Article by Sue Foster
Another year is upon us and anglers are asking, "When will it start?"
It's been a cold winter, and water temperatures, unlike last year, crept below 40 degrees. We had a great run of stripers just offshore for the "hearty" anglers who fished into the first weeks of January. Then, poof, the water got too cold and the fish disappeared.
In March, there were a few "teases" of fish and anglers picked at "short" stripers at the Indian River Inlet with saltwater flies and other lures. Other than that, anglers had to venture offshore on party boats to catch tautog or travel inland to fish fresh and brackish water ponds and creeks for fish such as perch, crappie, and bass.
In early April, anglers looking for striper action ventured inland to the "rivers" such as the Nanacoke and Delaware Rivers where stripers go to spawn and had some "hit and release" action while fishing for species such as catfish. (Anglers aren't supposed to target or keep stripers in many of these places at certain times of year when the fish are spawning.) Once the fish finish spawning (a couple/three weeks) the stripers come to our "neck of the woods." They start biting in the Delaware Bay, Indian River Inlet, Ocean City Inlet, Ocean City bays, and the Atlantic Coast surf. That's what we wait for in the spring!!!!
Around this time in May, striper fishing should be in full swing. Fishing has a lot to do with water temperatures. In the winter the water temperatures can go down below 40 degrees. When that happens, fish rarely bite. The reason anglers can go way, way offshore and catch things like sea bass in 300 feet of water, is because the water temperature way out in the ocean is warmer. It is affected by the Gulf Stream.
The Gulf Stream runs miles offshore. When the wind blows from the east, several days in a row, the warmer water comes closer to us. When it blows from the west, it keeps the warmer water temperatures offshore. That's why, even in the summer, if it blows Westerly for days at a time, the surf water can be downright chilly! That can be good in the heat of August, but not in the early spring!
The sun is so important in the spring. As soon as the days start to get longer, we have more hours of daylight, and more likelihood of the sun being out to warm up the waters. When we have a spring (like we had this year) with of lots of clouds and rain, it takes longer to warm up the bay waters. But it slowly happens!
In Ocean City, some of our best early season fishing (for anglers in boats) are around the Rt. 90 Bridge and the Verrazano Bridge that heads onto Assateague Island. Anglers catch stripers and flounder in these two places weeks before they catch them closer to the Inlet. The reason is that when the incoming water fills the back bays, the sun beats down on the water. Then, when the tide goes out, that water can be 10-15 degrees warmer than when it came in! That's why in the early spring, an outgoing tide will produce more fish than an incoming. That doesn't mean they bite through the entire outgoing tide. The best part of an outgoing tide is at the peak high tide, just as it starts to go out. It lasts a couple hours. The other part of the outgoing tide that is usually good is the "last of the outgoing." That would be the part of the outgoing that is close to low tide, but still moving slowly out. (Fish about an hour or two before dead low tide.) Some people don't like this tide because of navigation problems. Boating in the Coastal Bays on a low, low tide can be dicey!
When you are waiting for the water to warm up enough for the fish to bite in the early spring when the water temps are on the "edge" you will find that the fishing is best when a good tide is towards the middle afternoon to later part of the day. A late afternoon, high, outgoing tide after a sunny day, warms the water up considerably. The waters that crept in from the ocean on the incoming tide goes up into the shallow creeks, gets warmed by the sun and comes back through the relatively shallow waters around these two bridges during the outgoing tide. Because the water depth around the Rt. 90 and Verrazano bridges is not extremely deep, it stays fairly warm, and the fish "turn on."
Flounder fishing is especially good during the day. Anglers use live minnows, frozen shiners, with or without squid strips for flounder. Some anglers are using lead heads and the 3 or 4-inch Berkley Gulp swimming minnow or mullet grubs (basically same thing), by themselves or with a minnow attached for good results in waters 4 to 8-feet deep.
Something fairly new over the last few years is decent striper fishing around these bridges. Most of the "keepers" are caught at night, after the water has been warmed up during the day, but some are caught during the day as well. Lures work best. Rattletraps, soft bodies on lead heads cast towards the pilings, or bucktails with plastic trailer worms, grubs or Berkley Gulp baits can be deadly. Some anglers even slow-troll. If you want to bottom fish, good old fashion bloodworm, peeler crab, Black salties, large live minnows, alewives, herring or anything live you can get your hands on will work. Alewives and herring are two things you rarely can buy.
Tautog is another species of early season fish that anglers like to catch because they bite in relatively cool water. Tautog and stripers tend to bite at 48-degree water temperature. Anglers can use any kind of crab, clam or crustation to catch these bucktooth fish. Green crabs, sand crabs, marsh crabs, clam, and shrimp all will work. Tautog don't bite just anywhere. You have to fish in deep, running water that has some kind of structure, which means a lot of snags. Some good tog fishing spots are the Inlets, the bulkhead along 2nd thru 4th streets, the end of 6th Street, the pilings near the 9th Street Pier, the hole at the very end and to the left of the Oceanic Pier casting towards the Inlet rocks, and around the pilings and draw of the Route 50 Bridge.
Again, early in season, the outgoing tide supplies warmer water. You can try fishing the incoming tide, but if it gives up no fish, wait out the tide and fish the outgoing. Tautog tend to feed best towards the end of the day anyway. So if you get a warm day with the sun beating down on the water, then fish the high outgoing tide, OR, fish the low outgoing tide and you should have a pretty decent catch. That is, if you're good at tautog fishing. It takes a lot of patience and practice to become a good "togger!"
"What's biting in the surf early in the season?"
It starts with skates, and then we catch spiny dogfish sharks. This is how it all begins in early/mid April. Then we get stripers! This should be happening now. Early season stripers like chunks of bunker, bloodworms, or any kind of cut bait in the surf. Anglers will also catch blowfish and red hake on smaller hooks baited with pieces of squid, cut bait or worms. THEN, when the water temperatures reach 50 degrees we will see bluefish. Usually blues start biting well around the first week in May in the inlets. Blues like finger mullet! Then, a few weeks later, we'll hear of kingfish (sea mullet/whiting). These tasty panfish like to eat pieces of bloodworm or Fishbite bloodworm on small #6 or #8 hooks. Later in the season, we'll get spot and croaker, but don't expect them too early.
Light east winds. Warmer water in the surf.. Lots of west winds, and the water temps drop. When water temperatures are on the "edge" this is a factor to consider. Besides all that, if it's a nice day, and you want to go fishing, GO FISHING! If you catch, you catch.. If not, tomorrow's another day..
Good fishing...
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and co-owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE.
