Article by Dale Timmons
The weather was so bad last week that I guess most of us didn’t even bother to go out and try to “kill a flounder.” That was tongue-in-cheek, by the way, folks. Anyway, on Thursday, in some of the worst of it, I went to check on my boat. Satisfied that it was still floating, I didn’t even get out of the truck, and I drove out past the OC Fishing Center to where Shanty Town used to be. Out on Stinky Beach, in the teeth of the northeast gale and the pouring rain, were two guys throwing cast nets. I watched for a few minutes, and I could tell that they were throwing pretty good-sized nets, and they knew what they were doing. This told me a couple of things. First, those two guys were probably young (at least younger than me), and maybe just a little crazy. Second, last week’s blow had started the fall mullet run in earnest, because even crazy people wouldn’t have been out there unless the mullet were thick. Last year when we had an early blow like this one, almost all of the bait left the bay at the same time, and in a hurry. I hope that’s not the case with this storm. All of the rain (we had over 6 inches at my house from Thursday afternoon into early Friday morning) and the wind dropped water temperatures anywhere from 5 to 7 degrees, and while it may rebound slightly if we get some warm sunny days, the damage may already be done. We had very warm water for a while, up to 80 degrees, and we were starting to get numbers of normally southern species like cobia, Spanish mackerel, triggerfish, spadefish and a few others. It may be too soon to tell, but this storm may have chased the Spanish and cobia, perhaps even the triggers and spades. Will it do us any good? Well, the blow, along with the cooler water temps and the moving mullet, will probably bring red drum on the beach, along with scattered early stripers. Bluefish may join the reds and rock. Striper fishing should also improve in the inlets and bays, especially around the Rt. 50 bridge. We might even see a few weakfish, or gray trout. On the inshore ocean shoals, spike trout may start to school up, along with good numbers of croakers. Offshore, a blow like this one can lead to some of the best white marlin fishing of the season and perhaps bring even better numbers of yellowfin tuna, but the best thing we can hope for is some sunshine and calm winds for a while…
Had another question about the Maryland flounder closure this week. Last week the scenario I wrote about involved a boat leaving and returning to Delaware, but going through the OC inlet and fishing outside the 3-mile limit. This week the question was about leaving and returning to OC but fishing in the EEZ, and the answer is no, even if you fish outside three miles, you cannot bring a flounder back and land it in the state of Maryland. Sorry about that, guys and gals…
Even though I’ll soak a lot of cut bait in the fall, especially in the surf, it’s also the time of year when I love to throw lures. People are always asking me what I like to use, as if what I like actually means anything, and I have touched on this subject before, but the question has been posed again, so bear with me. For most of my shallow water casting in the bay or surf, my number one go-to lure nowadays is probably a jig head with a plastic twister, or, these days, a Gulp! Swimming Mullet. The head I use most often is three eighths of an ounce, usually red, and the body is four, five or six inches long. I’ve accumulated tons of styles and colors of plastics over the years, but most often I’ll throw white or chartreuse, usually the latter. I like both chartreuse with silver flake and chartreuse pearl. If the water is dirty or it is near dark or early in the morning, I often use a dark color such as dark green, motor oil, red or purple. Motor oil grubs can be a little hard to find, but it is a unique color that kind of changes with the light, and it can be very effective. I usually fish my jig heads on 8, 10 or 12 lb. test mono, sometimes on 15 or 20 lb. braid, with a short piece of shock leader, usually 15, 20 or 25 pound test, depending on what the target species is. I attach the leader to the main line with either a Seaguar knot or a Stren J-knot. This simple lure has caught me a lot of fish over the years, including speckled trout, puppy drum, stripers, blues, flounder, croakers and even a cobia. I fish it in the bay, the inlet and the surf, and if I could only have one lure in my bag, the jig head and twister would probably be it, even ahead of my long time favorite, the bucktail jig. That said, I also like to throw plugs, and there are times when the right plug in the right color will out fish anything else. Mirr-O-Lures are one of my favorites for speckled trout, and they will also take stripers, drum, even flounder. I usually use the older TT models or the newer STTR. The TT models are spotted, while the STTR are spotted with a holographic finish and red hooks. Both are half-ounce lures. Many years ago about the only color I used was the red and white (#TT11), but nowadays my favorites include the Electric Chicken (EC) on bright days with clear water, and the 808 when the water is slightly dirty or it is cloudy or dark. I also like the newer Mardi Gras color. I don’t know if it is because I use it more or not, but in the past several years I have probably caught more fish on the 808 (black back, gold sides, orange belly) than anything. I fish the Mirr-O-Lures on virtually the same tackle described above, and I usually attach the lure with a non-slip mono loop knot. In addition to the Mirr-O-Lures, I am also partial to the Rat-L-Trap lipless plug in both half and three-quarter ounce sizes. My favorite color is probably chrome with a black back. I also like several of the Rapala plugs, such as the X-Rap and the new Clackin’ Rap, which have some really nice colors. Finally, in addition to the jigs and plugs, I always like to carry a “metal” such as a Hopkins or Sting Silver, both for vertical jigging and for straight casting and retrieving. When stripers, trout, or blues are feeding on silversides or sand eels, a straight, shiny lure can often be hard to beat. I usually fish all of these lures on a 7 or 7.5-foot rod, spinning or conventional, in the 8-15, 10-17 or 10-20 lb. range. I’m kind of partial to the longer rods these days. A 4000 size spinning reel is a good average size. Throwing artificial lures is definitely a fall thing, and I look forward to it all year. One warning, though—it can become a highly addictive pastime…
Contact Dale Timmons at [email protected] or call 410-629-1191.
