Coastal Fishing Report - June 30 Update

Fishing opportunities are abundant along the coast this time of year now that fish have returned to their summertime hangouts, but conditions have not been ideal for most of the late spring and early summer. Northeast winds during this time have made fishing difficult, but it looks like that pattern may be starting to change. Unfortunately, the surf fishing hasn’t been all that great recently but kingfish, bluefish, and plenty of rays have been reeled in this week. One angler fishing Assateague on a trip this week reported finding a pretty good kingfish bite. He caught his fish on pieces of calm and bloodworm flavored Fishbites. He also mentioned catching clearnose skate on pieces of shrimp.

In Ocean City

In Ocean City, the route 50 Bridge has been productive for anglers lately. Rockfish and nice sized bluefish have been the main catches, but other species have been putting a bend in rods as well. Jigs with soft plastics and gotcha plugs are catching the most fish and the hotspots seem to be the south jetty, bridge pilings, and dock piers. Scott Lenox from Fish In OC got out to the 50 bridge this week and reported catching a nice bluefish, under slot rockfish, small flounder, and even a tautog. Live mullet caught most of their fish.

Offshore Grounds

The offshore grounds have been very productive, and many boats returned to dock with filled fish boxes this week. The OC Fishing Center let us know that boats are catching a mix of black sea bass and flounder at the nearshore wreck and reef sites. Farther offshore at the canyons, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, wahoo, and tilefish are making up most of the catches. Charter boat Reel Current did some offshore trolling this week and boxed some very nice wahoo and yellowfins. The Crew of the Fish On had a great late week trip and boxed eight yellowfin tuna while trolling deep. We did hear a report from the fishing center of a boat who fished around nine miles off the beach and found good fishing for sea bass, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, and a few flounder. Whether you stay at the inshore grounds, or head offshore, there are good bites happening up and down the coast.

Please note that the information provided has been paraphrased from the original article found at FishTalk Magazine - Coastal Fishing Reports.