Article by Sue Foster
“Talk to the fish…”
Some anglers are always talking to the fish. “Here fishy… fishy… fishy….” is a common chant. Others simply mumble short prayers while rubbing a favorite shiny stone or rabbit’s foot that is in the pocket of the angler’s favorite fishing shorts. Some really serious anglers tap on the bottom of the boat while calling the fish. Are fishermen crazy?
No. But some anglers are superstitious and do certain rituals and wear certain pieces of clothing and have to have a certain rod and reel when they go fishing to give them luck. Whatever they do is just a different way of concentrating on the sport. Paying attention to your rod, the fish bites, and the way your bait looks on the hook is all very important when trying to catch some fish.
Some people just want to go fishing and really don’t care if they catch anything or not. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t. When they do catch a fish, really serious anglers call it “dumb luck!” “Luck of the draw” is part of fishing, especially on a party boat. If there are a hundred sea bass on the bottom and twenty of them are really hungry and only three of them are big enough to keep, whichever baited hook those three keeper sea bass see first will probably be the hook they will bite. So it would be very important to get your rig on the bottom when the party boat stops.
Keep this in mind whether on a party boat, your little boat in the bay, or on a pier. There are windows of opportunity when the fish are biting really well. If your line is not in the water with some bait on the hook, you won’t catch fish! Whether you talk to the fish or not is up to you, but concentrate on the fish when they are biting. You can take a break, talk on the cell phone, eat a sandwich, look at the clouds, and kick your feet up and work on the perfect tan later, when the fish quit biting!
Flounder…
Flounder can “turn on” and “turn off” with the tide. Most anglers like to fish the two hours before high tide and two hours after high tide. Flounder can also bite one or two hours on either side of low tide. Sometimes they will fool you and bite in the middle of an outgoing or an incoming tide. Some boaters “follow the tide.” The tide in the bay behind Assateague happens about an hour earlier than the tide in the Thorofare. Boats will zoom down by the Airport or Frontier Town and check that out first. If the water is dirty and/or the fish aren’t biting the anglers will zip back to the Thorofare and work those waters until the tide starts slowing down.
When the tide slows down, many good anglers will push the “pedal to the metal” and fish close to the Rt. 50 Bridge and catch the tide just as it starts to slow down and fish it into the change of tide. The current in the main East Channel near the draw of the Bridge is so swift that it can only be fished when the tide slows down, close to a change of tide.) Then, when the tide starts going out too fast, a couple drifts by the Inlet Wall may work. Then… when the tide is half way out, and the water gets dirty, a drift along the south side of the South Jetty may get you some flounder if it is a nice day and your boat is big enough to go outside the Inlet. The last of the ebb and beginning of the incoming will happen here two/three hours before that tide happens in the Thorofare.
Never leave fish….
If you are fishing a place, say, the Thorofare or the bay behind Assateague and you are catching some good fish, stay there until they quit biting. Moving to a place that you think “may be better” could be a mistake. The grass is not always greener. On the other hand, if you are only catching 12 to 14-inch fish, make the change. Small fish tend to run in schools.
Offshore flounder…
It’s hard to figure the tides in the ocean. It’s more like current. And when the current stops the fish can stop biting. And when it starts up, the fish start up with it. In the bay, when it runs too hard, the fish are harder to catch! Flounder can be very fickle in the ocean, but when they bite, they really can bite good and the chances to get keepers is greater in the ocean than in the bay.
Flounder like a moving bait, so if you are anchored in your own boat or a party boat you got to keep your bait moving. I was watching Capt Monty on the “Morning Star” last week, and he casts out, jigs and twitches his rod tip, and brings the bait back towards him and the boat. If you just let your bait sit on the bottom when anchored, you can catch sea bass and skates, but not many flounder. You don’t have to move it constantly, but more like, twitch… twitch… twitch…. stop. Twitch… twitch… twitch… stop. When you feel a bite, stop, let the flounder take it for several seconds, then lift the rod tip. If you feel the weight of a flounder, set the hook. If it lets go, put your rod tip back down.
If you are fishing offshore, sea bass hop right on the hooks, so set the hook and they are in the boat. Flounder take a lot more finesse. It’s a lot of fun, but you have to concentrate and pay attention. Try talking to the fish… “Here fishy, fishy…” It works!
“Stripers….”
Concentration is a very big part of striper fishing. If you are a boater in Ocean City and Indian River you need to concentrate on getting up early! The best striped bass bites are at daybreak before the boat traffic comes alive and scares off the schools of stripers. Anglers in Ocean City work the tip of the South Jetty with live eels, live spot, and lures. Anglers in Indian River Inlet drift by the Coast Guard Station on the incoming tide, and sometimes the mouth of the Inlet on the outgoing tide.
Anglers also fish for stripers at dusk and after dark. Catching the incoming tide and the “time of day” at the same time, and having clean water can give you luck on stripers, even in the middle of summer.
“Surf fishing....”
Well, you can’t beat on the bottom of your boat, but you can “tap” the butt of your surf rod while it’s in the sand spike. That can send a vibration through the base of the graphite rod and it vibrates through the blank to the tip and sends a signal to the fish through your braided line…. Do you believe this stuff?
If you believe, and you concentrate on the tip of your rod, it will work. Why? Because you are watching the tip of your rod and waiting for bites. You are paying attention to the fish bites! Check your bait often when surf fishing, because the little spotted crabs can work off your bait without your even noticing it.
I like to hold my rod in the summer. Cast out, let it sit for a moment, then bump it in very slowly along the bottom of the ocean. This lets you cover more territory, keeps it moving just enough so the crabs leave you alone, and the bait stays on your hook.
“The sun hurts their eyes!”
It’s a local saying that rings true with many fish in the heat of the summer. Like striper fishing in the boat, GET UP EARLY! Watching the sun rise on the beach is a beautiful experience, and you’ll be there to catch some fish if the fish are biting. Whiting (aka: kingfish, sea mullet, round heads) especially bite well in the morning and will quit suddenly when the sun beats down between 10 and 11 o’clock. Fish bite again, around 4 or 5 o’clock until dusk.
After dark? Sharks and croakers!
Still talking to the fish? Or talking to yourself while fishing? That means you are concentrating on the sport!
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.
