Article by Sue Foster
“He caught fish and I didn’t!!!!”
Well, that’s just the story of fishing. It always happens and it always will. Why does one person “catch” and the poor guy or gal standing 20 feet away cannot even get a bite! Is it luck? Is it destiny? A good hole? Or is it the bait or rig? All of the above? My Dad, Irv Mumford always used to say this to me when I couldn’t catch a fish, “Sue, you’re not holding your mouth right!” I can tell you honestly that I learned how to “pout” at a very early age when I couldn’t catch a fish and others were... and I still do!
One of my first experiences of “not catching fish” was fishing with my Dad at night on the beach, after dark, for stripers. We were casting some sort of artificial eels and the men were catching stripers and I could not. Turned out, the fish were very close in, practically in the wash, just at the crest of the falling wave before it hit the beach. Dad casted my rod for me, jigged it much slower than I was working it, and hooked me up a striper. Now, I was only about 11 years old and was happy as could be. If I were a little older, I would have known to watch the other men and see how far they were casting and how they were working their lures. I would have looked at the beach and tried to see the structure they were fishing and I might have seen that nice little rip they were working. On the beach, overcasting can often mean missing the fish and sometimes that perfect “honey hole” is only a few feet away from where you are casting.
One of my really, really bad fishing experiences was with my husband in the Outer Banks when we were first dating. The speckled trout bite was happening in close to the Kitty Hawk Pier and my husband was first throwing a MirrOlure and then a Grub lure on a lead head. He started casting and caught fish after fish. I tied up a grub, ran out there, and start casting and retrieving and couldn’t even get a bump. I was wet, frustrated and generally just pissed off! It seemed everyone was catching fish but me! “What am I doing wrong?” I asked. “Just go out there and keep casting!” he said.
Well, it didn’t work for me and the only bite I had was when the line wrapped around the spool and my lure fell in close to the shore. Later I realized I was overcasting and reeling in too fast. The fish were practically at my feet and I was throwing out as far as I could. At that time of my life, I had rarely fished with lures, always bait, and was just inexperienced. Later in my life, I learned from that lesson to be patient, watch and try to learn. My husband, since, has taken me speckled trout fishing here and in Virginia, and some days I still have the huge “pout” and wonder why I drove 2 hours this way and 2 hours that way just to be frustrated watching him and his friend out fish me 10 to 1. Of course, some days, I have the big smile when I outfish them! Thank goodness for Gulp! Swimming Mullets as they can make a lure fisherman out of anyone!
I did learn one thing about lure fishing back then. I spent a week in the Outer Banks by myself and practiced on bluefish! Bluefish are a little easier to catch than stripers and speckled trout and I walked the beach and piers casting a silver spoon until I got it right. If you want to learn casting lures, go up on the Route 50 Bridge while the blues are biting, or go down to the Oceanic Pier under the lights and practice on shad and blues. You can also go up to the Indian River Inlet on the incoming tide. I have spent several hours at the Indian River Inlet over the years and have learned that you cast up current, count to 10 as the lure sinks, then jig it up and down in the current. THEN start cranking as it passes by you. Many overeager anglers start reeling too soon. You need to let it sink first. Fish often grab the lure as they see it fluttering to the bottom!
Always watch what other people do and what they use. Some anglers think that just because it is a bluefish and they have teeth that you have to have a wire leader. Casting a lure in an inlet with a wire leader can spook a fish, even a bluefish, so I think you will be better off with a 30 to 40-pound test leader material over a pre-made wire leader. You may lose a few lures, but I think you’ll catch more fish.
There are thousands and thousands of words I could write about what you may be doing wrong when someone is catching fish right beside you. Sometimes it’s the technique.
Sometimes it’s the rig and bait. If some guy is catching tautog next to you with green crabs and sand fleas, and you are using frozen shiners, you will not catch a tautog. You have the wrong bait! But, if you are both fishing the same bait and rig, that other angler may be in the perfect hole on the bottom and you are not! I have been in that situation, and you can bet, I mark that hole and come back on another day and try that spot, and guess what... fish are there!
Watch, listen, wait and learn….
Bottom structure is very important. Water can be 5-foot here and 20-foot away may be a deeper 7-foot hole where the fish are lying. I like to fish the Route 50 Bridge occasionally and on a day when you have clear water you can actually see the little shoals, dips and channels.
I noticed some good anglers casting diagonally rather than straight out to find some of these honey holes for flounder. When anglers go up there every day, they learn the holes and which ones work on certain tidesl. You’re not going to learn it in one day.
Just try to be patient, and try not to let frustration overcome your learning curve.
Watch, listen, wait and learn…
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.
