lol. But a red was a pleasant surprise. The current really was cooking by now, the bite died in my little honey-hole, and I was tired of boat wake rocking me as I tried to keep my kayak pinned in position, so I rode the current away from the bridge.

I stopped at Martha's Landing on the way back towards the ramp to try a specific piling at a certain dock that is always good to me. To my surprise, I parked right on top of a striper sand flea blitz. I couldn't get a jig and flea to touch the bottom before they were on it. A dozen drops, a dozen 18"ish stripers as fast as you could get bait in the water. I guess I caught them all or they got wise to the game, because it ended as fast as it started. A few short tog next. Then the toads and little sea bass started up, so I figured that signaled the spot was beat. I had to be off the water soon anyway so I called it a day.

It ended up be a decent day. I'm glad I didn't end up pulling the plug early!
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[yellowyak]

Great report and congrats, Slobber Bob- thanks for sharing. I was a little surprised that you caught the Red in OC- I've fished in OC a lot and never seen anyone pull one up before. In another month or so, the Tog should be biting even better when the temps dip. I'm thinking of either going to OC early tomorrow AM or try Solomons again- If I do go to OC, I'll be mindful of the tides and won't be fishing the inlet in fear of getting pulled out to sea!

[Slobber Bob]

I was off Monday, so I made another trip to the inlet to try for sheepshead. I wasn't able to get on the water until a little after 11:00 and the current wasn't good for fishing the inlet side of the south jetty, so I had plans to fish the ocean side. Unfortunately, there was just enough swell coming off the ocean that it looked a touch sketchy for a kayak, so I opted to stay inside the inlet to fish. Which is a bummer because I really think the jetty is your best place for sheepshead this time of year.

Instead I briefly tried Rt. 50, but it wasn't producing anything worthwhile (i.e. a lot of little sea bass), so I tried a bunch of spots along Martha's landing exploring the rocks and different dock pilings. It was shaping up to be a bust until I finally found a decent tog hole with some fish looking to eat. I'd catch a few short tog, then some sea bass and toads, and right before I'd think about moving, I'd start getting tog again so I'd stay longer. Eventually, I'd pull an 18" keeper out, lost a second keeper overboard trying to measure it, and had a third likely keeper size one break me off.

It wasn't what i was after, but a good tog bite made up for it.