Drifting Easy    Fishing In July   6/27/08

“We’re coming to Ocean City for vacation and want to go fishing. What’s 
biting in July? Where can we go?”

July is a month where almost everything and anything is biting. It might not 
be huge, but if you give it a whirl, something ought to be tap, tap, tapping 
on the end of your rod.

July is always a good time to try for flounder. From the shore, your best 
bets are the Route 50 Bridge, the 9th Street Pier, the bulkhead from 2nd 
through 4th Streets, or the Oceanic Pier.  The size limit for the year 2008 
is 17 ½ inches, so you will be working hard for a “keeper” but even if you 
don’t catch dinner, there should be some action. Anglers use live minnows or 
frozen shiners for bait on a simple top and bottom rig weighed with an 
average of 2 ounces of weight.  Size #1 or #1/0 wide gap type hooks are 
best.  You can also add a strip of squid to your shiner or minnow bait for 
extra-added attraction.

If you didn’t drag a boat to Ocean City with you, there are plenty of bay 
party boats that go out for either 2 to 4 hour trips.

o       BAY PARTY BOATS -
Bay Bee Bay Party Boat
2 flounder trips daily
O.C. Fishing Center –410-213-1121

Pony Island Express
Flounder Bay trips- 3 times daily- (2 hour)
Old Town Marina, Ocean City Maryland Marina and Fishing Center 2 Blocks 
South Of The Rt 50 Bridge- 410-289-9125

Tortuga
3 flounder trips daily in season
Bahia Marina-410-289-743810

Happy Hooker Flounder/croaker/striper Bay trips (2 hour)
Capt Steve Whitelock
located Talbot St. and the Bay
410.289.9125 or 410.289.3500

“What else do they catch on the bay party boat?”
Sometimes the boats get into snapper bluefish, little sea bass, and towards 
the end of the month of July, we generally see croaker.   But the 
predominant fish the boats go for are flounder unless the croakers show up 
in quantity near the end of the month.

“I just want to take the kids fishing for anything! And maybe do a little 
crabbing.”
July is a good month to do that!  The Northside Park at 127th Street, the 
Isle of Wight in the center of Route 90 Bridge off of 62nd Street, and the 
bulkhead and pier behind the Convention Hall at 40th Street are all good 
places to take the little guys to catch pan fish such as spot, sand perch, 
and small croaker.  Your best bet is to use top and bottom type rigs with 
size #8 or #6 hooks baited with bloodworm, artificial Fishbite bloodworm, or 
night crawlers.  If you are staying in the lower end of Ocean City you can 
travel to Assateague and fish on the pier that is located right next to the 
Verrazano  Bridge.  There’s a fee to go on this pier. If you are staying at 
Frontier Town, you can fish and crab off their private pier to catch these 
same fish. All these places are also good places to catch crabs with chicken 
necks and bunker fish.

The bulkhead from 2nd through 4th Street is a good place to take the 
slightly older kids to catch little sea bass, spot, tautog, and possibly 
croaker towards the end of the month. This area is snaggy, so it is 
important to fish straight down when the tide is running hard. Fish with 
sand crabs, bloodworms or Artificial Bloodworms, little pieces of squid, or 
frozen shiners.  If you want to avoid the snags, stick to the 9th Street 
Pier, Route 50 Bridge, or the Oceanic Pier.  These three areas are good for 
flounder, but also have snapper blues, little sea bass, spot, croaker, 
tautog, blowfish and sea robins.  Little strips of squid, bloodworm, or 
Fishbite bloodworm on size #6 or #4 hooks will catch all kinds of pan fish.

Homer Gudelsky Park is a free public area. Traveling west over the Rt. 50 
Bridge, make a left at Golf Course Road (next to Royal Farm Store) and make 
the next immediate left (Old Bridge Rd.) There’s a nice beach there with 
rocks along the shore.  Cast shiners and squid combinations for bait or live 
minnows for flounder- Use worms for bait on small hooks for sea bass, 
croaker and spot.- Use fishing lures early in the morning or after dark for 
blues and stripers.  One needs fishing tackle that will cast into the main 
channel. A 7 to 8 foot rod and reel or even a surf rod and reel will work at 
this park. There’s not a lot of parking here, but it’s a nice place to “get 
away” for a while.

Night fishing!  July is a good time to fish under the lights from the Route 
50 Bridge and the Oceanic Pier. Bright lights shine down on the water and 
attract baitfish that in turn attracts bluefish, shad, sea trout, and 
striped bass. Jig Gotcha Plugs, spec rigs, lead heads with curltail grubs or 
the ever-popular Berkley Gulp, bucktails with plastic worms, or Swim Shads. 
Incoming tides are usually best, with stripers and trout biting on the very 
beginning of the outgoing tides.  The Inlet will also catch you some fish at 
night and first thing in the morning before the boat traffic gets up.

Surf fishing! Surf fishing in July can be good. Anglers are allowed to fish 
in Ocean City before 10 A.M. and after 5:30 P.M. when the lifeguards are 
off.  Fish the smaller size bluefish rigs (Sea Striker DT34 or DT34S) for 
sand sharks, croaker, snapper blues, and small sea trout with cut bait such 
as mullet, spot, or bunker.  OR, fish a kingfish surf rig made with size #6 
hooks with bloodworm, little strips of Calamari squid, or Fishbite Bloodworm 
Alternative.  You can add little strips of fresh cut fish such as spot, 
mullet or bunker along with the Fishbites or bloodworm for a really good 
surf bait for kingfish, Norfolk spot, sand perch, blowfish, and croaker. 
Use a pyramid sinker so your bait doesn’t roll back in.  At night or early 
in the morning, you can use a larger bait and go for sharks, stripers, and 
larger bluefish.  You can also catch croaker at night with size #4 hooks.

Ocean Pier!  The Ocean Pier runs parallel to the Ocean City Jetty. Go to the 
Inlet Parking lot and pay to go on the pier. You can catch anything on the 
pier that you can on the surf. High tide is the best time to go fishing. 
Lots of sand sharks are usually there for the kids to catch, and when the 
water gets warm in summer, anglers catch some flounder out there as well.

Party Boat Fishing!  July is always a good time to take a boat ride and 
catch some sea bass, tautog, and maybe flounder and croaker.  The days of 
limits on sea bass seem to be over, but it’s always nice to get offshore and 
catch some fish. Full days will catch a larger amount of “keeper” fish as 
the boats can go our further and stay longer, but the half day boats are 
good for the novices that want to give it a whirl without committing to a 
whole day of fishing.

OFFSHORE PARTY BOATS -

Morning Star
Party boat (410) 520-2076 Sunday-Friday (7am-3pm) $110.00 per angler
Saturdays (6:30am-3:30pm) $125- Book Today--The Morning Star "Sells Out" at 
25 Anglers! Each ticket includes an exclusive rail assignment

The Ocean Princess
Party boat- 1/2 day fishing
Ocean City's Largest and Fastest Head Boat
For reservations and information, call (410) 289-6226. Happy fishing!

The Angler
Party boat
OC’s newest party boat with the oldest tradition
Full day- Leaves at 7:30A.M.
Talbot St. & Bay 410-289-7424

Judith M
Party boat- 1/2 day fishing
Bahia Marina at 21st Street and the bay- 410-289-743810-289-7438 / 
888-575-DOCK (3625) 410-289-7438 / 888-575-DOCK (3625)
410-289-7438 / 888-575-DOCK (3625) 410-289-7438 / 888-575-DOCK (3625)


*************************************************
Sue Foster ~ Oyster Bay Tackle~
11615 Coastal Hwy. Ocean City, MD 21842
(next to the Green Turtle- bayside)
phone- 410-524-3433 / fax-410-213-7642
*************************************************
Fenwick Tackle~ Rt.1 and MD Ave.
Fenwick Island, DE, 19940
(next to the Atlantic Book Store- Ocean Side)
Phone- 302-539-7766
*************************************************
web address~ www.oysterbaytackle.com
**************************************************
online shopping~ http://shop.oysterbaytackle.com
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Email:  mailto:sue@oysterbaytackle.com
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