Article by Sue Foster
Fishing in September
September is the month I love to go fishing. The weather is almost like summer except the days are a little shorter and not quite so hot. The air is usually clear and the breezes are mild. Occasionally there is a hurricane scare, so you always have to keep your eye on Mr. Weather Channel just in case. But besides that, it’s a wonderful time of year to go fishing.
Since we have a flounder closure in Maryland beginning on Sept 14th, most anglers in boats will be giving their all to catch flounder until that date. Flounder tend to stack up near the Route 50 Bridge, so anglers will be drifting from 14th Street to the draw of the Bridge on the slacking tides. Anglers also drift from the draw of the Bridge to the Inlet. Live minnows and frozen shiners tipped with a strip of squid, larger live bait such as spot, finger mullet, or peanut bunker will work for catching doormat flatties. Berkley Gulp! has become a very popular bait for flounder. However, don’t just use it alone! Combine it with a live minnow, shiner, or strip of cut bait. It works great and presents a larger bait. Experiment with the different varieties.
September is a good month to purchase a cast net and aerator bucket and search for peanut bunker and live finger mullet. Lagoons, marina basins, edges of sand bars, the Commercial Harbor and the waters around Northside Park at 125th Street and Homer Gudelsky Park are all places you can give the cast net a try. Hint: Be careful in canals in North Ocean City as debris such as shopping carts may be in the water.
Live spot can be caught on hook and line with little pieces of bloodworm on tiny hooks. The shallow waters around the Route 90 Bridge are a good place to try for spot. This year hasn’t been the best for small spot, so if you get spot that are too large, fillet and cut the spot into long strips for flounder bait. From the shore, places to try to catch spot for bait are Northside Park at 125th Street on high tide, any canal or lagoon or marina basin around Ocean City, 9th Street Pier, anywhere that anglers clean fish, the Oceanic Pier, behind the Convention Center at 41st Street and the South Point Boat Ramp.
“Where’s the best place to fish for flounder from the shore?”
Fish are on their way out towards the ocean, so you want to fish the deep waters close to the Inlet. The 9th Street Pier, the bulkhead between 2nd and 4th Streets (only when the water slacks up can you cast out without snagging), the Route 50 Bridge and the Oceanic Pier. Flounder can also be caught in the Inlet on the slacking tides. It’s best to walk down the cement ledge and fish close to the Oceanic Pier for the best results.
“What do we fish for in these areas when the flounder season closes?”
Starting September 14th 2009, stripers will be the fish of the day in the deep channels. Anglers will switch to live eels, large live spot and larger sized finger mullet to catch ever increasing amounts of stripers. Usually, this is the time of year the anglers start fishing for stripers anyway. There will also be some pretty good sized bluefish in the deep channel of the bay and Inlet.
“It will just break my heart to have to release a big flounder!”
Well, unless you want to hang up your boat for the year, you’ll just have to get over it, enjoy fishing, and target other fish. It’s really a “mind set.” Anglers don’t mind releasing stripers or bluefish but get all goofy about having to release flounder. Shoot, we’ve been releasing nice 17 ¾ inch flounder all summer anyway. Fishing with larger live eels or lures, such as swimming shad lures, will cut back on your chances of hooking flounder. Use large size live spot and spend time fishing the inlet and just outside the inlet for stripers. Of course, a good amount of those stripers are going to be in your favorite flounder holes close to the draw of the Route 50 Bridge, so, fish the deepest holes, hold your breath, and think…. stripers.
If you really want to catch and keep flounder, you can take your little boat, put it on a trailer, buy a fishing license for Delaware and fish the Indian River Inlet or Bay where the flounder season is open year round. You can also get a fishing license for Virginia and take a little drive. Virginia’s flounder season is also open year round but remember, Delaware’s size limit is 18 ½-inches and Virginia’s size limit is 19-inches.
Try casting small lures such as four-inch soft bodies on lead heads or MirrOlures or Rattletraps around the sandy islands in the bay, or around the pilings of the Route 90 and Route 50 Bridge and have fun with stripers, bluefish, redfish, and trout. You’ll be surprised what fish might be lurking around that you didn’t even know existed because you’ve never tried it. Tie some lightweight Fluorocarbon leader (12-20#) to your line so the leader shy fish won’t be spooked when fishing shallower water places.
Tautog come back in September. As the days get shorter and the bay waters start to cool, tautog return from their offshore hiding places and seek refuge in rocky areas of debris.
Anglers catch them from the bulkhead from 2nd through 4th Streets, near the pilings of the Route 50 Bridge, 9th Street Pier, at the end of the Oceanic Pier and the inlet rocks. Sand fleas, green crabs, or clam all work for tautog. Flip your bait away from the rocks or bulkhead, but not so far that the tide will take it into a snag. It’s an art and it takes some practice. It is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it! Tautog really fight!
Night fishing! Night fishing in September usually turns on good with stripers and bluefish. Anglers fish the Route 50 Bridge at night with swimming shad lures, lead heads with 5 to 7-inch soft bodies such as Zoom or Fin-S Fish, and Got-cha Plugs. The last three hours of the incoming tide and the first hour or two of the outgoing tide after dark is good for the stripers. Bluefish will also bite during the day on Got-cha Plugs if they are schooling. Blues are a lot of fun and not bad if you eat the smaller (12-18-inch) ones and cut the dark meat out.
Surf Fishing!!! Ah, September through November is made for surf fishing. As soon as the lifeguards go off duty for the season, (after Labor Day except for weekends) and vacationers are out of the water, anglers can fish all day in unpopulated areas. Stay away from Condo Row between 94th and 119th Streets while the weather is still warm. This area generally stays crowded with vacationers.
Cast out finger mullet on whole finger mullet rigs for schooling snapper blues. You can also take the finger mullet and cut it into one-inch chunks and put them on basic top-and-bottom surf rigs for bluefish. Hold the rod in your hand this time of year so you can feel the bites. Set the hook, and reel the fish in! Anglers fish with bloodworm or Artificial Fish Bite Bloodworm tipped with a little triangle of squid or strip of fresh mullet or spot fillet on kingfish/whiting surf rigs with #6 hooks to catch kingfish, Norfolk spot, croaker, and small trout. Stripers also pick up in September, though catching keepers usually doesn’t happen until October.
Surprise catches of speckled trout, red drum, and pompano can happen in September. Surf fishing is lots of fun and VERY relaxing.
Party boat fishing! September usually sees an upswing in sea bass catches. Croaker are still around and until the 14th of September, some nice flounder should still be around! Delaware party boats will continue to catch flounder through September and into October.
Fishing in September is sweet!
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.
