Ocean City is in the middle of its best month. The white marlin bite in the canyons has been strong, the back bay flounder fishing is steady, and the surf is producing kingfish and small blues for anyone who wants an easy morning without a boat.
What’s Hitting
Flounder are the bread-and-butter bite in the back bays and around the inlet, with a good ratio of keepers to throwbacks on the moving tide. Offshore, white marlin numbers have been very good in the canyons, with yellowfin tuna, mahi, and the occasional bigeye rounding out the trips. Sea bass and flounder are on the wrecks. In the surf, kingfish, spot, and small bluefish are steady, and there are croaker inside the bay. Sheepshead and triggerfish are on the inlet jetty rocks.
Where to Find Them
Work the Thorofare, the East Channel, and the drop-offs near the Route 50 bridge for flounder on the outgoing. The inlet itself produces flounder and stripers around the rocks. Offshore, the Baltimore, Poor Man’s, and Washington canyons have been holding the marlin and tuna. Nearshore wrecks in 60 to 100 feet have sea bass and flatfish. Surf fishing has been best on the Assateague beaches at the incoming tide.
Tides & Conditions
Post-full-moon tides are strong through midweek. Water temps are near 78 in the bay and low 70s in the ocean nearshore, with warm blue water pushed in tight to the canyon edges. Seas have been 2 to 3 feet with a light southwest wind. Afternoon thunderstorms have been hit or miss.
Tackle & Tactics
Flounder want a bucktail tipped with a Gulp swimming mullet, or a live minnow and squid strip on a standard flounder rig, drifted with the tide. Marlin fishing is a naked or dink ballyhoo spread with circle hooks. Tuna take a spreader-bar and ballyhoo trolling spread at daybreak, or chunking on the troll-down. Surf anglers should run a two-hook bottom rig with bloodworm or Fishbites for kingfish and spot.
Local Intel This Week
The West Ocean City public ramp on Sunset Avenue and the Third Street ramp in Ocean City are the main public launches. The inlet jetty and the Route 50 bridge are the best land-based options. Fish are concentrating in the channels and around the inlet where the tide runs hardest. Flounder, sea bass, and striped bass all carry Maryland season and size rules that change through the year — check current Maryland DNR and NOAA regulations before keeping any fish.
This Week’s Tip
Drifting for flounder, keep your bucktail ticking the bottom rather than swinging above it. If you are not occasionally feeling sand, you are fishing over the fish — add a quarter ounce and the bite rate usually doubles.