Ocean City Inlet and Route 50 Bridge

The Ocean City Inlet, between the south end of the boardwalk and Assateague Island, and the Route 50 Bridge just inside it, are the heart of Ocean City's shore fishing. The jetty rocks, bulkheads and bridge and dock pilings hold tautog and sheepshead, stripers and bluefish hunt the current, and flounder moving between the ocean and the back bays funnel through it. It's fishable all year, from shore or by boat.

When to fish

• Late March to May: tautog move into the inlet as the water warms; flounder start moving through toward the back bays; big stripers come on drifted cut bait at night, with smaller ones on jigs early and late. Tautog are catch and release only from mid-May through June.
• Summer: sheepshead and tautog on the rocks and pilings, stripers and bluefish at dawn and dusk, flounder and croaker in the inlet and nearby channels. Expect heavy boat traffic.
• September and October: big sheepshead on the jetty rocks; flounder, croaker and speckled trout; flounder funnel back out through the inlet toward the ocean.
• November to March: tautog along the jetties, bulkheads and bridge piers, and catch-and-release stripers on jigs worked deep.

Where to fish

• The inlet jetty rocks, bulkheads and dock pilings, from shore at Inlet Park by the boardwalk.
• The Route 50 Bridge piers and nearby bulkheads.
• The channels leading from the inlet, including the East Channel, for drifting flounder and croaker.
• The license-free Chicago Avenue bulkhead between 2nd and 4th streets (register first).

How to fish it

• Tautog and sheepshead: sand fleas (live for sheepshead), pieces of crab or peeler crab fished tight to the rocks, bulkheads and pilings.
• Stripers and bluefish: cast bucktails, soft plastic jigs and paddletails early and late, live-line spot, or drift cut bait at night. Stripers here have a slot limit, and bait fishing for them requires non-offset circle hooks.
• Flounder: drift the inlet and channels with scented soft plastics or squid strips. A flood tide usually brings the clearest water.
• Croaker: squid on a bottom rig in the channels.

Getting there

Inlet Park is at the south end of the Ocean City boardwalk, with parking across the street. The license-free Chicago Avenue bulkhead is a few blocks north on the bay side. You need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License outside license-free areas.