May 20th, 2013

Water Temp: 57.4

Fishing Report by Sue Foster

Lots of sharks in the surf. A few nice big stripers were caught here and
there. Still blowfish, rays, and some blues. Flounder fishing has been
decent in the bay. A few nice sea trout have been reported in the bay as
well. Big bluefish were biting from the Route Route 50. Still some
tautog around, though I didn't get many reports of them.  Delaware
season is closed on tautog, but Maryland season is open. Anglers are
allowed two at 16-inches. Off shore sea bass is now open and charter
boats caught some tuna, mako, and blue sharks.


 Oyster Bay will be open 8-5 Mon-Wed Thursday 7-7 Friday-6-10  and Sat-
 6-10 & Sun-6-10. Fenwick Tackle will be open 8-5 on Tuesday and
 Wednesday) Thursday 7-9, Friday thru Sunday 7-10, Monday 7-7.  E-mail
 Sue Foster at:  Oyster Bay
 Tackle. The  online
 mall is open. We sell MD licenses and 2013 boat stickers at our
 Oyster Bay and Fenwick Tackle locations. De Licenses are sold at our
 DEL location. I've been selling MD fishing licenses at Oyster Bay since
 we opened and it is really easy once you're in the system. If you have
 last year's license, bring it in with you, and all we have to do is
 punch in the DNR ID number to bring up your info! Otherwise, bring in
 your Driver's License. For DEL boat fishing stickers you MUST bring in
 a current boat registration and a driver's license. Locals, please try
 to avoid Memorial Weekend to get your licenses!!! We have plenty staff
 but you may have to wait and sometimes the systems get slow at times of
 high volume...

BTW, There's a mistake in the MD Fishing Guide about clamming. If you
are out of state it IS legal for you to catch clams in Worcester Co. The
state fixed the mistake online, but of course, thousands of Guides were
already printed! I have had several e-mails about this.

(Yea!!!!) The Bulkhead at 2nd thru 4th Street is finally finished and
anglers can now fish there again. It is a free fishing zone but you
still need to obtain a free registry. We can do that for you at Oyster
Bay Tackle or call 1-855-855-3906. Rumor has it the Ocean Pier will be
finished soon and may be open for the weekend.

2013
Tide Charts are now available in our stores and online. Go to our website and click on More Fishing Info.

Flounder season is now open in MD- Minimum Size - 16" Creel - 4 fish
open all year.  (DE is still 18-inches until they officially change it
to 17-inches.)

New Ocean City chart by Capt Seagull available:
Buy at Oyster Bay Tackle or online.  The bay portion of this chart is a
little small, but it shows the nearshore Reef Sites with numbers.

2013 White Marlin Open T's are here! Instore or Online.
>
2013 Shark T's! In store or on 
Online. We also have the  2013 Shark Tank
Tops.


Stopping in to Oyster Bay Tackle or Fenwick Tackle? Clip out a coupon
for xtra savings!  Coupons

The forecast was nicer than the reality. We had a lot of wind Saturday
afternoon and Sunday morning making the surf hard to fish.  Besides that
time frame, fishing wasn't bad at all in the surf. Anglers didn't catch
as many stripers as they would liked, but there was action with sharks,
rays, blowfish and a few bluefish. There were some legal stripers
caught, but only one here and there. Anglers really had to wait it out
to catch one. (More stripers on Assateague and the Northern Beaches of
DE than in Ocean City.) Wayne McPartland was fishing the North Ocean
City surf on Friday night and caught numerous sharks and one nice
bluefish. He let a young boy reel in 5 or 6 sharks and probably made a
fisherman out of him for sure! That was really nice Wayne!!!

Assateague was hit or miss with stripers. Others were skunked or came up
with mostly sharks and skates.

Jimmy McConkey from Waldorf MD was lucky. He caught a 36 in striper from
surf on a bunker head on Sat.

So was Richard Zhao. He e-mailed in his picture with a 40"25 lb Stripers
he caught on a fresh bunker head midnight on Friday from the Assateague
surf. He also caught another 35" 16 lbs around 11:30 pm Friday.


These pictures are in our  Surf
Fishing Photo Gallery.  Thanks Jimmy, Nice fish!

Many anglers ask about reading the beach when surf fishing. "Poppy" a
very good angler has posted another very good description with pictures
on Stripers Online. Check it out:  Reading the Beach  He draws it out
completely! If you're not catching fish in the surf, you need to study
this!

Our online mall is now open and we have: 
Trailhead Tire Deflators!  We also carry the Oasis Trailhead brand.

  Surf
Packages, complete with sinkers. (Also flounder, Aqua-Clear, Swim
Shad, and Got-cha Plug Packages.)


J.J. from the Oceanic Pier (410-289-2602) reported good action on
bluefish. Flounder fishing from good this week, along with catches of
blowfish and a few sea trout. (You do not need a fishing license to fish
the Oceanic Pier.)


 Larry Jock of the  Coastal
 Fisherman reports from inshore on Saturday: "Jim McWhinney caught a
 pair of flounder while drifting near the duck blinds behind Assateague
 Island."

On Friday Larry Jock had lots of reports! "Weakfish are being caught in
pretty good numbers, north of the Thorofare near the Hole in the Wall.
Derrick Simpson caught a 38-inch striper while fishing with fresh bunker
off Assateague. Frank Watkins caught a 24-inch flounder while trolling a
minnows/Gulp combination on the flats north of the Thorofare. Budd Heim
had a 22-inch flounder in the bay behind Assateague between Buoys 11 &
13. Caught while drifting a minnows/ white Gulp combination. Tom Green
caught a 19.5-inch flounder on the Thorofare flats on a bucktail tipped
with a white Gulp and a minnow. Blair Snyder caught a 24.5-inch flounder
that weighed 6.3 lbs. This fish was THICK! Caught on the Thorofare flats
on a chartreuse Gulp and minnow combination. Al Kindley caught a
22.75-inch flounder in the bay off 33rd Street on a squid and minnow
combination. Graham Foley caught a 21-inch flounder on a minnow and
white Gulp in the West Channel. The headboat, "Bay Bee" had a 2 good
flounder trips today, returning with 9 keepers in the bay behind the OC
Airport. Fish were caught on squid and shiners. Robin and Anthony
Principe caught a pair of flounder on live minnows behind the OC
Airport. The King caught his limit of 4 stripers while trolling minnows
and 6-inch Gulp! artificial baits near the duck blinds. Stripers were
caught on Assateague, although it was hit-or-miss. Some anglers really
got into them while others got skunked. A lot of anglers are complaining
about skates and sharks. On the headboat, "Morning Star", Capt. Monty
Hawkins had the Fishing Club from the Berlin Intermediate School out for
a tautog fishing trip and the kids slamed they. One junior angler boated
a 25-incher. A lot of fish were caught."

 We had an interesting catch checked into Oyster Bay Tackle on Friday.
 Dustin Dell from Hamilton VA caught this a Citation Bluefish from 125th
 St at North Side Park using Fresh Bunker as bait on Low Tide early
 Friday morning.  The Bluefish was 36.5 inches long. His picture is in
 our 
 Inshore Photo Gallery.

Libby Kelly of Oyster Bay Tackle had a good report from Friday:
"Customer report:  Flounder by the Airport, nice size, caught 6 and 1
keeper."

I had an e-mail report on Sunday from Mike Orchulli: "Jack & Cade
Campbell 6 yrs old Twins of Nazareth, Pa. Caught these two beauties
(flounder) 21" & 20" near the Duck Blinds behind Assateague Island. They
were fishing with their Dad Craig Campbell and their Pop, Mike Orchulli
on the "Reel Addiction" Using Gulp and live minnows. Their picture is in
our 
Inshore Photo Gallery.

Capt Budd Heim sent us the results of the Atlantic Coast Chapter/MSSA
and the Ocean Pines Anglers annual Flounder Frenzy"

"This year's Flounder Frenzy was just that lots of flounder and lots of
big flounder. If you like a little competitive fishing, you missed a
good chance with this year's tournament if you were on the sidelines.
The winners are as follows:

First Place- Blair Snyder- 24 1/2"

Second Place- Frank Watkins- 24"

Third Place- Al Kindley- 23 1/2"




Dave Beall of Dave's Delmarva First Mate Service reports this week: "Hey
Sue, I fished all week and only caught a few fish. I fished Indian River
Inlet Monday and found out that there were several keepers caught Sunday
night. There were a couple keeper Gray Trout and one keeper Speckled
Trout between Tuesday and Thursday. There were a few Short Stripers
caught through out the week as well. Catching has really been hit or
miss. There has not been any pattern that you can count on; you just
have to be there. Although the guys fishing in the dark are producing
more Stripers than the day time fisherman. I fished the surf at Beach
Plum Island Wednesday because of the strong southerly wind. There were
lots of bites and I caught Spike Trout, King Fish and Blow Fish but
everything was pretty small. I talked to some friends who said that they
caught keeper Flounder in the Lewes Canal on Gulp baits at the early
tide change. I finished the week this morning at Indian River Inlet in
the rain and had a Flounder on but he came off at my feet. Hopefully the
Flounder will turn on soon." Check out his new web site.

Blues in the bay! Lots of big blues were reported in the bay this week.
Besides good reports from the Oceanic Pier, anglers had good catches
from the Route 50 Bridge. Juan Luyo from Frederick MD. Got his limit of
blues at the Rt. 50 Bridge ranging from  20" To 35 1/4" caught on Gotcha
Plugs and finger mullet on Mullet Rigs on Friday. Wow!

His picture is in our  Inshore
Photo Gallery.

Other anglers got into schools of blues up by Route 90 Bridge. Two nice
sea trout were reported to Coastal Fisherman this week for two lucky
anglers fishing in boats. On Wed: "Ollie Powell caught a 26-inch
weakfish by the Hole in the Wall, north of the Thorofare on a jighead
tipped with a Zoom minnow." On Thursday: "Kate Yarzutkina landed a 9 lb.
3 oz. weakfish while tossing a bucktail tipped with a curly tail at the
pilings of the Assateague Bridge. Fish measured 29.5-inches. Kate was
fishing with John Foreman. I did hear rumors anglers are quietly
catching trout at the South Jetty."

(A few legal stripers and tautog were also reported from the South Jetty
along with bluefish catches. Blues were also running in the back bay
behind Assateague- They seem to run best on an Easterly breeze.)


 Flounder and Surf, Rig and Lure Packages, Selection of
Swimming Shads or Gotcha Plugs!  

Capt. Monty on the "
Morning Star sends us his update and comments on May 14th:

"Greetings All, Tested with every anchor set & offered a less than
robust tog bite, we finished the tog season with some of our best
releases. Tog along our coast are clearly getting ready to spawn.
Females bursting with eggs; they're putting on the feed-bag to nourish
coming generations. On Monday's reef building trip, for instance, we
caught 3 undersize male tog and 1 solid keeper  ..but, being a fine
example of exactly the sort of tog we'd like to see (though smaller,) I
had Mike tag & release the handsome fellow to rejoin the upcoming
spawning season.. All the rest of our tog that day were female — every
one. Lots & lots of legal females up to 12 pounds were let go. Bob,
Alex, Greg, John – didn't blink. Put 'em back. Did kill 4. Could have
taken 36. Tagged 'em instead.

Morning Star crew & six volunteers began Monday by loading 144 "oyster
castle" reef blocks, 10 concrete planks & a double-anchor mooring buoy
set-up. Left anchors and poly balls positioned about 4 miles out at
Ake's Reef. Several hours later Tow Boat US Ocean City made their
bargeload of concrete pipe fast to the mooring: A perfect set right next
to this boat.
https://picasaweb.google.com/116105430776904707205/OCReefFoundation#
5869112048293047026 Ake's Reef is growing swiftly: More Coral, More
Fish.

Getting underway again, we carried our load of blocks & planks to where
OC Diver patrons http://www.ocdiver.com have been constructing their
lobster abodes on Taylor's Barge at the Queen Reef. We do have a report
that the blocks from last summer are growing in nicely with mussels and
are now minus one lobster.. Here's a video of what the blocks looked
like last summer: http://vimeo.com/49834503 (and a good look at what I
think our natural sea whip meadows looked like before post-WWII
industrial fishing began..) We didn't really build reef Monday, just
delivered the material. Be interesting to see what Ted Green & Co
engineer.

Begin sea bassing Sunday. If the weather's good. Even though the bottom
temp's chilly I've seen some fine sea bass well in sight of OC. Tagged
the better examples to see about habitat fidelity."


Go to " Morning
Star to read Capt Monty's entire newsletter...

 E-mail Capt Monty at:  Capt
 Monty about upcoming trips or to subscribe to his newsletter:
 mhawkins@mediacombb.net

Capt. Monty Hawkins mhawkins@siteone.net Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076 http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

Watch the  weather.

 Help and Donate to
the Ocean City Reef Foundation!  http://www.ocreeffoundation.com/
It's a 501c3 tax deductable .org


Buddy Seigel of Fenwick Tackle relates a great fishing story! "An
Afternoon on the Morningstar, with Captain Monty Hawkins, and the Berlin
Intermediate School’s After School Academy.

On Friday, May 17th, Mrs. Diana Jolley of the Berlin Intermediate
School’s After School Academy Fishing Class was invited for an afternoon
of fishing aboard Captain Monty Hawkins’ Morningstar. With two teachers
from BIS, Mrs. Jolley, and myself (to help the kids) an outstanding day
was about to happen.  The mates Tucker, Mike, and Jake instructed the
fishers (boys & girls) as to what to do and when to ask for help!  Away
we went.  After a short ride, the call came from Captain Monty, “Drop
‘em.”  We moved 3 or 4 times. Each time, there was Tautog from small
non-keepers to a whopper of 27 inches. Every single fisher had at least
one fish.  The smiles were boundless and the biggest smiles were from
Captain Monty and Diana Jolley. The mates were magnificent and all
together had never seen such a ‘tog’ catch in one day is such a short
period.  The bite was on!

As the fishers left the Morningstar, the parents picked up their
children and the fishers glowed! (Then the parents did!)

The after school program has been in effect for several years and this
isn’t the first time for Captain Monty to take students out and show
them the bounty of the ocean.  To witness this event was indeed a
tribute to the After School Academy, the staff of BIS, especially, Mrs.
Diana Jolley, and of course Captain Monty.  Mrs. Jolley and Captain
Monty are members of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association
(MSSA) which helps support Mrs. Jolley in teaching children about
fishing in and around Berlin.  Our hats are off to you Diana and Captain
Monty!

One cannot thank you enough!

Buddy Seigel"



 Joe at  Lewes Harbour
 Marina (302-645-6227) reports on May 16th: "There were some nice
 stripers taken from the Cape Henlopen surf early in the week. Guys
 fishing near the jetties at Herring Point had best success at daybreak,
 when the tide was low. Clams and bunker were the offerings of choice.
 Chris Vann and Ernie Stone kept four striped bass from 13 to 19 pounds
 they caught at first light Sunday. Bert Long brought in a 19.8 pound
 rockfish Monday. Chris Vann had his limit of bass that same morning,
 which included a 25.7 pounder. Keith Sherman landed a lunker linesider
 weighing 31.7 pounds. Surfcasters continued to pick at stripers
 throughout the week, with most catches occurring during periods of low
 light at dawn and dusk. Striped bass action in the surf was good this
 same time last year, so hopefully the catching will continue. Indian
 River inlet fishermen have also been hooking into rockfish, mostly
 after dark. Marc Uhde took a pair of stripers weighing 19 and 24.4
 pounds from the jetty while casting Storm Shads. Drum fishing has been
 decent on the Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach. Captain Chris took the
 Pirate King there Saturday night and returned with 5 boomers in the 25
 to 30 pound range. Mike Newsham fished the Beds Tuesday evening and had
 four drum from 30 to 35 pounds. He said the bite took place at the end
 of ebb tide and the beginning of flood. Captain Brian on Lil' Angler II
 got two drum Tuesday night. Traditionally drum catches are best around
 the May full moon, that this year falls on the 25th. Smaller members of
 the drum family, croakers, made an early appearance this year, and have
 been reported by surf fishermen along the Ocean beach, and by bottom
 bouncers in Delaware Bay. This could be a good sign for those targeting
 hardheads this summer. Fair numbers of weakfish have also been caught
 so far this spring, and we should see more as the season progresses.
 Glenn Parker weighed in a 4.28 pound trout he captured by tossing a
 white Gulp! from the Cape Henlopen Pier. Lewes Canal continues to
 produce flounder, but catching wasn't as good on days when the water
 was dirty...."

Anglers  need a DE Fishing License to fish, crab, and clam in DEL:
Individual Delaware Fishing Licenses are now available  online

Stop by to the Oyster Bay Tackle location and buy your 2013 Ocean City
Reef Foundation Charts. The donation fee for these charts are $50. $54
if you use a credit card. These charts pin-point all the GPS numbers for
all the Artificial Reef materials that have been scattered near offshore
wrecks, reefs, and obstructions. The charts give you hundreds of numbers
to find fish. All the money collected goes back into the Artificial Reef
Foundation. Come to Oyster Bay Tackle or buy  online. 
(They are up in price, but all the numbers have been redone and the
charts are in book-form.)

Check out the link on our web site to the local chapter of the  MSSA.   They are keeping us
abreast on all the Fishing Issues.  From our  Oyster Bay Website, go to
"More Fishing Info" on the left hand side, and click on "MSSA Atlantic
Anglers".

Check the weather before driving hours to go offshore or fish the surf.
Go to  Coastal Marine Forecast to get an idea of
the weather and height of the waves.


Capt. Rick Yakimowicz of the "Thelma Dale V" fishes out of Fisherman's
Wharf. Here's his report from May 14th:

I was a little disappointed for the last full week of the open Tautog
season only getting away from the docks a few times but the fishing
remained good right up until the end and as far as the fishing in
general goes, the decent weather brought out the best week of inshore
fishing so far this year. Flounder, Trout, Stripers and Drumfish as well
as a few Bluefish and of course the Tog were frequently hitting the fish
cleaning tables all week long!

It was a very good week for fishing in our area whether you were fishing
from a big boat, a small boat, in the surf, or just sitting on a dock
along the canal or standing on the pier.  Good weather and the warming
water temperatures seemed to turn fishing on anywhere you went. The
Lewes Rehoboth canal was alive with Flounders for those drifting around
in the small boats or even sitting on the town dock tossing a few
minnows. There has already been several Flanders in the neighborhood of
four to six pounds landed from our canal that I am personally aware of.
Many of the guys drifting in the small boats were able to bag their
limit of nice flatties and in some cases in a pretty short time. I have
also seen some of the nicest Sea Trout brought in from around the inlet
and the rocks and the state park pier that I have seen in a while
proving that the water temperature has reached that magical 60 degrees
that seems to make these Trout want to bite a jig. Along with the
Flounder and the Trout being caught there has also been several reports
of Stripers biting along the Atlantic coastline along with some Snapper
sized Bluefish mixed in with them. There has even been several Croakers
that have taken anglers hooks already this year. I don't believe I have
ever heard of Croakers being landed in any numbers so early in the
season in so many different locations, I'm going to have these take this
as a good sign for what we may expect as the season progresses.

 I will continue sailing daily at 7:00 a.m. fishing for the Bass for
 hopefully several more weeks before we switch over to primarily fishing
 for Flounder later in June. For the most part we will be anchor fishing
 over shipwrecks and artificial reefs or rocks while we target the Bass
 and we will be providing clams and squid for bait.


If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the
Wharf or you would like to book a private charter or reserve space on a
special trip please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA. 

His full report and boat info is here.

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz Thelma Dale V catchfish@verizon.net"

Old Inlet Bait and Tackle (302-227-7974)  reports on May 13th: "It
looked like the big striper run we have had in early May the last two
years was going to get going again this year. There was a pretty good
bite on Thursday night in the Inlet after dark and then it fizzled out
over the rest of the weekend. They just picked at them on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday. Kaitlyn Kesge, of Stroudsburg, PA, landed a 27
pounder on her birthday Friday."



Bill's Sport Shop (302-645-7654) in Lewes, DE reports that surf fishing
is good on blowfish, croaker, kingfish, bluefish and stripers. IN Indian
River Inlet blues, flounder, and stripers."  In Massey's Landing anglers
are catching stripers, bluefish, and blowfish, and flounder...Rehoboth
Bay is seeing lots of blowfish along with flounder and some stripers.



Capt.Dan Stauffer (866-623-4746) of the  Fin Chaser does wreck,
inlet and trolling trips. Here's two of his reports from this week:

 "05/18/13 Same crew as yesterday looking for some tog for the freezer.
 The bite was kinda weird. They’d chew good for the first 15-20 minutes
 at every piece, then turn off. Seemed every piece was good for one or
 two keepers as well, no more than that. Moved around a lot trying to
 keep these guys on the bite. With 45 minutes left in the day we hit the
 our limit. Big fish of the day was a beautiful 11 lb. white chin.

05/17/13 Out with a crew of great guys down from NY for some tog
fishing. Morning bite was very good with several legal females released
since they hadn’t spawned-out yet. The bite slacked-off for about two
hours but came back shortly after noon. This crew did manage two note
worthy tog 9 & 10 lbs."

 Larry Jock of the Coastal
 Fisherman reports from offshore on Saturday: "The charter boat,
 "Muff Diver" returned from an overnight trip where they found 62 to
 68.5-degree water in the Baltimore Canyon. They had 2 yellowfins, 1
 bluefin, 2 mako sharks and 4 blue sharks in 500 fathoms. On the way
 home they trolled from the Hot Dog to the Hambone and caught a load of
 bluefish.

Adam Sutton caught a 42-inch bluefin tuna in 200 fathoms in the
Baltimore Canyon. Adam was fishing on "Kylee's World" and caught the
fish on a Puller Lures Canyon Candy Splash Bar. in 63-degree water."


( Wilson Cropp Charters and
Guide Service. Cape Charles, VA- 1-434-531-6376)
Stripers....Flounder....Drum...  Speckled Trout....Tog...    Eco tours
as well.

Dave Beall has retired from his "real job" and has set up a little local
First Mate Service. I have a lot of anglers ask to pay someone to go out
with them on their new boat and show them the waters and how to fish. I
also have anglers that would like to pay someone to teach them how to
fish off the beach. Check out his new web site.

 (Just a note to say to my readers that many of my fishing reports are
 from other anglers and party boats that come over my e-mail. When I
 "copy/paste" their reports I try to leave them intact. It keeps the
 fishing reports lively and interesting. But any comments/politics
 within the quotes are their comments and views, and not necessarily
 mine.)

Need info on where, how, when to fish, crab, and
clam? Go to  Drifting
Easy Archives and READ UP! It's all in there and it's
FREE!!!!!!

 James A. Donofrio, executive director of the  Recreational Fishing
 Alliance has been actively working on the fisheries crisis. The RFA
 believes the future of our fisheries is dependent on fixing the
 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act which has laid
 down strict time-frames that do not take into account livelihoods and
 that a fishery is rebounding steadily.


Need to tie a knot? Click  Here. This is
really cool! You can also click  Here!

Maryland Fishing License

Anglers fishing in Ocean City will need to purchase a  saltwater
fishing license. This license will cover both the Chesapeake Bay and
the coastal waters and surf of Ocean City and Assateague Island. Yes,
this includes surf fishing. If you already have a Chesapeake Bay
Saltwater license you are good to go!  Anglers will be able to purchase
the license 
online or come to Oyster Bay Tackle to purchase one. Please bring
cash to buy your fishing license in our store.  If you go online, Logon
if you have ever had a MD fishing or hunting license in the past or
Enroll if you never had. Fill in all the information and click on
"Purchase License"  The license you want to choose is "Bay and Coastal
Sport"  You can either choose a year-round or 7-day. If you know you are
coming to Ocean City,and you want to get it done ahead of time you can
also call a toll free number (1-855-855-3906) or print and mail in an  application.
Boat Licenses: $50 and everyone on your boat can go fishing without a
license. You will get a personal license along with your boat license,
so you can go shore fishing as well. They will send you your sticker for
your boat in the mail.  If you come to Oyster Bay Tackle, we have the
2013 stickers for sale.

Mail the application to their main office:

Maryland Dept. of Natural resources Annapolis Service Center P.O. Box
1869 1804 West Street, Suite 300 Annapolis, MD 21401


If you are going to be fishing on a private boat with someone who has a
Boat License, you don't have to buy a license, but you do have to   register
online. This is free and is done on the same site that you would buy
a license. Logon if you have ever had a MD fishing or hunting license or
Enroll if you never had. Fill in all the information and click on
"Obtain Registration" to print your free registration. Print out your
number and keep an id with you when you go fishing. You can also call
1-855-855-3906 during daytime hours. Be sure to write down the number
they give you. That will be your temporary license. (You also need to
get a free registration if you fish one of the free fishing areas in
Ocean City.)


Another interesting note about the license is that if you buy a VA
license, it is good in MD, and vice versa. If you are fishing in MD with
a VA licence you do need to register with MD online. Again, this is
free. This is so each state can "try" to figure out "how many" fish are
being caught in their own individual states.  (VA Free Registry)

If you want to go fishing in Ocean City without a license, your choices
will be the "Oceanic Pier," the "Ocean Pier" or to go fishing on a party
or charter boat. You can now go fishing in one of the "free zones." 2nd
through 4th Street Bulkhead or Northside Park. (You need the free MD
registry to fish in these two areas.)  Come to Oyster Bay Tackle and we
can do that for you. You can also go crabbing and clamming in Ocean City
without a license. Or you can fish off your own private dock.

Ocean City now has two free fishing zones. The bulkhead from 2nd to 4th
Street (Chicago Ave.) and the Northside Park at 125th Street. You do not
need a license in these two places but you do need a "free registry." Go
 here to
register online. This is free and can also be done over the phone during
daytime hours of 7-7 at 1-855-855-3906. We can also do your free
registry at Oyster Bay Tackle.

Senior citizens 65 and older. Cost is $5 if you have a MD driver's
license and are a resident of MD, but if you are a non-resident there is
no break. No break for boat licenses either. $50 resident or
non-resident.

Contact Info If you have any questions regarding Maryland's sport
fishing license requirements, you may contact Fisheries Service via e
mail: customerservice@dnr.state.md.us or by calling (410-656-9526).


Following is the fee schedule for 2012 & 2013:

Senior License (year round) - $5.00 Resident License (year round) -
$15.00 Resident License (7-day) - $6.00 Non-resident (year round) -
$22.50 Non- resident (7-day) - $12.00 Pleasure Boat Decal (covers
everyone on boat - year round) - $50.00 Commercial Fishing Pier License
(year round) - $290.00

No license is required for: Boat decal passengers Those fishing in "free
fishing" areas Those fishing from their waterfront properties Anglers
under 16 years old Anglers fishing on a licensed charter, party or guide
boat Anglers fishing commercially under a valid license

For more information, log onto www.dnr.state.md.us


If you have any fish reports please  e-mail Sue Foster at:  Oyster Bay Tackle.  E-mail me your
name and where you are from so we can put you in our weekly fish
reports!  


E-mail Sue Foster at:  Oyster
Bay Tackle if you have any questions about our inventory or if you
want to place an order for an item we do not have on-line.




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Good fishing...

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