SURF FISHING TIPS ~ (Ocean City, Maryland and Delaware Beaches and Assateague Island)

* A light easterly breeze brings fish to the surf
* --If the surf is too rough to fish, cast fishing lures at the inlet, or take your surf fishing gear to the Ocean Pier.
* -- Fish bite good right before a storm, weather change, or front! (falling barometer)
* --To catch more fish always keep your fishing bait moving slightly across the bottom so you can cover more territory and make your bait look more life-like.
* --If you use squid for fishing bait, always cut it into an attractive tapered strip and hook it only once so it dangles off the hook.
* --If you want to catch stripers, fish early in the morning, dusk, or after dark. Use bloodworms or artificial lures such as Atom's Plugs, Rattletraps, MirrOlures, Windcheaters or Swimming Shad Lures.
* --Some of your best surf fishing is early in the morning and right before dark.
* --A hurricane type sinker holds better per ounce than the traditional pyramid type. If it is extremely rough try a sputnik type surf sinker.
* --The lighter the line, the further you can cast, and the less sinker weight it takes to hold! (Most people surf fish 12 to 20 pound test line. Never go over 20# in the surf. If you throw fishing lures, do not use over 16# test.) --Keep your fishing bait in a bucket or cooler, or the sea gulls will steal it!
* --If you want to use a whole finger mullet, buy a "mullet hook" rig so you can thread the whole finger mullet on the hook.
* --Fish one rod out far with a whole finger mullet for blues or stripers, then fish a shorter rod in close with strips of mullet or pieces of bloodworm for kingfish, spot, and trout.
* --If you use bloodworms, keep your hook size down to a size #6 or #8. (Unless you are after keeper sized stripers.)
* --If the crabs continuously steal your bait, go to a single, surf- floater rig. This puts your bait further off the bottom away from the crabs.
* --If there is an outer bar where you are fishing, fish the inside slough at high tide. At low tide, walk out to the bar and cast off.
* --Cast the deep side of jetties for good results.
* --Look for a point of land jutting out on the beach, then fish either side of it.
* --It is possible to "over-cast" the fish, especially at high tide and towards dusk.
* --Always use a sand spike, so your reel does not fall in the sand when baiting up or taking a fish off the hook
* --Never wash your reel in the ocean! Wash it with fresh water when you get home.
* --If you get a big fish on, use your drag, and let the wave action help you bring the fish to the beach. Many fish are lost right in the wash as the excited angler cranks too hard when the wave is retreating.
* --Do not fish in a lightning storm with a graphite fishing rod! (It ain't worth it!)
* --Assateague Island (off Rt. 611) and 3 R's Road- (Part of the Delaware State Park- just south of Indian River Inlet Bridge) have quick drop-offs. If it is a rough day, it's easier to hold bottom in these two places.

OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND, BAY FISHING TIPS

* --For flounder, hook live minnows through the lips, or shiners through the eyes. Add a thin strip of tapered squid beside either one of these baits for extra added attraction.
* --If you fish two hours before and two hours after high tide, you'll usually catch some fish!
* --Flounder are bottom feeders. Always use enough weight to stay on the bottom. If you are casting and retrieving, always retrieve with your rod tip down, so your hooks will stay closer to the bottom.
* --If you are in a boat, you can troll against the tide to slow down your drift.
* --Flounder are sight feeders. If they can't see the bait, you won't catch flounder. Use chartreuse or silver spinner blades and white or chartreuse bucktailed hooks along with your bait to help you catch more flounder.
* --If you fish at night on the piers or Rt. 50 Bridge, take some lures. Spec rigs, Redfish rigs, bucktails with plastic worms, MirrOlures, Got-cha plugs, Swimming Shad Lures, Windcheaters, or Rattletraps will never steer you wrong for trout, blues, and stripers.
* --If you just want the kids to catch anything, set them up with size #6 hooks on a top and bottom rig with a sinker and bait up with bloodworms and little strips of squid.
* --If you want to catch legal-sized stripers, fish the Route 50 Bridge at night with bucktails and 6-inch white plastic worms, use a 2-ounce lead head with an 8-inch white curl tail grub, use 8-inch Sassy Shads, two-ounce Got-cha Plugs, 5 or 6-inch Swimming Shad lures or live eels.
* --Invest in a bridge net if you plan to fish the bridge often.
* --If you tautog fish in the spring and fall, use sections of green crabs or sand fleas (mole crabs) on size #2/0 Octopus hook. Fish the Ocean City or Indian River Inlet, near the draw of the Route 50 Bridge, or along the bulkhead at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Streets. The end of 6th Street is also good.
* --Use a pair of kitchen shears to cut the green crabs in half. Pull off their outer shell, cut off their legs, and insert the hook into the leg socket.
* --When tautog fishing, use a flat sinker so you do not get hung up in the rocks. Make your leader out of 40-pound test mono so you don't lose the fish to rock abrasion. Use a rubber band to hold on your sinker. That way, if you get a nice tautog on, but your sinker gets hung up in a rock, you can break the rubberband and get the fish!