Coastal Fishing Reports
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, June 4 Update:
Coastal fishing is offering a wide variety of opportunities, with anglers catching flounder, striped bass, bluefish, sheepshead, and tautog from the surf, inlets, and back bays. Striped bass and bluefish are providing consistent action around Ocean City's bridges, jetties, and beaches, while sheepshead and tautog are becoming more common around inlet structure. Offshore, improving water temperatures are fueling better catches of tuna, mahi, sea bass, and tilefish, with the pelagic bite expected to strengthen throughout June.
Flounder regulations changed on June 1st, and fish now have to be 17.5” to keep in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. There were plenty of fish meeting the 16” minimum in April and May, but the keepers will be harder to find in the coastal bays with the change. A subscriber casting four-inch white Gulp! Mullet teasers in the surf for flounder produced a few fish up to 18" for a subscriber fishing Assateague this week, but he said overall the action was slower than hoped for. However, he did also hook up with a nice bonus-fish, a 25" striper. More reports of stripers in the surf came in this week from up and down the coast, including Fenwick in DE, Assateague in MD, and First Landing in VA. Most were above or below the slot, which is to be expected with such a tight range (28” to 31” in coastal waters). A reader also checked in after casting a bucktail dressed with a four-inch Gulp! Mullet in the surf at Assateague, catching three flounder with two over 16” and one a bit smaller. He noted that the fish were hanging around very close to the beach. A reader also reported catching keeper flounder in Wachapreague this week.
The fishing inside the Ocean City Inlet has been good for striped bass at the rock jetties, near the Route 50 Bridge, and at the Route 90 Bridge. There are not many slot fish meeting the 28 to 31-inch size limit, but some keeper fish have been pulled up at the Route 50 bridge. The best action has been at night when stripers are feeding on baitfish that are attracted to the bridge lights. Snapper bluefish and some bigger blues are also showing up near the inlet and in the surf. There were a few reports from surf anglers at Assateague this week who caught bluefish in the mid 20” range. Sheepshead have also arrived to the Ocean City Inlet, and a few big ones were landed this week. On The Run Charters had an angler catch a 24”, 10-pound sheepshead on a sand flea. Scott Lenox from Fish In OC reports that he and a buddy fished the jetties and caught a bunch of tautog up to 17”. He also caught a striper on a sand flea and his friend caught a nice sheepshead on a live sand flea.
At the offshore grounds, there are plenty of sea bass to be caught at the reefs and wrecks when the wind allows boats to get offshore. A reader wrote in to let us know that he was catching two at a time sea bass plus flounder aboard the Morning Star this week. The offshore fleet making the run to fish warmer waters at the canyons are finding some yellowfin and bluefin tuna along with mahi. The deep droppers are finding a good class of golden tilefish and blueline tilefish as well. The pelagic bite should continue to heat up throughout this month as warmer waters continue to push into the region.
