First OC tog of 2015

Another windy day on Delmarva. Went fishing today.  It was a beautiful morning.  No wind at all. Water temperature in Bishopville was 62 degrees.  Nice. Ventured south and still saw a lot of crab pots. As I passed Ocean Pines there was a crabber working his pots. Still couldn't buy any Green Crabs so I thought, why not Blue Crabs?  They have always worked in the fall.  When I approached the fellow I asked if he would sell me a few.  He said "No, but I'll give you a couple.", What a great guy. I questioned him on how he was doing, and he stated everyone else was doing great but not so much for himself. He did say the crabs he was catching were nice and he was getting $120 a bushel.

As I left the Thoroughfare, the water temperature was a balmy 54 degrees.  Really surprised that nobody was flounder fishing, but it was Monday morning. Headed to south side of the OC inlet and set out anchor in 25 foot of water. The water was crystal clear and 46 degrees. Using cut Blue Crab for bait, I caught my first tog of the year.  A 15" male.  Yeah! It's fishing season!

Capt. Monty from the "Morning Star" headed offshore with a barge full of concrete piping. I  presume it was to dump for habitat  reconstruction. Capt. Monty and the "Morning Star" are a great asset for fishing, conserving and enhancing our ecosystem. If you would like a very enjoyable day of fishing, as I have many times, give him a call.  You won't be disappointed  He also puts out an awesome newsletter/fishing report that is very impressive. Well that was the extent of my morning as the wind started blowing hard out of the south, but it made for a nice ride back to Delaware.

Ocean City Tog 4/6/15

Well, another fishing season has finally arrived. Hopefully. I saw the dandelions coming up so I headed on out for a couple hours of togging. As I entered the Assawoman Bay, man, were the crab pots everywhere,  Don't recall there being this many last year. Hopefully the crabbers will have a good season. Despite all the wind we've had, the water was not that dirty. What's the deal with the wind? Does it ever stop blowing?

As I headed south it appears that they have used the dredged sand from somewhere to build an island just northeast of the Thoroughfare. There'll be a lot of boaters enjoying that this summer. maybe they'll film "Party Heat" there this summer, DNR will love that.

I called around to get Green Crabs but .apparently. it's still frozen up north so no luck with that. Luckily for me I had my newly modified clam rake on board so stopped north of Hoopers and in about fifteen minutes had 2 dozen clams.

As I ventured under route 50 bridge I viewed a lot of fish on the fish finder just to the south side. Probably shad. There were 2 guys fishing; 1 from 4th street and the other from route 50 bridge. The water temperature was 48 there. Not bad considering the winter we had.

Well, finally arrived at my honey hole in the inlet and fished for about an hour. Did get a couple of bites, but no fish. Why I didn't bring my favorite Food Lion shrimp I don't know. They work good this time of year.

Decided to go to my favorite minnow area, north of route 90, and did find a good amount of bait with the water temperature there around 55 degrees. The Flounder should be here. Probably fish again Saturday. I stopped down at Old Inlet Bait and Tackle.  Butch said a few Tog had been caught earlier in the week in the Indian River Inlet. He thinks he'll have Green Crabs by the weekend.