Article by Sue Foster
“What kind of bait should I use around here?”
Boy, we get that question a lot in our tackle stores. The answer depends on where you are fishing and what you are fishing for. It also depends on the rig that you are using. Some people have no idea where they are going, so that decision has to be made before deciding what kind of bait to use. Then the anglers need to purchase the correct rigs to match the type of bait that they buy.
I had an angler in the tackle shop this past week who bought a pack of bloodworms. He went out on the beach with a big bluefish rig with large 4/0 hooks. He threaded the bloodworms on the hook and he could feel the fish pecking the bloodworm off the hook but it was just too big of a hook to catch the spot or kingfish that were getting a free meal!
In the spring and late fall this can work for stripers, but in the heat of summer most of the fish that will eat a bloodworm have a small mouth. So if you want to catch pan fish (spot, sand perch, kingfish and croaker) and are using bloodworms, night crawlers or artificial Fishbite bloodworms, be sure to use a small size #8 or #6 hook. Cut the bloodworm into a small one quarter to half-inch piece and thread it on the hook. If you are fishing in the surf, use a rig with small Styrofoam or cork surf floats. If you are fishing in the bay, use a plain hook. High/low rigs are the most popular when using bloodworms.
If you are visiting Ocean City and are fishing on one of the piers in north Ocean City such as Northside Park at 127th Street, Convention Center at 41st Street or the Isle of Wight Park at 62nd Street bloodworms, artificial bloodworms or night crawlers are the best baits to use. There’s not much big biting in these upper, northern bay areas.
“I want to catch flounder!”
If you want to catch flounder you need to fish between the 9th Street Pier and the Inlet where the water runs deeper. Fish the 9th Street Pier, 2nd through 4th Street Bulkhead, the Route 50 Bridge, the Oceanic Pier, the Inlet or the Homer Gudelsky Park in the West Channel. The basic baits for flounder are frozen shiners hooked through the eyes or live minnows hooked through the lips. The angler can add a strip of cleaned and cut squid to the shiner or minnow bait for some extra added attraction. Squid that is already cut into strips and marinated in shedder crab oil is available in most tackle stores. It is clean and easy to use.
Flounder anglers also use live spot which is sold in some tackle stores. Spot are delicate and you need an aerator bucket to keep spot alive. This is easy to put together. Buy a 5-gallon bucket and a battery operated aerator. A 5-gallon bucket lid can be bought for around $5 and gives you a place to hang the portable aerator. The whole set-up, with batteries, can be bought for less than $30.
Some anglers walk around with their aerator bucket and a cast net and catch small finger mullet and peanut bunker which also make good flounder baits. These larger flounder baits are hooked through the roof of their mouths and allowed to swim on a single, long-leadered rig. I like to set the rig up with either a fishfinder rig or an egg sinker. If the baits are small enough, and you have plenty, you can use a high/low rig. You do not need to add squid to spot, mullet or peanut bunker!
Live spot is also a popular bait for stripers no matter where you are fishing.
Lots of people hear about Gulp! artificial baits and want to use it for flounder. It is good, but if you are a novice, I would use the Gulp! Swimming Mullet in combination with some real bait. Slide the Gulp! bait all the way up on your hook and then add a live minnow, frozen shiner or strip of squid to your bait. Gulp! alone may or may not catch you a fish, while real bait always works!
Box squid, which is small Calamari squid, in a one pound box, is a very versatile bait. It works well in the surf or bay in combination with bloodworms or on its own on small to medium-sized hooks. Almost anything will eat squid except for Spot, which prefer worms. A whole squid on a large hook works well for sharks. Calamari is real squid from California, whereas the cut, marinated squid is thick squid that comes from China. I think the box squid has a more natural scent and works better for pan fish. Cut squid is a more visual bait and works best for a flounder trailer. The thicker squid stays on the hook better, but the box squid has the natural squid ink smell that works better in the surf. You have a choice, so try both.
Finger mullet is your best choice if the bluefish are biting in the surf. You can thread a whole finger mullet on a special finger mullet rig so you don’t have to try to cut up the baits. These are good when fishing from the surf and are also good in the Inlet or off the Ocean Pier where you usually catch bluefish. Winds coming out of the east bring bluefish in close to the beaches.
Bunker or mackerel are good baits to chunk up for sharks in the surf during the summer. Use them on big hooks.
Shrimp, which is popular in the south, will also work here in Ocean City for croaker or kingfish. Most pan fish will eat a shrimp.
Fresh, cut spot will work for flounder, trout or croaker if cut into nice attractive strips. You can also use cut spot in combination with bloodworm for just about anything.
Sand crabs that you dig up in the surf are good around the inlets for tautog, triggerfish or sheepshead. Little sea bass will also eat them.
Clam is good for croaker.
What to use for bait? Well, now you know…
Good fishing….
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE
