Drifting Easy by Sue Foster

Summer is almost over and fall is in the air.  Schools of bluefish are 
everywhere, and stripers are not far behind.

There are lots of natural baits swimming around in the bay and ocean drawing 
the fish to the inlets, piers, and surf.  Fish feel the change of season and 
know it’s time to feed before they migrate to the places where each species 
go. (Some species of fish go offshore into deeper water while others go 
south.)

Bluefish!  Bluefish seems to be everywhere in the fall. They start out 
snapper size and get larger as the waters get cooler.  Snapper bluefish are 
fun and easy to catch. Anglers can catch them with bait or lures. Lure 
fishing is best at the Inlets or at Night. Casting from the Inlets on the 
incoming tide generally sees action. Sometimes the beginning of the outgoing 
tide is good. At times, the end of the outgoing tide is also good. Any 
easterly breeze gives us better blue fishing at the inlets.

The Oceanic Pier at the very end of Ocean City is excellent for catching 
bluefish at night. So is the Route 50 Bridge.

“What lures should we use?”

The best lures for bluefish are hard ones that the blues cannot tear up. 
Spoons, Got-cha Plugs, Spec Rigs, and bucktail jigs with some kind of 
plastic worm trailing on the end. The blues will tear the plastic worms or 
curltail grubs up so you need to buy them by the dozen, but these are 
relatively inexpensive.  The bucktail alone, without a trailer just does not 
seem to work as good. You can also use a strip of squid or cut bait such as 
mullet on the end of the bucktail. You can also use Fishbite Squid or Crab 
E-Z Baits or one of the Berkley Gulp Grubs or Strips. It really doesn’t 
matter which ones, just as long as something is hanging off the end of the 
bucktail looking enticing!

“How do I do it?”

Don’t just cast out and start reeling in. You’ll miss the fish.  Cast up 
current. Let the lure sink towards the bottom, then count to 10 or 15. After 
that start jigging. As the lure moves towards you in the current, keep 
jigging and reel in any slack until it passes by you. Then reel in with your 
rod tip up so your lure does not get caught in the rocks.  Most of the time, 
the fish will grab the lure as it falls.

Sometimes when you are using a bucktail jig it is not heavy enough to cast 
out. If that’s the case, tie on a 30-inch piece of 30-pound test leader and 
attach an inline sinker to the end of the leader. Attach the inline sinker 
(1 to 2 ounces) to a black snap swivel at the end of your fishing line. 
Never attach a sinker too close to your lure.

Some anglers really got into Saltwater Flies the last couple of years. You 
don’t need a fly rod to use them.  Anglers buy a local rig where all they 
have to do is attach a sinker or a heavier lure to a snap.  They cast the 
rig into the inlet or surf and the sinker or lure goes to the bottom and the 
saltwater fly waves around above it in the current and attracting hungry 
blues, stripers, and trout!

“What about the stripers?”

Well, stripers are usually just below the bluefish at the inlets, Rt. 50 
Bridge, and Oceanic Pier. Stripers tend to bite when the tides slow down. 
They are also more nocturnal and tend to bite more at night or on cloudy 
days.  Anglers fishing the Rt. 50 Bridge say the stripers are closer to the 
Bridge Pilings and the blues are a little farther away from the pilings. 
(Anglers fishing the Bridge often cast against the current and let the jig 
bounce back towards them until it reaches just beneath the Bridge Pilings.) 
Watch out, there are a lot of snags beneath the Bridge!

Swimming shad lures are real popular for stripers as long as the blues are 
not so thick that they make mince meat out of all their lures. So are any of 
the soft bodies such as Fin-S Fish, Zoom or Bass Assassins attached to ½ to 
¾ ounce lead heads.  Since stripers are closer to the bottom than bluefish 
it is important to have enough weight to get them deep enough to find the 
stripers and stay away from the blues.  Tying a sinker to a swimming shad 
lure ruins the action!

“ So what do they do?”


The anglers take two swimming shad lures or two lead heads with soft bodies 
and tie them in tandem!

“How do they do that?”

The best way to do that is to use a black 3-way swivel. Tie a piece of 30 to 
40 pound leader material 12 to 15-inches long to the first eye of the 3-way 
swivel and a piece of leader 18 to 30-inches to the second eye of the three 
way swivel. Tie the third eye of the 3-way to your fishing line or a good 
snap swivel.  Attach your lures to the end of the leader material.  Do not 
attach snap swivels directly to your lures. This could scare away the fish, 
especially the “swivel shy” stripers and trout.  Whenever you have to use a 
snap swivel try to find a black one.

“Shouldn’t we buy steel leaders to attach our lures to when fishing for 
bluefish?”

You can, but I still like good old fashion monofilament or Fluorocarbon 
leaders. Even bluefish can get finicky, especially during the daytime.  A 
monofilament leader looks more natural in the water. If you are casting a 
lure, it takes a big bite from a bluefish to get beyond the lure and reach 
up and bite through your line.  I would only use steel leaders if your lures 
are getting bit off by other bluefish.

“How about bait?”

You can’t go wrong with finger mullet in the fall. Blues are chasing and 
eating them as fast as they can pluck them from the huge schools that are 
migrating south.  If you are fishing from the beach, finger mullet is 
definitely the bait of choice. Anglers use a whole finger mullet on a 
“finger mullet rig.”  The finger mullet is threaded onto a special hook so 
that a double hook sits right at the mullet’s tail. The bluefish comes 
along, takes a bite, and gets a hook!

If you are not using a finger mullet rig DO NOT use the finger mullet whole. 
If you put a whole finger mullet on a single hook, the blues will bite off 
the tail and you will not catch the fish. If you are using a top and bottom 
type surf rig, cut the finger mullet up into one- inch chunks and put it on 
the hook. You can also fillet the finger mullets and put a fillet on the 
hook.

If you are fishing from a pier, inlet, or Rt. 50 Bridge you can cut the 
mullet up in chunks and use them on size #2 or #1 hooks on top and bottom 
rigs. Or if you are flounder fishing too, just use your normal shiner and 
squid combination and you will also catch bluefish if they are there!  Keep 
your rig moving as bluefish like a moving target. I always seem to catch 
bluefish up on the Rt. 50 Bridge when I’m flounder fishing whether I want 
them or not!

“Aren’t there live baits we can use for stripers?”

Oh yes!  Live eels, spot, finger mullet, bunkers, or big live minnows all 
work for stripers. You can use them at the Inlets, from your boat, or from 
the Rt. 50 Bridge. The Rt. 50 Bridge sees more stripers at night than during 
the day. First thing in the early morning also sees a good striper bite, 
especially at the Inlets.  Use a long leadered hook (#3/0 to #5/0 Octopus or 
Circle Hook) with an egg or fish finder rig with a sinker attached when 
using live bait. At night, on a slack tide, anglers will “live line” a bait 
with no or little weight.  Live eels and a cluster of live sand crabs are 
popular baits to do this with.  Anglers from boats will also cast a live 
spot or eel with little or no weight right at the tip of the South Jetty at 
the slacking tides. (Use a small egg sinker weight or a big barrel swivel 
when you need just a little bit of weight.)

“And what can we catch big stripers in the surf with?”

You can’t go wrong with a big hook and a bunker head or nice chunk of 
bunker! Leave off the surf float when targeting stripers.  A whole bloodworm 
will also work when nothing else will. Finger mullet is also a popular bait 
for stripers, especially in Ocean City. But don’t expect many big stripers 
until October and November.



Thanks to Larry Jock for another great season of the “Coastal Fisherman!”

Until the Winter Edition….
Good fishing….


 

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