Catching Bluefish In the Fall In and Around Ocean City, MD !

It's fall in Ocean City and time to enjoy the great outdoors and go fishing!

One of the things I love to do this time of year is catch bluefish. I know,
they aren't real big, but they are usually plentiful and fun to catch on
light tackle. As the days turn shorter and the nights become cooler, schools
of shiners and finger mullet start jumping around all over the bay. Bluefish
in the 10 to 16-inch range are usually right behind them. If you watch the
schools of bluefish you will notice that they are moving pretty fast after
the mullet. Therefore, when you are standing from the shore drowning bait,
you can bet if you got that bait moving up and down a little more, you could
be attracting some bluefish bites!

If you are on one of the piers like the Oceanic Pier, 9th Street Pier, or
standing on the Route 50 Bridge in Ocean City, MD you can cast out one of your favorite
flounder rigs that have a little flash to them like one of Dale Timmons
Deadly Doubles, or one of Aqua-Clear's fancy silver fish rigs, and bait up
with frozen shiners or chunks of finger mullet, cast out as far as you can
and jerk the bait up and down as you drag it back in towards you.

If you see the bait fish splash, and you see gulls working and diving down
into the water, you can bet there are some bluefish in the mix. That's a
good time to grab a lead head and some Berkley Gulp Mullets or Minnows and
cast and retrieve into the mix. If the blues are thick you can also use
bucktails, spoons, spec rigs, lead heads with curltail grubs, or Got-cha
Plugs. Anglers also add bait to some of these lures. Spec Rigs, which are
two shad darts tied in tandem work good to add a frozen shiner to each lure.
Bucktails can be tipped with a strip of squid or mullet. Use Got-cha Plugs
just as they are. Cast against the tide or straight down in the deeper
current and jerk the lure with short, sharp jerks of the rod tip.

Night time is the time to really catch a lot of bluefish. Go up on the Route
50 Bridge or to the Oceanic Pier under the lights and jerk those Got-cha
plugs or Spec Rigs!  As the water cools down, anglers also catch shad which
are really fun to catch and release. Shad generally take the smaller of the
jigs and sometimes even go for Sabiki Rigs. Anglers attach a sinker to the
smaller spec rigs or Sabiki Rigs so they can cast them more accurately and
to get them down to the bottom.

"Why do the fish go after such small lures sometimes?" 

Besides the schools of finger mullet, there are also huge schools of shiners
in the water this time of year. They are smaller baits and flashing all over
the place underneath the water.  The flashing little Sabiki Rigs, and spec
rigs look just like the shiners in the water. Match the hatch, as they say..

Finger mullet are larger, and when you see fish chasing the finger mullet,
you want to break out the larger lures like Got-cha Plugs, Swimming Shad
Lures (if you don't mind losing several dollars worth of lures of soft lures
to the bluefish), bucktails, spoons, Sting Silvers and lead heads with Gulps
attached (one of my favorites.) If I'm using bait during the day, I really
like the Aqua-Clear rigs with the Silver or Green Fish. The blues will tear
these up too, so plan on losing some of your rigs and lures to bluefish!

"Maybe I should use wire leaders!"

Well you can, but I think it deters from the action of the lure. Unless the
blues are real thick they can become leader shy just like any other fish,
especially in the day time. I would stick on Monofilament leaders and just
plan to lose a few lures. You'll catch more fish! And if Mr. Striper is
lurking down there, or Mr. Trout, you'll be more likely to catch him too!

Inlet fishing! Blues come in with the tide to either Ocean City or Indian
River Inlet. Indian River Inlet is especially famous for their bluefish
runs. $14 for a weekly fishing license in Delaware and you are on your way
to fun casting for the blues at the inlet. The North side of the Inlet close
to the Coast Guard Station will put you on some popular "rips" that
generally hold bluefish on the incoming tide. Bucktail jigs are very popular
at the inlets. Rig up the bucktail with a 30-inch length of monofilament
leader. Tie on an inline sinker anywhere from one to two-ounces to one end
of the leader material, and tie the bucktail to the other end. Attach a 4 to
6-inch grub or plastic worm to the bucktail or use a Berkley Gulp lure and
cast up current. Let the bucktail sink for a count of 10 or so, then start
jigging with the tide as it passes by you. Reel in after it is past you.
Watch others, and cast as they do, so you don't tangle or cross other lines.
It's fun! And you'll find that blues and other fish usually hit the lures as
it they sink.

The surf!

Snapper blues are prevalent in the surf this time of year. No, they aren't
big. You can usually catch bigger blues on the bridge at night or from the
inlets. Some of the deeper holes in the bay will actually catch you some
citation blues. BUT, the blues in the surf this time of year are usually
small, in the 12- to 16-inch range if you are lucky, so scale down on the
big hunky rods and just have some fun! An 8 to 9 foot rod spooled with 12 to
17 pound test is all you need. A top and bottom bluefish surf rig in the
smaller realm with one inch chunks of finger mullet will catch the snapper
blues. Sea Striker Bluefish Rigs with the smaller ¾ inch Styrofoam balls are
good.  Dale Timmons, Assateague Tackle Co. Snapper Whapper Double Hook Float
Rig is a good one.

So will a whole finger mullet rig! Slide a whole finger mullet on the
detachable rig and you are ready to go. The trick to these rigs is to buy
extra hooks and buy the smaller ones this time of year. Some of the rigs may
come with a 4/0 hook. Replace them with a 2/0 hook and you'll catch more
fish. Snapper blues are thieving bait stealers. "How did it get the mullet
off a mullet rig!" you ask?  They are fast and slick. So you got to be
slicker. Keep the rod in your hand. Cast out and slowly bump your rod back
in and the blues will think the bait is getting away from them and grab it
more aggressively. Set the hook and reel the fish in!

You will find that on calm slick days, the blues will run very small. On
choppier days, when the wind has a little east to it, the blues will run
larger. Look for rips, holes, sloughs, and bait jumping. If you see lots of
bait and splashes, have another rod ready with a spoon or Sting Silver in
the 1 ½ to 2 ounce range ready to cast and retrieve. Sometimes you can cast
a lure like a Sting Silver a whole lot further then you can with a rig and
sinker and reach the schooling blues. Other days, the blues are in closer
than you think!

"I don't like to eat blues!"

Then catch and release! It's fun. But don't knock a small fresh bluefish if
you haven't tried it. They are much better than large blues.  Fillet, skin
(lift your knife up a bit to leave the red meat on the skin) and cut the
rest of the blood line out.  Broil with some butter, Old Bay, and lemon.
Some people like mayo as well. Fresh is great.

Freezing.. No..

Fall blues. Just plain fishing' fun...

Good fishing... See ya soon, in Ocean City, Maryland... and surrounding areas of the Delaware Seashore State Park, Bethany, and Fenwick Island, Delaware.

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