Article by Capt. Lance Smith
Well folks, I'm beat! Another White Marlin Open in the books. We caught some fish, shared some laughs and burnt some fuel. All in all, it was a pretty good week except for my father passing out at the Open registration, the ambulance and the 3 hours at Atlantic General Hospital. Stay hydrated folks!
Fishing was slow for us but we did manage a few whites and our first sailfish in 20 some years. For me, one of the most interesting things that happened last week actually occurred after we pulled into our slip one day. My best friend's son, Ben, managed to catch a grouper in the boat slip. I saw the picture and the fish was about 7-inches long. Which brings me to my point, it's that time of year when you can catch just about anything in the Ocean City canals and almost all of it makes excellent bait, inshore and off.
All spring and through most of this summer, flounder fisherman have been using smaller baits such as bull minnows, shiners and GULP! artificials, and those fishing for rockfish have been purchasing high dollar spot that are too big for most local stripers. I am a believer that the bigger the bait you use in our coastal bays, the bigger your catch will be. Well, that bait has finally arrived. You can catch it yourself, you can store it yourself and you can catch the fish of a lifetime with it. I have seriously been waiting all summer to write this specific column but please, bare with me, it's been a long week!
The most common large-sized, live bait used in this area is the Norfolk spot. Spot are actually a member of the drum family and look similar to croakers in color, but aren't nearly as elongate. You can certainly go to most of the local tackle shops and buy your own spot, which I believe are running about $2.00 a piece this year. Considering that I like to put on a fresh spot when my hook bait gets tired, and that a school of snapper bluefish can leave you baitless in half an hour, I like to catch my own and save some money. Another benefit of catching your own spot is that you can sort through them and keep only the ones that you want based on their size.
Every canal in Ocean City has some spot in it at one time or another. Some have more than others, but you should be able to put together a day's worth of bait in short order if you fish for them correctly. The spot you are trying to catch are the ones in the three to five-inch range, so small hooks are a must. Tackle stores carry what are called "Sabiki rigs" that consist of about 6 small hooks with plastic dressing on a leader. You can also make your own simple spot rig with a very small weight or some split shot and a small hook.
Spot are bottom feeders so it is extremely important that your bait is on or near the bottom at all times. As for bait, bloodworms are by far the best choice with fresh clam coming in a close second. Don't bother with squid, you will only catch crabs. Bloodworms can be bought at any tackle store (but can get a bit pricey) and clams can be dug up at any of the sandbars in the bay or even in canals. I like to gather a bunch of large clams from the bay when the fishing is slow and bring them home to make my own "clam bed." I basically scatter them up against the bulkhead in a shallow boat slip and every time I need one for bait I just hop in and dig one up. They will stay where you put them all summer and will even be there the following year if you don't use them all. Use just enough bait to cover your hook and fish in 3 to 5-feet of water. I like to let my nieces, nephews and the neighbors children do my bait catching for me, so a bobber 4-feet up from the hook can come in handy.
Mullet are also an excellent bait for just about anything that swims in the bay, but can be more difficult to acquire than Norfolk spot. Mullet will not bite a baited hook and must be caught with a cast net. Cast nets can be a bit intimidating and I know more than few people who have bought them, struggled to throw them and given up. Find someone that knows how to throw one and let them teach you. You can even practice in the grass or a parking lot.
Another key necessity for catching mullet is a quality pair of polarized sunglasses. Mullet swim in schools of up to 20 or more fish and can be found around just about any marina, beach, marsh and in canals. Snapper bluefish patrol the waters of our bay so mullet like to hang out in shallower water where they feel safer. You do not need to launch your castnet out into the middle of a canal. Simply be patient and watch boat slips or the current along a beach/marsh and wait for the fish to swim by. Be careful not to confuse them with the huge schools of flashing and splashing peanut bunker swarming the bay. Bunker swim in tight circular formations and can easily be distinguished from mullet after a little practice.
If you own or are renting a home on one of the many canals in Ocean City, the dark can be your best friend for loading up on live mullet. During the day, mullet will scatter at the slightest sound, shadow or quick movement above them, and they are fast! A trick I found many years ago is to walk the canals and stomp my feet at each boat slip at night. If there are any mullet present they will jump out of the water and scatter. Don't throw your net just yet. Instead, wait about 30 seconds for the school to regroup and settle down. They will be right where you saw them splashing and they won't see the silhouette of the cast net dropping on them like they can during the day. You can really load up on mullet at night if you have some patience. One last tip on mullet, when you put them in the bucket of water you are carrying, make sure you put some sort of lid on it! I like to use a wet towel but anything that will cover the top will do. Mullet are incredible jumpers and will launch themselves right out of a five gallon bucket and back into the water.
So, now you have a load of mullet and spot and you are ready to fish, or so you think. You will need something to store them in and a minnow bucket simply will not do. Many of our local tackle shops sell fine, mesh bait pens that are ready to go straight into the water. With a bunch of wire ties, a roll of plastic mesh from Home Depot and a pool noodle you can build your own bait pen in about half an hour. A quick search on the internet will reveal dozens of instructions on how to accomplish this and I have one that has lasted me over 10 years.
Whether you choose to buy one or build your own, make sure the lid can be tightly secured. Mullet will swim right out of any opening in the top and many a pen full of bait has been raided by midnight otters. Spot and mullet will stay alive in these pens for well over a month. Just remember to drop some fish scraps in every once in a while for the spot to feed on. Mullet will eat the algae growing on the mesh.
Now that your bait pen is full of frisky live bait, you will still need a way of keeping them alive while you are fishing. There is no substitute for a big livewell with a strong pump that constantly provides fresh water from the bay. I believe that every serious inshore fisherman in Ocean City needs one of these on their boat. My pontoon boat didn't come with one, so I improvised by using a large 55-gallon plastic drum. You can usually find these large blue commercial drums for sale on craigslist for about ten or twenty dollars a piece. Simply cut the top off with a sawzall or circular saw so that it is to your desired height. I left mine on the large side and removed the toilet from the little lift-up covered area that is on most pontoon boats. As with the bucket you use while catching bait, make sure you have a lid of some sort for your livewell. If you choose to build one of these you will need to drill two holes, one for a bilge pump about a foot up from the bottom, and another towards the top for water to flow out of. I put my bilge pump in the motor well of the boat and used a section of appropriately sized plastic hose to attach it to the drum. With a setup like this you can even keep the ever frail peanut bunker alive all day.
If you are fishing from shore you can still catch and use large live baits. Bring along a cast net and a small rod rigged for catching spot. Spot can be caught from the Oceanic Pier, the bulkhead between 2nd and 4th street, Northside Park, the pier on 9th street, and just about anywhere else you can cast a line from. You still need to keep them alive though. A five gallon bucket with 1/4 to 1/2 inch holes drilled around the sides is perfect. Just make sure that the rope you use to attach it isn't tied to the bucket handle. Instead, drill a hole in the lid near the edge and another about two inches down from the top on the side. Run your rope through these two holes and tie a few overhand knots. If you tie your bucket off to the handle, the current will easily rip the wire handle off and you will be forced to watch your hard earned bait float off into the bay.
Regardless of whether you build your own livewell, your boat is already equipped with one or you use a drilled bucket from shore, make sure that it gets constant clean water and don't overcrowd it with bait. For example, I can keep 50 peanut bunker alive in my giant livewell all day, but if you try to do this in something small they will all certainly perish. Speaking of peanut bunker, as the summer progresses they grow larger and do make excellent baits. They can be caught in huge numbers with a cast net but are very fragile and must be handled with care. They also only live for a maximum of two drifts so make sure to replace them often. The trophies you are targeting want a frisky bait in front of them, not a spinning dead one.
Flounder, rockfish, seatrout, bluefish, tuna, marlin and mahi love these baits. This all may sound like a terrible amount of trouble to go through to catch a few fish, but trust me, it is absolutely worth it. The 29.5-inch flounder I am looking at on the wall in front of me fell for an 8-inch live mullet, so I encourage you to spend some time procuring and storing these baits.
Next week, I will tell you how to fish them for that trophy you've been after.
Lance Smith is an outdoor writer and Captain of his family’s boat, the “Longfin”.
