In the Surf

https://youtu.be/sGvKHHYJ0pQ

Guys Trip in OC

Hoping to recreate last years great bluefish and striper action at the route 50 bridge, we headed back to Ocean City, Maryland. We thought we had them figured out but with the help of more stout tackle. Unfortunately, this year they just weren't biting. We used the opportunity to try some new techniques catching some undersided Tog in the inlet. To round out the trip we drifted a few times in the west channel and I was able to pull out a keeper Flounder. Not the trip we were hoping for but when our first plan failed we used the opportunity to expand our techniques. Tight lines.

R 

Take It To The Limit

Check out our EPIC day of Tuna fishing with this EPIC video. http://youtu.be/EH6eDVvaJzQ

Noah and his Dad's Flatfish

July 4th was a great day. The fireworks weren't only in the sky but in the water as well. Noah caught his first keeper flounder and his second in the same day. The biggest was weighed in at Oyster Bay at 3.6 pounds. Noah was focused and did everything himself including adding a live minnow to his dual  jig rig. Dad was very proud and also switched it up. By adding a minnow Dad got a keeper too. Below, Noah is featured in the Coastal Fisherman as the Layton's Junior Angler of the Week.

Working Out the Blues.

On Memorial Day weekend I kept hearing that Blues were in the bay. I also have heard how easy the are to catch. When they are biting in a frenzy yes they are easy to catch but other times it can be harder than you'd expect. I went out by myself to the inlet where snapper blues were snapping all around me amongst some feeding gulls. I emptied my tackle box trying to catch them but couldn't covert. I decided to switch it up and head to the Route 50 bridge as the tide had slowed. I tried jigging a Roy Rig at the pilings and BAMMM. The bluefish hit hard and I landed 5 in a few minutes as the tide had just begun to move. It was quite satisfying considering how hard I worked to get them to bite. I enjoyed them as smoked fish dip later in the week. Two myths busted in my mind; bluefish aren't always super easy to catch and when prepared fresh and properly they taste great. 

Memories of His First Keeper

Tyler caught his first keeper flounder all by himself on Memorial Day weekend. The over 16 inch fish faught hard as Tyler brought him up to the boat. He caught him on a white spec rig on the sand bars south of the route 50 bridge. He brought his catch to Oyster Bay where he got his picture taken for the fishing report. The following week to my surprise Ty made the Coastal Fisherman. 

Sunken Dreams

It was the flounder pounder weekend 2015, a weekend I had been looking forward to for quite some time. Seth, Greg and I tried our hand again at the Bahia Marina tournament. We were well stocked with tackle and freshly caught peanut bunker. We signed up for the tournament and waited in the basin until the horn sounded. Just as it was about time for the tournament to get under way the guy in the boat next to me said, "hey your back end looks low." After checking it out with the tournament director we determined that our pontoons were taking on water and we needed to back out of the tournament. We felt lucky that they gave us our money back and decided we would test the boat out for a half hour and see if the issue got any worse. Well as luck would have it it didn't take long until Greg hooked up with a beautiful flounder. We decided to keep a close eye on the pontoons checking every half hour to see if they worsened and they appeared stable. It appears we had a slow leak in the welding that had occurred over time but there wasn't any immediate concern. At that point we decided to keep fishing but switch it up and fish the 50 bridge for big blues and stripers. We had some great battles and were broken off by many big fish at the pilings. We decided to go and have the flounder weighed at Oyster Bay just to see how we would have faired in the tournament.  Sure enough, we had the biggest fish by far and lost out on several thousands of dollars in winnings. We still had a great weekend catching (including a couple of roughly 30 inch blues that were released) but left with an expensive salty wound. Here's the video documenting the action. http://youtu.be/uA9mtjRlAFY

Tails Out Late Summer and Fall Fishing

It was fun in the late season fishing in the Upper Bay around the bay bridge and under working birds. Most of the fish were feeding on small baits like glass minnows. The best baits were 1/4 oz white spec rigs, perch jerkers, bucktails and chug bugs with dropper flies. We used the Go Pro to catch a lot of the action except we didn't catch some of the best blitz action on camera because we were too busy catching. Several days we caught 100 plus fish with many throwbacks but with keeper rock and blues mixed in. Here's our YouTube video. http://youtu.be/9THzi7WxOEs

Disney Bass

In late July we took the family for our first trip to Disney World. We stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort and chartered a bass fishing trip in the resort.  Luca and Noah showed up the adults with some of the best fish.  Our captain was a former first round draft pick baseball player and quite a nice guy.

Crabbing With the Boys and Dad-Dad

The boys, their grandfather and I went out for a little crabbing in the Magothy. They did a great job pulling the traps all by themselves. We only ended with a dozen and a half but boy were they tasty.  

4th of July Fishing with the Family

Epic Fishing on the Coast

Memorial Day weekend I was able to do some surf fishing with Huk Performance Fishing's own Ben Verner. What an epic day it was as I was able to catch personal best fish in about 4+ categories. Including a Blue, 2 Black Drum, Shark, Ray and the 50+ inch Redfish which I battled for almost 15 minutes! 

New Boat=New Biggest Fish 41 inches

Striped Bass in Ocean City, MD Video Featured on the Front Page of the Coastal Fisherman Website!

Striped Bass in Ocean City, MD is now uploaded to youtube
view it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbJu0G3FPvE&feature=youtu.be

Flounder Ceviche Recipe

Petit diced jalapeño

Petit diced red onion

Petit diced flesh of cucumber

Finely chopped green onion

Finely chopped cilantro

Add above ingredients to

.25 lb fresh flounder cut into a large dice

Then add:

Juice of half a lime

Juice of a quarter lemon

2 dashes of lite soy (or ponzu sauce)

Dash of old bay

Salt and pepper to taste 

Stir lightly and place in covered in glass bowl in refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Labor Day Fishing Fun

Got to do some fun, family fishing Labor Day weekend. Mom-Mom and Noah got a couple of keeper croakers and I got the lone flounder, just above the legal limit. I also got to meet Captain Scott Walker from the TV show, Into the Blue.  He was a very nice guy, just what I expected. I hope to get back down to the Keys and fish with him next time I'm there.

Mom-Mom's Double Header

One thing was made clear in early July, when Mom-Mom gets quiet, you might want to get the net. Mom caught two keepers in late June and early July. One was caught on the Get Sum and one on the Happy Ours. 

Going Pro in OC

Going to Ocean City with just the guys can mean only one thing: non stop hardcore fishing. At the end we had fished 14 hours in one day, hitting each tide as it came and went. Truly, if we hadn't fished so hard we might not have caught much at all. It was persistence and more advanced techniques that paid off. We started at 5 AM by the Rt. 50 but without much luck we moved to the inlet's south jetty. We spent much of the day and evening there as flounder were hard to come by (2 shorts) with seaweed everywhere we tried to drift.  The evening at sunset is when it really turned on. We ended the day with 20 Striped Bass and a nice sized keeper blue.  The Stripers were mostly over 18 inches with many over 20 up to Seth's 27 incher, one inch short of a keeper in Ocean City. Most were caught on white bucktails with curly tails. A few were caught on a fly and eel rig with one also came aboard from a rattletrap. Here's some of the action from the new Go Pro camera.

Captain Nick and the Great Buildup

 Is he a pirate? Does he have a mustache? Is he nice? Is he a big guy with a blue hat? All were questions from the new four year old, Tyler, when he was told we were going on a boat with a Captain.  Captain Nick didn't have on a hat but he was very nice with the kids as he put us on the fish. We took the trip hoping to pick up some new styles of fishing. Captain Nick had us using spec rigs and bucktails to get into some Blues and Shad. We ended the night with 5 nice sized Bluefish, over a dozen Hickory Shad, a Cownose Ray and 2 small Stripers. Working under birds in the inlet, south of the 50 bridge was the ticket. It was a great family night with everyone catching at least one fish.

My Biggest Fish

After a full afternoon evening of fishing we were starting to doubt our abilities. "Five more minutes," someone said as the sun was just about set. It wasn't but a moment later and Greg yelled,"we're on, we're on, we're on," as dragged ripped out of the back reel. It was finally my turn and I slow played the fish as I waited for the lines to get cleared since the fish was staying down and moving laterally. After we got the fish in it was clearly my biggest, weighing over 15 pounds and 36 inches. The striped bass was caught on a white umbrella roughly 22 feet deep just outside of the Magothy.