Long Range Sea Bass Trip

Type: Coast
Region: Eastern
Location: Offshore Ocean City Maryland

I just returned from a long range Sea Bass trip on the Morning Star headboat out of Ocean City Maryland. We left the dock at about 5:15 AM with good expectations of Sea Bass limits. A 3.5 hour ride took us to a distant reef or wreck. After anchoring, the fishing was slow for me with just one keeper. People on the stern where doing better with a couple of 4 lb plus bass. We picked up anchor and tried another place and this time I caught a couple of keepers. Still the action died off quickly after about 10 minutes. The slow fishing was like this the entire day with a lot of anchoring and re-anchoring to get over different parts of the wreck. Some people did well getting their limit or close to it. Others only got 6-8 fish-just enough for 1 and 1/2 meals. I noticed the guys on the stern where using orange or yellow gulp minnows with a strip of clam. Not sure if this made the difference. Advantage is that if the Sea Bass steal your clam bait the gulp minnows might still get them to bite a second time. I did catch a lot of Sea Bass later in the day, though most where below the 12.5" minimum. Often times I would get double headers of 12.25 inch Sea Bass which had to go back. I even caught fish on a diamond jig but still too small. Many people say this year has not been good for Sea Bass. The captain of the boat talked about his time on the OC Princess and much better fishing many many years ago. Water temperatures at the bottom are very cold. Maybe mid June will be better. I returned to the dock at 5:00 PM after a long slow day with just 6 Sea Bass. I might go another time if the fishing improves in the coming weeks. Tight lines all-keep checking the catch reports to see if the fishing improves.