Ocean City Inlet 5-10-13 Fri

[MDFishin]

Been a long time since I posted...BUT I used to work at Oyster Bay with Sue Foster and talk to her on a regular basis. Right now in ocean city the flounder bite is in the shallower waters of the back bays, such as around the RT 90 bridge. Once the water warms they will show up closer to and under the 50 bridge (BIG FLOUNDER). Right now I would fish the Thorofare which is basically the west channel north of the 50 bridge anywhere from buoy #4 to #16 its deer and the water gets warmed in the flats so an outgoing tide is usually best this time of year. ALSO behind assateague island is producing well, although I have never fished this area from a kayak, all boat. You can launch at the Verrazano bridge going into assateague park I believe. Check out Larry Jocks reports, he writes the coastal-fisherman and updates his reports daily. Sue also does a weekly report which is very accurate.

Ill probably head up there this weekend, but I may be surf fishing for Rockfish

[MDFishin]

P.S. definitely a Clear Nose Skate

[M_Duong60]

Same here I plan on hitting up thorofare next weekend as well but have no idea where to launch.

[RockFlag&Eagle37]

Yeah, that's certainly a clearnose skate. I work down in OC regularly and those guys are plenty common.

Talking with some of the local fisherman and captains, bright pink Gulp's are slaying the flounder right now. I don't know specific techniques (I'm not going to get ALL their secrets, haha), but I'm willing to bet bottom drift fishing the shallower channel edges. Having flounder fished several years down there, I've always had great luck just bottom drifting shiners. It's a little early, but livelining spot produced some of the biggest hog flounder last year, particularly near the 50 bridge.

There are plenty of free launches in OC.

The Fisherman's Marina, just off of Golf Course Rd, is actually a free public boat launch. However, you have to paddle out through the commercial harbor. Boats are generally paying attention, but it's not unreasonable for the larger commercial guys to miss a kayaker. Use extra caution getting in and out of there. It can and will be an absolute madhouse on weekends starting this Friday. This is a decent launch for the Thorofare, if you just hug the western shoreline.

Isle of Wight. If you take the rt 90 bridge, you'll actually cross a little island about halfway through with a light. That's Isle of Wight. The entire island is a WMA. It's got a small launch off to the right, if you're headed into OC. It's free and only usable for canoes/kayaks. Parking is in short order, however. This will get you quicker access to Assawoman and Isle of Wight bays. However, Isle of Wight is quite popular for parasailing (I've counted 12 in the air at once) and jet ski rentals. The people who rent jet skis are often the most dangerous people in the state at any given time, haha. This'll be a hike to the thorofare, as you'll have to cross the IOW bay to get there.

Western Side of the Verrazano Bridge (Md bridge into Assateague). It's generally, relatively calmer down here then the other two launches. As you go further south of the Verrazano Bridge, it really opens up and boat traffic eases considerably. It seems that folks rarely venture south of this bridge. There is plenty of good fishing to be had on either side of the channel, but the fishing reports down here will be fewer and far between, so you'll have to spend a little more time figuring things out on your own.

I know that you can launch out of Assateague as well, however there are fees to get on the island where the launches are. I don't know if it's just a basic entrance fee or if they have an added kayak launch fee as well. These launches get you good access to the back inlets, guts and sloughs in a less pressured part of the coastal bays. There are certainly more wildlife to be seen down here as well.

Lastly, if you really want to get away from everyone, you can make the ~40 minute drive south of OC to the Georges Island landing. It's almost at the state line, but I can almost promise you'll see hardly any boats down there!

http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/boating/worcester.asp

There's a link to all the launches in Worcester County, I didn't cover all of them, just the ones I'm more familiar with. Hope it helps! I'm looking forward to getting out there this season!

P.S. the snapper bluefish and hickory shad bite should be right around the corner. Around low slack, the bite at the inlet and on the shoal near the 50 bridge gets real hot and heavy on anything from rattle traps, gotcha plugs, speck rigs to bucktails with a curly tail grub. Ake Marine in West OC (near the fishermans marina launch) has all the tackle you could ever need for fishing down in OC as well!

[tufnik]

Thanks so much for the info you guys. Hopefully it'll guide me to big flatties. I like the blues too. Not sure when I'm going to OC again. I'd like to go this weekend, but I really don't like fishing in a zoo.

[M_Duong60]

Come on we can fish in the zoo together haha anyway might just go to chsp instead for fluke but most likely fluke/blues in MD on Sat. and Fluke/Croaker at CHSP on Sun.

However I am unfamiliar with the term "hike" is that close or far from thorofare?

[tufnik]

I'm not sure, but I think the Thorofare is an area/channel southwest of the Bay proper. It looks like it's 2-3 miles from the Rt 90 bridge launch site at Isle of Wight. I think he means the distance is "a hike. It's doable and really not that far, but if the current is strong, it can be a hike.

[RavensDfense]

I can't say how they'll react if you try it but I normally launch from behind hoopers restaurant if I am going out first thing in the AM or late at night. However, this is generally before all the people arrive in the spring and fall; a time of year when the restaurant is not slammed with crab hungry tourist.

The bluefish and shad bite there is a blast on light tackle. Non stop action. Trolling a hard bait along the light line in the west channel will produce a weakfish or nice rock.

[RockFlag&Eagle37]

Yes, by "hike" I mean a long or arduous trip. While IOW to the thorofare isn't really too far of a paddle, you have to go through bigger water with the potential for close to 100 boats/jetskis to be prowling around. Many of whom will be drinking and not paying attention. I've seen it get really nasty out there, traffic wise and I just don't think it's incredibly safe to kayak across that area. I think you'd be better off putting in at Fishermans and just hugging the shoreline, a little longer of a paddle (~.25 miles according to a rough google earth estimate) but much safer and access to shoal water if necessary.

The Thorofare is the channel area that hugs the shoreline on the southwest area of Isle of Wight bay. The main channel splits, one area heads north toward Assawoman, the other heads to the left to the St. Martin's river and hugs the western shoreline, that's the Thorofare. Also known as the dogleg, because it hugs the officially named "Dog and B*tch Islands."

Be safe no matter where you're paddling in OC on the weekends/holidays in the summer. I've almost been hit by boats and jetskis in ~25 ft and larger vessels, let alone kayaks. I'd carry an airhorn or something real loud, to get attention.

Catch 'em up!!

[Shady]

There is a small beach and parking at the end of Selsey Rd. I've launched there a couple of times. This puts you pretty close to the thorofare.

[hale3333]

There is a small beach and parking at the end of Selsey Rd. I've launched there a couple of times. This puts you pretty close to the thorofare.

I found that Selsey Rd launch works best for me....