Welcome to Bayside Guide Service. We invite you to come fish with us for a 1/2- or 3/4-day trip in the waters behind Ocean City, MD. Our specialty is live bait fishing for Bluefish, Rockfish (Striped Bass) and Flounder.
We are a specialized guiding service and offer one 4 1/2 hour or 6 1/2-hour trip during the day and a 4 1/2-hour evening/night trip that is scheduled from 6:30PM to 11:00PM.
We encourage being flexible on departure time so we can schedule at a time when the conditions should be best. However, if you need specific hours we can accompany you on a more convenient departure time for you.
Insurance purposes have us limiting to no more than 4 adults, ages 18 years or older.
You will be fishing aboard a customized 22 ft C-Hawk center console with a 175 Yamaha mounted on a jack plate which puts the motor behind the boat opening up space inside. That, combined with the shallow draft, makes it perfect for these bays and creeks as it is stable and can cross over the shallowest of bars to reach deep holes and channels but it's V hull makes it capable of cutting the chop in the more open waters. It is also equipped with a bow mounted Minn Kota electric trolling motor, GPS, fishfinder, livewell and all required safety equipment.
Supplied is all of the tackle necessary for anything you may encounter. All required licenses are supplied as well as a cooler stocked with water and assorted sodas. We recommend bringing a light jacket, sunglasses, sunscreen and hat. Otherwise, all you have to do is arrive and be ready to go after a short briefing.
Alcohol is OK to bring as long as its beer and in cans. Please, no hard liquor or glass bottles.
There will be an experienced mate on board who works for tips to help with everything so the captain can concentrate on keeping the boat positioned where it needs to be.
Give us a call at 443-944-5484 or e-mail at baysideguideservice@yahoo.com if you have any questions or to set up a trip.
A 10% deposit is required and is fully refundable up to 3 days before the trip.
There have been plenty of Bluefish from 2 to 10lbs and some Rockfish as well, though most are under the 28" minimum required to keep. There are also some keeper sized flounder (17 1/2") around though most are throwbacks which is typical of the summer months.
The Spot have been plentiful so we should be able to quickly catch some for live lining to the bigger fish if we don't already have any in the live well. That is one of the reasons I have that extra 1/2 hour added to the trip.
If this is anything like the last couple of years, we should have the Bluefish around through the end of September. The Rockfishing should be good on the night trips and the slacking tides should have flounder. The Flounder fishing will typically be at its best from the end of September through about the 3rd week of October.
If interest is there, we will be offering trips to the Nanticoke in September till the end of the Rockfish season in the beginning of December. There, we go up the creeks and along the shore and cast bucktails on light tackle to Striped Bass in the 18" to 30" range.
Tog fishing would be starting up when the waters cool in October until our Ocean City season ends in mid-November.
This year, we have brought back our evening/night trips which will go through Mid October. Only a couple of us offer these trips which have the potential to be the most productive.
These trips give us the opportunity to drift for flounder while it's still daylight if the conditions allow and then switch to drifting live baits under the bridge and casting lures to Striped Bass and Bluefish.
These trips will have us on the water to take advantage of the evening bite and as it gets dark, our underwater lights should start attracting bait, which will bring the Bluefish and Rockfish.
This is your best chance at getting a keeper Striped Bass, though most will still be throwbacks.
We recommend doing these trips from Sunday through Thursday.
What to expect from your charter
Thank you for taking interest in Bayside Guide Service.
So you've decided to charter an inshore fishing trip. You may be an experienced angler or this may be your first time. It doesn't matter as we cater to both. It can be a totally "hands on" experience for those who are experienced or you will be coached through and helped with the whole process if you have never done this before.
Try to arrive about 10 minutes before departure so Capt. Wayne can go over the safety equipment and where it is. He will also go over the type of fishing he recommends for the day as tide and weather conditions, as well as availability of live bait, can determine the recommended way of fishing.
Now would be a good time as well to take care of any "business" you may need to do as there is no head (toilet) on the boat. But we are always only a few minutes from a public rest area if needed while out there and Wayne will accommodate you the best he can.
We do a lot of "live lining" under the bridge if live spot or bunker are available. One of the reasons we have that extra 1/2 hour on our trips is we may need to spend a few minutes catching some live spot or cast netting bunker. We do our best to supply live bait for our charters when available but sometimes wind and water conditions make it impossible to catch and sometimes the shops are out but artificials work just as well.
We will be rigged with plenty of quality tackle so we'll be ready for anything we may encounter, as well as having a cooler stocked with water.
Our aim is to show you a good time and do our best to give you a successful trip. As far as keeping any, there are legal size limits as well as quantities which we must abide by, so I like to let it be known that most of our fishing is catch & release, though you are perfectly welcome to keep any that are legal sized.
As of March 1st, 2024 the current legal sizes are;
Bluefish; 8" and 5/day/angler (we may suggest fewer if they are a larger class)
Flounder; 16" Jan 1st - May 31st & 17 1/2" June 1st - Dec 31st, 4/day/angler
Striped Bass; Ocean City; 28" to 31", 1/day/angler
Striped Bass; Nanticoke/Chesapeake, will update when available
Again, it is recommended to get up with Capt. Wayne as the trip nears to go over any time adjustments to make sure we will be out there during what has been the best tide.
If you have any questions at all, give Capt. Wayne a call and we hope to see you this summer.
12806 Sunset Avenue, Ocean City, Maryland 21842, United States