Drifting Easy by Sue Foster

It’s the first Coastal Fisherman of the season! Everyone has been waiting 
for it! Everyone has been asking for it!

Anglers have also been asking: “What can I catch in May?”
“Where should I go?” and “What should I use?”

It’s been a long, cold spring. Anglers have impatiently been waiting for the 
weather to warm up so they can catch fish. For saltwater fishing, it’s not 
the air temperature that needs to climb; it’s the water temperature! 
Saltwater fishing is all about water temperature in the spring!  As the days 
get longer, the sun is out longer, and the water temperatures slowly rise. 
As we get to a 50-degree water temperature, fish start to bite. It’s as 
simple as that!

Well, maybe not that simple… The water temperature in the bay can fluctuate 
as much as 10 degrees or more during the day. Cold ocean water comes into 
the bay on an incoming tide. It goes way up into the tributaries of the bay 
into shallow marshes and small lagoons where the sun can beat down and warm 
up this water for 4 to 5 hours. Then, when the tide turns and goes out, this 
warm water goes out with the tide. An incoming tide may be 47 degrees, while 
an outgoing tide on a nice sunny warm day may be 57 degrees or more. This 
can “turn” the fish on and anglers catch fish!

A “late in the day” outgoing tide is better than an “early in the day” 
outgoing tide when the water temperatures are “on the edge.”  Four or five 
days of cold, cloudy days without any sun can ruin this thermal effect and 
turn the fishing off.  Skates bite in colder water than flounder. So a good 
flounder bite can turn into a “skate-a-thon” in a matter of days if the 
weather turns on us!

Flounder fishing in early May tends to be better in the upper reaches of the 
bay where the water temperatures are warmer.  Anglers drift on either side 
of the Route 90 Bridge on the beginning of the outgoing tide to the end of 
the outgoing tide with pretty good results in May. The water is not deep 
here, not much over 8 feet, but these waters here are warmer and flounder 
are feeding on darting grass shrimp, minnows, and little crabs that are also 
active in this slightly warmer water.

The Thorofare area is also good in early May, but the bite does not 
necessarily happen in the deepest holes like it does in the summer.  The 
shallower waters North of the Thorofare all the way north to buoys #16 and 
towards the Route 90 Bridge can be better. This is what anglers call the 
“flats.”

This “warmer water” fishing also happens on the Assateague side of the bay. 
Anglers fishing way back in the bay behind Assateague close to the Verrazano 
Bridge also catch flounder before anglers catch them in the inlet or around 
the Route 50 Bridge.

The best baits for flounder in the spring are still the old stand bys of 
live minnows or frozen shiners tipped with a strip of squid.  Since the fish 
are biting in shallower water you can use lighter sinkers on your rigs. Some 
anglers use jig heads with a bait, small bucktails, or spec rigs tipped with 
bait as well.  For some reason, flounder seem to like “pink” in the spring. 
Pink bucktail with a bit of Mylar or a little pink plastic squid on your 
flounder rig can be “hot” in the spring. Maybe because it is the color of 
grass shrimp…

The tautog bite can also be quite active along the bulkhead from 2nd through 
4th Streets in early May. Tautog bite in cooler water than flounder, but 
still, if they don’t bite on the incoming tide, do not leave until you try 
fishing the outgoing warmer water.  Anglers also catch tautog quite good 
from the Route 50 Bridge, the end of the Oceanic Pier, the Inlet wall and 
rocks, and also the Indian River Inlet.  Some are even caught from the 9th 
Street Pier.

If you are fishing from the bulkhead, do not cast way out or you will just 
get hung up. Fish straight down with a very simple one-hook rig and sinker 
set-up made with 40 pound test leader material, a 2-ounce sinker, and a #2/0 
Octopus style hook.  Bait up with a fresh or frozen sand crab or a section 
of green crab.

(pic of rig)

Bluefish! One week either side of Mother’s Day the blues blitz the beach is 
an old saying that sometimes rings true. If they don’t “blitz” they will 
certainly be around. Blues will be found in the surf, bay, and inlets. 
Anglers drifting for flounder will catch them with their flounder baits. 
Anglers casting specifically for blues from shore or in a boat can use hard 
lures such as Got-cha Plugs, spoons, spec rigs and bucktails with a plastic 
worm or cut squid. The sharp teeth of the bluefish will tear soft-bodied 
lures to shreds!  Let the lure sink to the bottom, then start jigging and 
reeling. Look for diving birds and you will find bluefish. Mixed in with the 
bluefish can be hickory shad. They like any kind of small lure and are just 
fun sport. In Maryland, hickory shad must be released.

At night, anglers cast lures from the Rt. 50 Bridge, the Oceanic Pier, and 
the Inlets. Besides bluefish and shad, anglers also catch stripers. Stripers 
like “soft bodies” attached to lead heads. Soft bodies like Zoom Salty 
Fluke, Fin-S Fish, and Sea Striker Trout Killers or curltail grubs are 
examples of soft bodies.  Swimming shad lures are extremely popular for 
striper fishing at night.  Calcutta FlashFoil, Chesapeake Slammin’ Red Eye, 
Tsunami and Storm Wild-eye are all different brands of Swimming Shads that 
work well.  These lures are already weighted and are ready-to-fish. Smaller 
lures are tied in tandem, while larger lures are used single as-is.

“What’s biting in the surf in May?”

Bluefish, stripers, sand sharks and skates are the primary fish in the surf 
in May. There may be a few black drum, early kingfish or sea trout around, 
but anglers will mostly catch the fish mentioned above.  Blues take any kind 
of surf rig baited up with cut bait. Finger mullet on a “finger mullet” rig 
is VERY popular in Ocean City for blues. The finger mullet is threaded on a 
special kind of rig that has a hook that can be detached and then 
reattached.  Anglers use pyramid or hurricane type weights on their rigs so 
the rig does not roll back in with the waves.

Stripers tend to like a rig without floats, though they will take a bluefish 
rig with floats if they are hungry.  A simple heavy-duty top and bottom rig 
with two hooks is a sufficient rig. Or a fish finder rig or a large 3-way 
swivel and snap with a single leadered hook attached also work fine. Any 
packaged rig that says “striper rig” or  “drum rig” will also do the trick. 
Bait up with bunker chunks, clam, or whole bloodworm. The new Fishbites Fast 
Release Bloodworm Alternative bait for cold water should work well in May if 
you don’t want to buy real bloodworms.

Sea bass!  Offshore sea bass fishing on nearby wrecks and Artificial Reef 
sites can be EXCELLENT in May. Anglers also catch some big FLOUNDER out 
there, along with bluefish, tautog, sharks, and skates.  Good ol’ fashion 
squid works good offshore.  Clam, green crab, or sand fleas work for the sea 
bass and tautog as well.  Shiners, minnows, and smelts are good baits for 
the flounder and sea bass. Used in combination with a strip of squid, well, 
that’s just a great bait!  To make a rig, use a heavy-duty top and bottom 
rig with two hooks attached. OR, simply tie two surgeon’s loops 
(http://www.animatedknots.com/surgeonsloop/index.php) in your line or a 
piece of leader and insert two wide gap type hooks in a 1/0 to 4/0 size. OR, 
buy some of those pre-made Aqua Clear rigs for flounder or sea trout that 
are not supposed to tangle.  (Sorry, occasionally they do!)  If you go on a 
party boat, make your life easy and let the mate make you a rig!

Fishing in May! A great way to start the fishing season….

Good fishing…









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Sue Foster ~ Oyster Bay Tackle~
11615 Coastal Hwy. Ocean City, MD 21842
(next to the Green Turtle- bayside)
phone- 410-524-3433 / fax-410-213-7642
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Fenwick Tackle~ Rt.1 and MD Ave.
Fenwick Island, DE, 19940
(next to the Atlantic Book Store- Ocean Side)
Phone- 302-539-7766
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web address~ www.oysterbaytackle.com
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online shopping~ http://shop.oysterbaytackle.com
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Email:  mailto:sue@oysterbaytackle.com
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