Article by Sue Foster
Sue Foster was a long time contributor to the Coastal Fisherman and garnered a large and faithful following for her “Driftin’ Easy’ weekly articles. We still receive many requests for her old articles and some are still available on our website, CoastalFisherman.net. The issues with her articles would be from 2009 - 2014. In this issue we revisit one of her end of season articles that asks the question “What’s biting in October, November and December?”.
In addition we have a follow up to our last “The Vault” article that focused on exactly where were local Ocean City fishing spots. The graphic on the opposite page was published in 2014 and was requested by several readers. Enjoy!
Driftin’ Easy by Sue Foster
Sept. 18, 2013
What’s Biting in October, November, and December?"
It's the last Coastal Fisherman of the season! Some anglers will feel lost without a paper every week.
"How do we know what's biting? How long will it all last? What will I read in the morning?"
Hang around any of the local tackle shops in town, and you'll hear plenty fish stories and reports.
"So when do the big fish get here?"
I get this question all the time. Big fish can be caught anytime, like the big run of red drum on Assateague is happening right now. The really nice run of stripers and big blues occur when the weather gets cooler and the water temperatures dip a bit. This generally happens in October and November for the stripers. Big blues can come in too, but sometimes wait as long as December to show in the surf. By then, it's all about weather conditions. The longer you wait to fish, the more likely you may catch a big fish. But if inclement weather gets you, you may catch nothing! Weigh all that in when you get a chance to go fishing. I would definitely come to Ocean City to fish somewhere between the first of October and Thanksgiving and give it a whirl!
"What should we use in the surf?"
Whole finger mullet on a finger mullet rig is the rig for blues of any size, big or small. For stripers, get a single or double hook rig, no float, and use a nice big piece of meat on the hook. "Meat?" By meat we mean a chunk of mullet, bunker, cut spot, or cut bluefish. Fresh is best if it is available. If not, buy some good quality frozen bait.
"Are there still sharks in the surf in the late season?"
Sure, and they will take a big bluefish rig with a big chunk of meat or squid. Or use a whole head of any kind on a custom made shark rig with or without a float. A bunker head, kingfish head, spot or bluefish head all work good for sharks. The oilier the better!
"Are there any small fish in the surf that will take bloodworms or Fishbites?"
Yes, but do not totally depend on that. Sometimes there are kingfish, a croaker, or at night some red hake (ling cod). In the fall, these panfish will just as readily take a little strip of cut bait as they will a worm. Then you will also be set up for snapper blues or a stray puppy drum, trout, or flounder (legal in DE).
"Big blues and stripers are not just in the surf!"
The Inlets, Oceanic Pier, Ocean Pier, Route 50 Bridge, Homer Gudelski Park, Bulkhead at 2nd to 4th Streets and 9th Street Pier all see their share of bigger blues and stripers. Cut bait works by day in most of these places for larger fish. Anglers even use the whole finger mullet rigs with a finger mullet to catch these cruising bluefish in the bay and inlets. I've seen anglers catching small blues in the surf while anglers in the bay are catching 3 to 7 pounders! At the Inlets, anglers generally use lures when the fish are feeding. Cast bucktails with plastic worms, spoons, Got-cha Plugs or Swimming Shad lures. (Stripers feed best at night or at daybreak.)
"Should I even bother fishing in the bay since we can't keep flounder in Maryland?"
Yes, fish for bluefish, drum, stripers, and tautog. You can also venture to Delaware and launch your boat and fish in the Indian River Inlet and even offshore. If you fish offshore you can fish through November though you have to weed through the skates and horn dog sharks! Don't be surprised to pick up a few flounder in the surf. Leave off the surf floats, and cast and slowly retrieve in a nice strip of cut bait.
"What about those tautog?"
Tautog fishing is usually great in October and November. Delaware was closed the whole month of September, and anglers have been chaffing at the bit to catch them in the fall right into early winter. Tautog fishing is like this. When they are biting really good in early October, they bite through the whole tide. Incoming, outgoing, slack tides. It doesn't matter.
The bigger fish are usually caught when the tide is slacking only because you can cast out a little further and find those deeper holes without getting snagged up. The bite continues on into November and right through Thanksgiving. Once the water temperatures get colder, the bite changes and the fish bite best on the slacking tides. The last of the low outgoing and the beginning of the high outgoing is when the best and biggest fish are caught. This is because the water temperatures are warmer on the outgoing tide. Combine one of these good tides with "before sundown" fishing and you can come up with a good bite. Tautog feed before the sun goes down, and then they become dormant at night.
In Ocean City, the early season bite is best at the bulkhead from 1st to 4th Streets, the end of the Oceanic Pier, and the Route 50 Bridge. As the season progresses, the Inlet becomes "hot." The nice part about fishing the places other than the "rocks" is that it is easier to fish and easier to get the fish out of the water! Anglers also do well in boats casting towards the rocks at the South Jetty.
"What's the bait for tautog?"
Sand fleas, live or frozen, and green crabs are the two baits that anglers buy in stores. Some anglers catch their own marsh crabs by turning over rocks in the bay at low tide, or smacking clams and conchs for bait. (A lot of work and those marsh crabs are really fast!) You can dig your own sand fleas on the beach at low tide too. The later you get into the season, the deeper they go!
"The rig?"
People use all kinds of rigs, but the main thing you need to do is KEEP IT SIMPLE. Forget the wire top and bottom rigs. All you want is a simple loose Octopus styled hook 2/0 or 3/0 looped thru an overhand surgeons knot into a length of 30-40 pound test leader material. Tie a loop at the very end of the leader for the sinker, tie a loop a couple inches long above the sinker and insert the hook. Then tie a barrel swivel to the other end of the leader material. Give yourself some extra leader material length (a couple feet) to deal with rock abrasion. Once the tautog bites it can take you into the rocks. You need to pull the fish out with some fast cranking and a tight drag. Pulling the fish out will fray your line, thus you need that heavier 40-pound test leader material if you're in rough bottom.
"I feel the fish on, but my sinker is stuck in the rocks!"
This happens all the time when getting a nice tautog on. I started using a heavy rubber band to loop on my 1 ½ to 3 ounce flat or torpedo shaped sinker to the end loop. If the sinker gets hung up, I pull hard, and the sinker breaks off and I get the rig and the fish!
"How do I hook the sand crab and green crab?"
Hook the sand crab in the apron and let the hook come out the outer shell about an 1/8th of an inch. For the green crabs a sharp pair of dollar store scissors come in handy. Pull off the shell, and cut it in half or quarters depending upon its size. Cut off the legs or leave them on. (I cut mine off). Pierce the hook inside one of the leg sockets. The tautog takes the bait in its mouth, crushes it, and then spits the shells out. That's when you hook them! Big tautog generally slam the bait, while the smaller ones steal it. It takes a lot of patience and finesse to catch the tautog. It's a fun, but sometimes frustrating game.
Last year we had fish in the surf right into January. Every year is different and it's all about weather and water temperatures. Keep up with our weekly fishing report online, and thanks to all the anglers for reading “Driftin’ Easy” this season. We all thank Larry Jock for another great year with the most popular fishing paper on Delmarva.
Good fishing.. §
