Article by Sue Foster
“What’s biting at night?”
Night fishing can be totally different than fishing during the day. Anglers fishing by day usually use bait and fish on the bottom. At night, anglers can still fish on the bottom, but many anglers like to use lures and jig for shad, trout, blues and stripers.
“What’s biting at the Oceanic Pier at night?”
When bright lights are turned on and shine on the water, fish come up to eat little baitfish that are attracted to the lights. That’s what happens at the Pier! Shiners, smelts, alewives, slicks, shrimps, little squids and baby sand eels suddenly appear out of nowhere, with hungry predator fish right behind. For some reason, the Oceanic Pier tends to attract a lot of shad, blues and trout. The really big stripers are usually caught from the Inlet Wall itself and from the Route 50 Bridge. That isn’t saying the Oceanic Pier doesn’t get a few stripers, and occasionally a nice keeper at that. But most of the time, the fare is the blues, shad and trout.
So with these slightly “smaller than striper” sized fish, anglers use smaller artificial baits. The ever popular Spec Rigs and Gotcha Plugs are the best artificial baits from the Pier. You can never go wrong with these lures. The Spec Rigs are basically two shad darts tied in tandem. They come in any number of brands. Sometimes they are also called “Redfish Rigs.” They are very popular down South in places like Florida and Texas for redfish (red drum.) They come in a variety of weights with the most popular in our area being the 1/4 ounce and the 1/8 ounce. Colors include white, chartreuse, red, orange, Shrimp Glow, yellow and pink. White and chartreuse are probably the most popular in our area. But on a certain night, the fish may prefer a particular color, so a variety in your tackle box will never hurt!
Spec Rigs have a loop offset in the leader of the rig. If you need more weight, you simply slip an inline sinker in the loop, or if you need just a little bit of weight you can crimp on a split shot. You can even slip on an egg sinker above your snap swivel. When you’re in the middle of a fishing blitz, you just got to use what’s in your box!
When fishing a Spec Rig, you toss it into the current, and jig it back towards you as it sinks. You can also drop it straight down with weight, and jig it up and down. Watch others who are catching and see what they are doing.
Shad are game fish that generally go for the smaller lures. Blues and trout will go for the larger ones.
Gotcha Plugs are aptly named because if you are not careful, they will GET YOU! With two sets of treble hooks attached to the pencil shaped lure, these jigs are great for catching blues, shad, stripers and trout. They have been known to get caught in fingers and other body parts if you are not careful. Always look behind you before casting, and take care when de-hooking thrashing bluefish, use pliers. I’ve been to a hospital with a treble hook embedded in my finger. It’s not fun!
Gotcha Plugs also come in a variety of colors and sizes. White with a red head is the most all around popular plug, then white with a yellow head, chartreuse, and sometimes pink is very, very hot. Always carry a variety - silver or gold metallic colored Gotcha Plugs are especially good for bluefish. The smaller ones with gold hooks are good for the shad. Gotcha Plugs are best fished from structure where you are up on a pier, bridge, or bulkhead and casting down. They are perfect for the pier. Cast up current, let sink a bit, and then jig back. Use short, sharp jerks or drop down and jig up and down. Again, watch others who are catching, and try to do the same.
Because of the way the Pier is situated, jutting out into the bay and Inlet, the whole incoming tide seems to bring the best fishing with lures. Check your tide table, and if you have an incoming tide after dark, go for it! This isn’t to say you won’t catch fish on the outgoing; it’s just that the incoming tide is usually better.
Many anglers like to fish the Route 50 Bridge at night for blues and stripers. Sometimes trout will bite as well. Since the Bridge is higher up, and the fish tend to be a little larger, anglers use bigger artificial lures than on the Oceanic Pier. Gotcha Plugs are still very popular on the Bridge, but anglers tend to use the larger ones. The 1 1/4 ounce and 2-ounce size is very popular from the Bridge. Since the current runs directly below the Bridge, anglers can fish either of two ways. They can work their lures against the current. Cast out and let the current jig it back towards you as it sinks and goes slightly underneath the Bridge. OR, you can drop it and jig it out with the current letting out line as it goes.
Swimming shad lures are VERY popular from the Route 50 Bridge at night. These rubber lures molded into a lead head, looking like a real live fish, is the ticket for many fishing the Bridge at night. The 5 and 6–inch varieties are best at night. They come in an array of colors and brands and like in all situations, one night the fish will want one color/brand over another. One thing is for sure, bunker, mullet, and pearl white usually will work at least 7/8th of the time. Last year, we found that the fish really liked the lures with the red eyes.
Swimming shad lures have a natural look and swim so they are easy to work. Cast out, let it sink some, and then retrieve in, either with or against the tide. You really can’t screw up with a swimming shad lure. I think that’s why they are so popular.
Stripers tend to be closer to the bottom, while bluefish tend to be closer to the surface. Anglers targeting stripers tend to use the heavier, larger lures. Sometimes they tie the Swimming Shad lures in tandem to make a heavier lure that will get closer to the bottom.
Anglers also use the good ol’ lead head with a plastic body attached. Anglers use Fin-S Fish, Zoom, Bass Assassin, and any number of different brands of soft bodies in the 4, 5 and 6-inch range. Five-inch is the all around favorite size. They put these on half to 1 1/2 ounce lead heads and often tie them in tandem. The good old fashioned bucktail jig also works. In the old days, that was all anyone would use! Generally the angler attaches a 6-inch curltail or straight plastic worm to a 3/4 to 2-ounce bucktail jig.
The Bridge is pretty high up, so you need to use a bridge net, or have some pretty strong 25-40 pound test line on your reel to hand line your fish up. The best tide is half way in to the high tide, and the first hour or so of the outgoing. Either side (one hour each side) of low tide is also good.
Anglers fishing in the Inlet use pretty much the same lures as those fishing from the bridge. Anglers can also use the spec rigs when the blues and shad are in there thick. Usually the anglers need to add an inline sinker weight to spoons, bucktails, and spec rigs to get them out there further. Cast “up current,” let it sink, then start to jig as it passes by you. After it passes by you with the current, jig it in and get the lure out of there before it SNAGS!
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.
