Anyone ever have any luck k fishing the surf in Ocean City, MD? Totally inexperienced in this area, but looking to kill some time on vacation. Any tips/suggestions on bait, rigging, tackle, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
I have fished there. Caught a few kingfish each day, enough to make a meal for the family by the end of a week.
It's a bit of a pain to fish there, as you can't fish when the lifeguards are on duty, and it gets crowded early. Get up at first light and you can fish till about 9 before it gets busy.
No one expects anyone to fish, so people walking on the beach get irritated at having to go under/around your lines. You can fish when the guards go off-duty in the evenings, but I usually waited until the last hour of daylight and into the dark. That seemed to cut the difficulty with beach walkers.
Don't even rig a rod till people are out of the water, and pull 'em in when the kids start wakeboarding in the morning. No one pays even a little bit of attention to your lines, so when people are in the water, you'll just be frustrated trying to fish.
The bait shops, especially the ones farther from the main tourist beach/boardwalk area, seem to know their stuff for the most part and will steer you right. I use a lot of Gulp strips to make life easier than natural bait.
Surf fishing is all about the tides. Fish an incoming tide, especially around dawn and dusk.
You'll need a 7-10" surf rod depending on what your after, 10-14 lb line is good, and some 2-6 oz sinkers. I usually set up with a fish finder rig sort of like PA cat fishing. Actual rig & bait will be determined by what your fishing for.
This shop has a good reputation and could fix you up to target whats biting.
I don't fish off the beach. What I'll do is head down to the inlet of the bay for some night fishing. I'll catch a bunch of those sand fleas for bait during the day and head down there at night. I've caught a bunch of stripers there.
I don't fish off the beach. What I'll do is head down to the inlet of the bay for some night fishing. I'll catch a bunch of those sand fleas for bait during the day and head down there at night. I've caught a bunch of stripers there.
Thanks for the help guys. I was actually standing in the shop linked above when I posted! Anyway, hit the beach around 9 last night with some mullet rigs, and caught three small bluefish. Caught them all in the first hr when the tide was changing. Quit around midnight. I'll be back at it again tonight.
Wstrouse all I do is setup a hook and weight just like I would bait fishing trout and hook them through the belly and out the back. Cast only about 20 feet out and let it sit. It has worked pretty well for me in the past.
Soooooo, we had what we think to be 3 different sharks on last night, they all broke off in short order. The ppl fishing about 100 yards from us caught roughly an 8ft shark. So, we just got back from the bait shop, geared up for shark, lol.
Wstrouse all I do is setup a hook and weight just like I would bait fishing trout and hook them through the belly and out the back. Cast only about 20 feet out and let it sit. It has worked pretty well for me in the past.
Soooooo, we had what we think to be 3 different sharks on last night, they all broke off in short order. The ppl fishing about 100 yards from us caught roughly an 8ft shark. So, we just got back from the bait shop, geared up for shark, lol.
I'm going to be trying it out this weekend in AC! Hopefully get into something!
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