Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
As we draw closer to the end of August, Labor Day, and the beginning of Delmarva's "Second Season," I expect that some bluewater anglers are by now beginning to get a bit weary of making the long run many miles offshore to pursue billfish, dolphin and the all too elusive tuna. At the same time I know that there's a number of back-bay anglers who would appreciate the opportunity to do something besides bottom bouncing the channels and weeding through flounder after flounder that just seem to know when they need to stop growing to avoid ending up on someone's dinner plate. I'm not suggesting that anyone is ready to call it "quits" on those fishing options, it's just that after a long summer of doing the same thing trip after trip, I figure by now some folks are ready for a little "change."
For the offshore guys a welcome change might be in the form of a simple fishing trip that isn't as intense as running 60-miles offshore to do battle with giant fish on heavy tackle, while inshore anglers might appreciate the prospect getting their small boats a little ways out in the ocean and have a shot at occasionally hooking up to something that might actually pull a little drag off a reel. The good news is that opportunities are available right now where anglers aboard an 18-foot center console can fish the same waters as those on a 60-foot sportfisherman, and both crews can enjoy the kind of fishing fun they crave.
Since July, those traveling offshore have probably noticed that their fish finders have been lighting-up with a lot of baitfish in the zone from the beach out to about five miles. At the same time, a lot of folks standing on the beach have likely seen school after school of bait working up and down the shoreline. For weeks these waters have been filling up with menhaden, herring, rays, and scads of other species of big and little baitfish. Most recently, game fish such as snapper bluefish, croaker, kingfish, and seatrout have also joined the party. And of course, no such gathering is going to occur without the presence of larger predators such as sharks.
With all of this "life" presently residing just off the beach (and more moving in all the time) anglers now have a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some late season fun without burning 200-gallons of fuel to run a million miles offshore, or having a pleasant day of fishing periodically interrupted by passing wagon-trains of back-bay jet ski renters.
How exciting or how relaxing a trip can be depends upon how little or how much effort anglers wish to put into their adventure. Those who have spent the summer studying water temperature charts, meticulously rigging baits, setting drags, and perfecting trolling “spreads” might choose to keep things simple – maybe just a notch or two above a cane pole, a can of night crawlers and a farm pond, just as those who have spent the past few months poking hooks through the eyes of shiners and measuring 17 ½ inch flounder would like to have a shot of rumbling with a fish that leaves them late for dinner and wondering if maybe they should consider a “bigger boat.”
The simple fishing is just that – “simple” and requires that anglers do nothing more than head out to the waters around Little Gull or Great Gull Shoal or almost anywhere a mile or two off Assateague or Ocean City and drop two-hook rigs to the bottom tipped with strips of squid or just about any cut bait that’s available. For their effort they’ll likely hook into a menagerie of croaker, snapper bluefish, and small seatrout, as well as the occasional kingfish, flounder, spot, skate and sand shark. In August, most (but not all) of these fish will likely be too small to keep, or at least smaller than a lot of anglers will want to keep, but worrying about cleaning fish at the end of the day just tends to complicate things anyway, so not bringing home a cooler of fish might not be a bad thing - the idea is to have FUN right?
To change "simple" to "exciting", anglers need only to ramp things up a bit by recognizing that they are not the only ones privy to the fact that there's so much bait and other small-to-medium size fish cruising about the nearshore waters. Sharks (yes I said "SHARKS!") swarm these same waters to take advantage of the abundant buffet of fish, and while most of the sharks are juveniles in the 3-5 foot range there are certainly enough whoppers out there to occasionally have anglers wondering if it was really a good idea to put a chum bucket over that morning!
Live bluefish, croakers, spot, or just cut baits sent out from the boat beneath floats, under kites, or sent down to the bottom will tempt duskies, sandbars, spinners, Atlantic sharpnose, and the occasional sand tiger, blacktip or thresher shark. By regulation this nearshore shark fishery is primarily catch-and-release so anglers who choose to target sharks had better have a very good understanding of what's legal and be well versed in shark identification before they consider bringing any of these animals home for dinner. Then again, if anglers are willing to keep their focus on having "fun" and not worry about feeding the cooler, they can have an absolutely wonderful time tangling with some hefty critters that will have their back muscles begging for a return to the Thorofare and some friendlier adversaries!
Last year when President Obama was running for office he spoke a lot about "change" and "finding common ground." I don't know if he's found any of that yet, but maybe he needs to look a little closer at the Eastern Shore, because from now until well into the fall local offshore and inshore fishermen will certainly be enjoying a lot of change from their normal routines when they muster together and fish the common nearshore waters off Delmarva's coastline.
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.