“I’m here for the week and can’t decide what to fish for. Should
I fish for tautog (love to eat them) or should I get into the bluefish
action on the beach?”

It’s always a fishing dilemma. Should I fish here? Or should I
fish there? Fishing can be different every day. Just because the blues
blitzed the beach on a Saturday doesn’t necessarily mean the blues will
blitz on Sunday. One thing is for sure. If you look at the tides and the
wind on a particular day, it will help you decide what to do. This is
particularly true when deciding to fish on the bayside for tautog or the
beach for blues.

The wind! When I go fishing from the shore, I look at the wind
prediction before deciding what to do. For weather in Ocean City, MD it is
best to look at a marine forecast rather than just a regular weather
forecast. It gives you a much better scope of what is realistically going
to happen when you go on your fishing vacation. I go to
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/an/anz650.txt
on the Internet which is COASTAL WATERS FROM FENWICK ISLAND DE TO
CHINCOTEAGUE VA AND OUT 20 Nautical Miles. Most good marina and tackle store
web sites have one of these Coastal Marine Weather links on their homepage.
Save it to your “favorites” and check it out before driving 8 hours to Ocean
City. It gives you a forecast of how many knots the wind will blow, the wind
direction, and wave height. This is especially great for the surf fisherman.
The forecast is for 5 days. If you see 25 to 30 mile per hour gusts coming
from the Northeast, and 6 to 8 foot wave heights, you can bet you won’t be
holding bottom very well.

Many of the television stations give you a weather report
from Salisbury, which is 30 miles inland from Ocean City. What a difference
30 miles can make!

Here’s a typical 5-day Marine Weather Update. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR
HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT FROM THIS
AFTERNOON TO THURSDAY EVENING

Today (Thursday)
W WINDS 15 KT...BECOMING NE IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 3 TO 4 FT
BUILDING TO 4 TO 5 FT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS LATE IN THE
MORNING.

TONIGHT
NE WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 4 TO 5 FT.

FRI
E WINDS 10 KT. SEAS 3 TO 4 FT.

FRI NIGHT
SE WINDS 10 KT...BECOMING S AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 3 FT.

SAT
S WINDS 15 KT. SEAS 4 FT.

SAT NIGHT
S WINDS 15 KT. SEAS 4 FT.

SUN
SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING NW AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 3 TO
4 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND TSTMS.

MON
N WINDS 20 KT. SEAS 5 to 6 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND TSTMS.





First of all, quite obviously, I wouldn’t venture out into the ocean
Thursday afternoon in a boat as there is a Small Craft Advisory. If I was
planning to fish from the shore somewhere on Thursday, I would see from the
forecast that the wind, though blowing briskly, is from a Westerly
direction in the morning. A straight west wind will be right at your back if
you are surf fishing on the beach. Even though it might be rough offshore,
the surf would be calm directly in front of you on a straight west wind.
Fishing the surf would be fine until the wind shifted to the Northeast. This
shift might make the fish bite for a while, for sure, but once the seas got
up to 5-feet, it would be hard to hold bottom. So, go surf fishing in the
morning, and maybe tautog fishing in the afternoon! A Northeast would be at
your back when fishing on the bayside! Northeast can also make the inlet
fairly calm and bring in fish (as long as the wind does not get up too
much!) Casting lures at the inlet or the Oceanic Pier is also good on a
Northeast wind.

Thursday night? 15 miles per hour from the Northeast isn’t too strong. Might
be a little hard to hold bottom in the surf, but Northeast breezes generally
brings in clean ocean water to the bay. It would be a good night to fish the
Route 50 Bridge or Oceanic Pier for stripers, blues, and trout.

Friday, the forecast is for an East wind (directly off the Ocean). But the
forecast is only for 10 Knots and the seas are predicted at 3 to 4 feet.
This should be a good day on the beach for blues and stripers as long as the
wind does not “get up” more than predicted. (My rule of thumb is this: As
long as the waves are not larger than 4-foot on an easterly breeze, you’ll
be able to fish. As long as the wind does not surpass 15 knots you’ll be
fishing. If the easterly breeze gets up over 20 knots on the beach, the
discomfort begins! )

If you are an avid tautog fisherman, this Friday forecast would also be a
good wind for you! So on Friday, you would just have to toss a coin and
decide which direction to go in. I usually choice the surf when I can, as
there are plenty of “bad weather” days that you can tautog fish. If this
forecast was called for in the summer time you also have the “plus” of “no
biting flies.” Especially on Assateague, and the Delaware Seashore State
Park, any West wind will bring bugs. Any East wind is less buggy!

Friday night the wind is predicted to switch to the Southeast. This is an
excellent wind for the beach, but it is also an excellent wind for the
Oceanic Pier or Route 50 Bridge. The South wind, when it comes up, may put a
damper on the fishing if it comes up too hard. A straight south wind, 15
miles per hour, is not the greatest wind for fishing, but it’s not bad
either. I would call it a so-so wind. Tautog fishing would be fair at the
bulkhead and inlet. It could be great on the Route 50 Bridge on the incoming
tide as long as the water does not get dirty. South wind is also good at
Indian River Inlet for tautog fishing on the south side of the inlet. The
wind would be at your back making for an easy cast. (Any time you can get
the wind at your back when fishing from structure it makes for easier
casting.)

By Sunday, the wind is predicted to blow from the Southwest and then switch
to the Northwest. This makes for unstable weather and you can bet they’ll be
a “wind switch” and a temperature drop. This can put the wind at your back
for surf fishing, which is not bad in the spring and fall. But if it is
summertime, be sure to take the “bug spray.”

I hate a Northwest wind when fishing the bulkhead for tautog. It can be cold
and blow right in your face. The water from the bulkhead can lap right at
your feet at high tide! Your sinker tends to sweep in towards the snags. In
the spring and fall, I’d opt for surf fishing. If you do go tautog fishing,
try the Route 50 Bridge on the outgoing tide so the wind is more at your
back.

“How about a straight North wind?”

On Monday, the forecast is for a hard breeze from the North. This can be one
of the worst winds we have in Ocean City. It blows right down the beach, and
right down the bulkhead when fishing for tautog. If the wind blows hard from
the North, it’s best to fish a place like the North side of Indian River
Inlet or the Ocean City Inlet, so the wind would be at your back. The Route
50 Bridge on the outgoing tide would also be comfortable, but if the water
is dirty it could be unproductive. Five to six foot seas and a North wind
will not make for good surf fishing. Take the sputnik sinkers if you try!

Whether you are a boater or not, looking at a Coastal Marine Forecast can be
very helpful when deciding where to fish. Like the weather station, they
are not always right, but it is a helpful guide when going on a fishing
vacation.

Good fishing….