The whole beach looks the same to me. How do you know where to surf fish? Which streets in Ocean
City are good? How come some people are catching fish and I'm not catching any?


Reading the beach is not an easy thing to do. It takes time and practice, and a sharp eye. The
surf angler's knowledge is the fact that not all beaches are the same. Once that is known, the
angler will learn to look for a good beach and not just, "fish where I'm staying."


The beach is constantly changing, so where a hole and a "hot spot" is one day may not be there next
week. A hole at say, 72nd Street, may actually shift and move to 76th Street over the period of a
week or two. Every time we get a storm, the beach can totally change. And if we get a long period
of calm weather, the beach can flatten out and have very few good holes. (This happens in the heat
of the summer sometimes, accentuated by "beach replenishment.")


The best time to look for holes in the beach is at low tide when the weather is calm. Walk the
beach looking for a trough or drop-off close to shore. If a hole is three or four feet at low tide,
it will be five or six feet at high tide and hold fish. Once you find a drop off like this, look
further out and look at the waves and see where they break. If waves roll up to the drop-off
without breaking, this means there's some deeper water out beyond the hole as well. This is good.


When a wave breaks and you see white water, this means the water is shallow where it is breaking.
If a waves breaks way out there and you see white water, and then you see a wave rolling without
breaking closer in towards shore, this means there's an outer bar, and then a slough closer in
towards the shore. Fish this slough as the tides comes in and gets higher!


The perfect scenario (and this sometimes is hard to find in Ocean City) is to find a slough close
to shore with an outer bar further out with a cut in the outer bar. This means you want to look at
that outer bar, walking up and down the beach and try to find some rolling, unbreaking water coming
over it. It may not be real pronounced. It may just be that the waves are starting to break with a
little white water to them, and then start their rolling motion again with no white water. As the
tide comes in, and the water gets deeper, keep looking. Change in the wave patterns means changes
of ocean bottom. And this is where the fish will feed when the tide moves in.






Another thing you can look for on an incoming tide is cleaner water coming across the outer bar and
mvong into the slough close to shore. Clean water coming in means there's a cut in the bar
somewhere. Wear your polarized sunglasses and note the color of the water. Look for more clear,
blue/green water. Fish there. This can be very pronounced on the Assateague beach.



Look for more than one thing on the beach when looking for a good surf fishing hole. Besides
looking at the water itself, look at the sand and the beach. Look for areas of sand that have been
"cut out" by the wave action. Deeper water close to shore will cut a chunk of sand out of the
shoreline. (Flat sand in front, usually means flat sand out in the water as well.)


Look for gullies in wet sand as the waves come up on the beach. Watch as the waves come up on the
beach and then go back into the water. If you see "rips" where the water is slightly turbulent and
swirling, this is a good place to fish as this stirs up crabs and clams; these are what some fish
feed on. This isn't white water, this is darker swirling water that you can see as the waves recede.
Rips sort of look like the swirls you see at the inlets where there are underwater rocks.


Look for sand fleas, little crabs, or those baby clams digging into the wet sand. This can mean food
for fish and a good place to surf fish!


Keep your eye on surfers early in the morning and later after 5:30 in the afternoon. These are
professional wave riders that know where the best waves are. Waves are built by underwater
structure that surf fishermen are looking for too. Like surf anglers, surfers aren't looking for
white water. They are looking for a cresting wave that only comes from deeper water coming up a
slope into shallower water. This builds a good wave. That's good surf fishing area as well. Of
course, don't encroach on them. Just note the hole for later reference.


Watch surfers and swimmers as they walk out into the water, especially at low tide and note the
difference of the water depth as they walk out. Figure a couple feet higher at high tide! You can
walk in the water yourself and note the bottom. If you are lucky enough to live or rent in one of
the taller condos in Ocean City or Delaware, get as high up as you can and look out over the water.
Wear your polarized sunglasses. This can make a big difference. Remember, breaking white-water means
shallower water. And rolling darker water means deeper water. You want to fish in the rolling darker
water.


A really good surf fisherman I know actually rides down streets in Ocean City, walks up to the water
and looks until he finds a good fishing spot. He may look at 6 or 7 streets before starting to
fish. And it works because he catches fish! Sometimes just moving a half a block can mean the
difference between catching fish or not.


"Are you better off going to Assateague or Delaware Beaches?"


If you can't find the beach structure you are looking for, the state beaches are where to go. The
Assateague Beach has the advantage of having a slough that runs up and down the beach. You can
always find a hole on the Assateague Beach without trying too hard. The Delaware Seashore State
Park has some good structure, as there is less beach replenishment and more natural beaches. The
famous 3-R's Beach just South of the Indian River Bridge always seems to have a quick drop-off which
makes it easy for beginning anglers because they don't have to look for a hole-the hole is there.


Just North of the Indian River Bridge is what we call "the pocket." It is fairly deep close to
shore next to the North Jetty and this also makes a good surf-fishing beach. Note, anytime you have
a rock jetty jutting out into the water, one side of it is usually deep and the rocks can attract
baitfish and thus, bigger feeding fish, usually on the incoming higher tides.

"Is high tide the best time to fish?"


Actually, the incoming tide is probably the best, the time frame between low and high. A lot depends
on the beach that you are fishing. At low tide, you can sometimes walk through a shallower trough
and walk out on the outer bar, and cast into deeper water. As the tide gets higher, come back to the
shore, and fish in the trough.


Don't stress out finding the best beach. Just be aware what makes a good surf fishing beach and keep
your eyes open. Watch the waves, sand, swimmers, and surfers. Sometimes you just walk out there
anywhere and happen to catch fish, while at other times, you need to move up or down the beach a
little. One thing is for sure, if you're fishing in one spot and nothing is happening day after
day, it's time to move!


Good fishing..