This week in Ocean City, the summer split personality is on full display: flat-calm mornings in the back bays for flounder, and canyon runs for the offshore crowd chasing yellowfin under the birds.
What’s Hitting
Flounder are the inshore staple, with keepers coming from the channels and flats of the back bays and better numbers around the Route 50 bridge and the inlet. Offshore, yellowfin tuna are in the canyons with a shot at bigeye in the early morning, and mahi are on the lobster balls and canyon edges. Sea bass are steady on the ocean wrecks, and Spanish mackerel and bluefish are running the beach.
Where to Find Them
The Thorofare, the East Channel, and the flats behind Assateague are producing flounder on the moving tide. The tuna bite has been centered from the Baltimore to the Poor Man’s Canyon — find the temperature break and the bait. Wreck sea bass are best in 80 to 120 feet.
Tides & Conditions
Clean ocean water has pushed into the bays with the recent light winds, which always improves the flounder grade. Canyon water has good color with defined breaks. The afternoon southerly gets sporty — offshore trips are leaving early and coming home by mid-afternoon.
Tackle & Tactics
Flounder want a live minnow-and-Gulp combo bounced on a light jighead with the drift. Canyon yellowfin are eating trolled spreader bars and ballyhoo early, then chunks of butterfish on the mid-day lull. Sea bass take clam and squid on double-hook rigs.
Local Intel This Week
The West Ocean City commercial harbor ramp and the South Point ramp are the main public launches, with the Gum Point Road ramp a solid option for the northern bays. Fish are concentrating in the channels on the tide and along the canyon breaks offshore. Flounder size and creel rules change frequently — check current Maryland DNR regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
In the back bays, the flounder follow the clean ocean water. Fish the incoming tide near the inlet in the morning, then slide back toward the Thorofare as the tide turns — you are following the same water the fish are.