Article by Sue Foster
I get a lot of e-mail and most of my e-mails are about where to go fishing and what to use. Some questions are simple, straight forward ones, while others are more complex needing a paragraph or two to answer. I received this e-mail last week from Jerry.
“We are visiting this week and would like to fish either the bridge or a pier. I ask your input into where to go, what type rod and reel and line strength to use. Also we would like to fish a pole or two for fluke and a pole or two for blues. What should we use? I plan on taking the family on the incoming tide. Is that a good idea? I'd really like to target blues. Is casting Got-cha lures feasible from the bridge?”
I get the general drift that the family is going to do some daytime flounder fishing, and some nighttime blue fishing. That would be the best plan. You can always pick up a bluefish during the day while fishing for flounder, especially during the early morning hours and late afternoon or dusk. (Just keep watching for birds and breaking fish.) For daytime flounder fishing I would suggest the Oceanic Pier at the southernmost end of Philadelphia Avenue, the Route 50 Bridge, or the 9th Street Pier. The bulkhead between 2nd and 4th Street is also good but tricky to fish. You need to fish the slacking tides to do well there without snagging up.
Jerry tells me in his e-mail that the family has experience in fishing and that they have several rod and reel set-ups to choose from. For flounder fishing, a 6 ½ to 7 foot combo- no longer than 8 foot, medium to medium-heavy action would be fine. Rods that have ratings for 8-17 pound test is best. A little lighter (8-14 lb.) or a little heavier (10-20 lb.) would be fine. The line should be 14 to 20 pound test to fish from the shore. In a boat, you can get away with less (12 to 14 lb. test) but when you are fishing from the shore there is more danger of line abrasion plus sometimes you need to hoist your fish up on the structure. Therefore, your reel needs to be bigger than a freshwater variety with some beef to its gears! A medium-sized reel that holds approximately 200 yards of 15-lb. test is good. A little smaller or larger is fine. It’s just that the trout reel filled with 8 lb. test isn’t going to cut it. You can also use a Spectra braid type line like Power Pro. Thirty pound test is the most popular in our area for flounder. Thirty pound test has the diameter of 8 lb. test in Power Pro, so it is very thin, but very strong! (Note: take gloves if you plan to hand line your fish up when using Power Pro!)
For daytime flounder fishing you want to be bottom fishing. Buy some top and bottom rigs OR one-hook, long leadered (30-inch) flounder rigs with an array of bank or bell type sinkers in the 1 ½ to 3 oz. range. Hook size? Use 1/0 to 3/0 Kahle style on the Bridge or Pier. For bait, take either frozen shiners or live minnows and a cup of the cleaned and cut squid strips. Put the minnow or shiner on first, and then put the squid on the same hook beside the shiner or minnow bait. Some people use Gulp! Swimming Mullet in place of the squid strip with the shiner or minnow. If you use Gulp!, put it on the hook first, followed by the shiner or minnow bait.
Some people on the Bridge get a big bobber and a spreader rig, and drift out their baits across the bottom. This works really well also. If blues start biting your flounder baits, move them faster and start catching them.
At night, the fish can be bigger and the tackle needs to be beefed up a little, especially if you are fishing on the bridge. If you are fishing from the Oceanic Pier where anglers jig Gotcha Plugs and Spec Rigs, the “normal” flounder equipment is fine. So is the line. If you go up on the Rt. 50 Bridge, you can go heavier. The rod can be anywhere from 7 to 9 feet long (Ugly Sticks are good). Some anglers even prefer a 10-foot rod when casting for stripers. Ten to twenty pound test up to even 30 pound rating on the rod will be fine. If the rod is not rated, look for medium-heavy action. All rods are rated differently. Sometimes you just have to pick the rod up and shake it! It may say “medium”, but it feels “medium-heavy”. That’s just the way it is. It’s not always fishermen that slap the ratings on these rods!
The line for night fishing can go anywhere from 15 lb. test to 30 and even 40 lbs. if the angler is targeting stripers. The heavier the line, the harder it is to work the lures. It’s a give or take decision. Twenty pound test is a good “middle of the road.” If you use Power Pro, (30-50 lb. test) tie a mono or fluorocarbon leader in the 30 to 40 lb. test range.
Yes, Jerry, Got-cha Plugs work great from the Route 50 Bridge at night. So do Swimming Shad Lures and lead heads tied in tandem with any kind of soft baits in the 5-inch range. If the blues are biting, stick to the Gotcha Plugs and also the good old fashioned bucktail with a 4-inch curltail grub works great. Cast against the current and let the lure drift back towards the lights. Jig.
Don’t bother with the 9th Street Pier or the Bulkhead at night. Most of the time, you need those bright lights to attract the fish.
Tides? Yes, they are important. Three hours before high tide, one or two hours after high tide, and one or two hours either side of low tide. Blues aren’t so picky, but stripers like the tide change right around the high tide.
Ready to go fishing now? Let’s go! Don’t over-analyze, take the best of what you got, and the next night, you’ll REALLY know what you need! There’s no better teacher than experience.
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.
