“We’re fishing the beach but not catching any fish!”

It’s summertime and it’s time to change your tactics. Put away the big hooks
and large chunks of bait. Switch to a smaller rig with smaller pieces of
bait and “work” it when fishing during the day. If you still want to try to
catch the larger fish, get up early and fish before the sun comes up for
stripers. Go fishing after dark if you want to target sharks.

“Which rigs do I buy?”

The best summertime rig to buy is a kingfish rig. There are several
different varieties on the market. Sea Striker makes two of them. One is
called a “Spot & Kingfish” rig and is made with one-inch fluorescent
Styrofoam floats and size No. 6 long shank Pacific Bass type hooks. It is
made out of 40-pound test monofiliment and has a barrel swivel at one end to
tie to your line and a loop at the other end to slip your sinker through.

The other popular Sea Striker brand of kingfish rig is a “Spot, King, &
Mullet” rig. This rig is made out of half-inch ball floats and No. 6
gold-plated wide gap hooks. Since both these rigs are made out of
monofiliment leader, they are also excellent for small sea trout that you
can catch in the surf this time of year.

Some tackle stores make a custom kingfish rig out of hard plastic covered
floats and size No. 6 Pacific Bass hooks. The advantage to the plastic
coated floats is that crabs cannot chew the floats up. These are also
excellent.

“Why do they call them a kingfish rig? I thought kingfish were big!”

That’s a king mackerel that we rarely catch in the surf around here. The
kingfish we are talking about are “whiting.” These smaller fish with a
turned down mouth and have one barble on their chin. They are also called
sea mullet. To confuse you more, there are two varieties of kingfish you can
catch in the surf. There’s a Southern kingfish and a Northern kingfish. Both
are silvery-gray in color. The Northern kingfish (or northern whiting) has
more pronounced dark bands or bars on its body. The Southern kingfish (or
southern whiting) has no bars and usually runs a little larger in size.

“Why don’t I see their picture on the Department of Natural Resources size
limit pamphlet for Maryland?”

They aren’t listed because there is no size limit for kingfish. The
department does not list Norfolk spot either, since there is no size limit
on them either.

“Which fish have size limits to be concerned about?”

Flounder, sea trout, croaker, bluefish, stripers, and drum are the fish that
you will possibly catch in the surf that have minimum size limits.

Some anglers may have trouble telling the difference between a croaker and a
Norfolk spot. Both actually have a black spot on their side and both have
been known to “croak!”
Both are silvery in color, but the croaker has a barble on its chin while
the Norfolk spot does not. Croakers also have very sharp gill plates.
Norfolk spot do not.

“How do I tell the difference between crabs eating off my bait and a fish
bite?”

In the summer, it’s best to hold your fishing rod and feel for the bite.
Even though some of these fish are small (less than a pound) they are quite
strong for their size. Unless you are fishing with an extremely heavy-duty
surf rod, you should be able to feel the aggressive bite of these fish. Your
rod tip should definitely go down, at least once on the initial strike.
(Kingfish have a habit of heading towards the beach once they are hooked, so
if you have a strong bite and then your line goes slack, start reeling! The
fish might be headed your way!)


Norfolk spot and croaker have the reputation of being bait stealers! They
may bite once and leave you with no bait. So if there’s spot and croaker in
the surf, you need to attend your rod. Hold it in your hand and if you feel
a “jerk” at one end “jerk” back on the other end. (There’s a saying about
all that, but we won’t go into that!)


“Do I let it sit out there, or should I move it?”


I find that the very best way to “summertime” surf fish is to cast out as
far as I can, then let it sit for a couple minutes, then very slowly bump it
back towards shore. I think that if the bait is moving slightly, the fish
are more likely to grab the bait before it gets away from them and are more
likely to get hooked. Of course, some of this may be that there is always
tension on the line if you are moving it in towards shore. There is also
the fact that you can cover more area if you are bringing it in towards
shore. What if the fish are “close in” and you are “casting way out there”
and letting it sit. You may be missing it all!


These smaller fish come in with the tide and feed on worms, little sand
crabs, and clams on any of the drop offs. If there is a drop off close to
shore, those fish can be right there when the tide gets high.


“Should I fish high tide then?”


I would fish any incoming tide (between the low and the high tide.) I would
also fish the first couple hours of the outgoing (high tide just starting
out.) As the tide gets lower, the fish tend to go further out into the
ocean. If you are casting “short” at high tide with great success and then
the fish stop biting, try casting “long” again.


Time of day is also very important in the surf. Stripers tend to bite
between 4 A.M. and 7 A.M. in the summer. The smaller fish we catch most of
in the summer tend to bite from daybreak until 10ish or so. 4 P.M. until
dusk is the other time that fish feed actively in the surf. If the wind
switches to any light easterly direction, get out there and go surf fishing
no matter what the tide! An east wind brings the fish to beach like nothing
else! (West winds give us calmer surf conditions but less good fishing. West
winds also can bring us biting flies.)


“What about bait?”


Yes, bait’s the most important thing! I like to combo bait in the
summertime. A little piece of worm with a small strip of squid or filleted
spot or mullet is great bait. A piece of shrimp with a piece of squid can
work wonders some days. Filleted bunker strips with a little strip of squid
can make a difference. Though expensive, bloodworms are one of the best
baits in the summer. Don’t be afraid to try other kinds of worms as well.
Sandworms, red worms, and even night crawlers make decent bloodworm
substitutes when the fish are biting. Some people believe in the red colored
squid as well…


Match the bait to the size of hook. Thread the worm on, so aggressive bait
stealers can’t pull it off. Then put on any attractive strip of cut bait. If
you use the pre-cut squid strips, cut them smaller. (I like to use the good
old’ box of California squid in the summer.) Buy anything fresh and take
your time filleting and making the baits into attractive little strips.
Always take the scales off your filleted bait as well. Fresh bunker or fresh
spot fillets have been good bait so far this summer.


If you have several surf outfits, pick the lighter ones so you can feel the
bites better. You don’t need real heavy line this time of year either.
15-pound test is plenty!


Hold your rod, wait for the bites, cast out and retrieve in slowly, use
smaller hooks and smaller baits and “good luck!”

Good fishing…