Fish still bite when the water is rough

With a week of steady northeast wind and seas running 3 to 4 feet, the prospects for fishing this weekend are not looking too good. Not only will the ocean be rough, but so will Delaware Bay. The water will also be dirty, as high tides have flooded the marsh, and brought lots of weeds and mud back out for us to contend with.

The best way to overcome dirty water is to use noisy lures. Spoons, chatter lures or any type of lure that makes sound that will lead a fish to your bait. Fish not only have ears, but also a strong lateral line that runs the length of their body that can detect sound and help determine the direction from which the sound came.

If you are fishing for flounder, you should use a big bait. A live spot would be the best, followed by a whole squid, big minnow or large chunk of peeler crab. You want to make it worthwhile for the doormat to leave his ambush spot to chase down your offering. If you are catching croaker or spot, take a filet off one of those fish, trim it so it has the shape of a fish, then send it back down with a hook in it. If spot and croaker are abundant in the area, you can be sure the big flounder are feeding on them.

You also want to fish for what’s there. Several years ago, I was a guest on a charter out to the Old Grounds. The object of the trip was flounder, but every spot we fished, we caught big croaker. The rest of the party were first-time saltwater fishermen and were not happy when we quit catching fish to look for fish. I finally related this to my host, who decided to change the trip to croaker fishing, and his friends were thrilled. We ended the day will a cooler full of fish and a group of folks who were very thankful to their host.

This weekend is not looking too good. The wind will continue to blow from the east-northeast and seas in the ocean will continue to run 3 to 4 feet. In Delaware Bay, the wind will be about the same, north to northeast at 10 to 15 knots with seas running 2 to 3 feet. If you and your fishing companions can stand a little bumpy water without losing your breakfast, the fish will still bite when the water is rough. Just make sure your boat is up for the rough water, and have all mechanical and safety equipment checked out before you leave the dock. 

Good luck!

Fishery management council

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will meet in Annapolis, Md., Aug. 11-14, to decide some of the regulations that will govern recreational fishing in 2026 and beyond. I attended this meeting last year to let the members of the council know how bad their 13-inch size limit was on black sea bass. Since we still have the 13-inch minimum size limit for black sea bass, I believe you can see how much my appearance did for that stock. This year, I will stay home and attend the meeting via Webex. I still plan to make my presence known, and I still plan to speak out in favor of a 12-inch size limit for black sea bass.

I also plan to speak on another subject, Recreational Sector Separation. This bad idea would have recreational fishing separated into three sectors – head boats, charter boats and the rest of us.

The idea would be to give most of the fish to head boats, then give what’s left to charter boats and a few crumbs to the vast majority of the fishing public. You can see what this looks like in the bluefish and blueline tilefish regulations. Charter and head boats may keep five bluefish, while the rest of us may only keep three. As for blueline tilefish, a private boat may only keep three per person while a six-pack charter boat may keep five and a head boat can keep seven blueline tilefish for every person on board. This is the sort of thing the for-hire fleet would like to see happen to all the fish under the council’s control. Now you must understand that the for-hire sector is but a very small part of the overall recreational fishing community, and if they get their way, they would have the vast majority of the fish. You can believe I will fight this idea for as long as I can.