Northside Park [Ocean City, MD]

7.5 inch Sook! Had to set it free though.

From the main drag, Ocean City, MD looks a bit over run with mid-rise condo/apartments, crab shack restaurants, and beach town retail. That said, there's a pier crabbers paradise hidden away in the city recreation center and it's great if you have a family. After spending most of the day in Assateague, we drove about 45 minutes north to Northside Park. It's the location of the town hall and a well-manicured park area. Let your kids go play in the playground and walk down the quarter mile pier (at least it feels that long). The sunset is amazing and I believe they do fireworks every sunday night off the pier. I couldn't recommend this play more!


Ratings: (1-5 High)

• Opportunity: 3 - Lots of sooks and small crabs! Too bad you can't take home sooks.
• Location: 5 - Free easy parking, great area if you are bringing kids (playgrounds), and stunning pier. 
• Value: 5 - It's all free!

Gear Used:

• 6 x Two-Ring Wire Crab Net (18-Inch) 
• 6 x 50 feet lengths of braided nylon 1/4 inch rope
• Lots of raw chicken legs

Time/Tide:

• We crabbed for about 2 hours into the early evening. 
• Low Tide 1:49pm, High Tide 8:20am

Where to Go:

We arrive from Ocean City Expressway, and drove north to the park. It doesn't take too long to make it up there and traffic wasn't bad.

1 - Gorgeous Pier! Excellent sunsets!

2 - Closest parking to the pier. All free!

3 - Town Center (Bathrooms within!)

4 - Playgound for the kids

Crabs Caught:

We caught about 4 baby crabs and a 7.5 inch sook! We were crabbing at low tide so the deepest it got was about 3 feet. People were actually wading in the water. Pretty interesting to watch. 

Other Photos: