It’s not about the fish, it’s about being out there

By Rich King
Posted 9/29/22

Summer left like she owed fall money for all that pumpkin spice. It is wonderful outside with crisp morning air and mild afternoon temperatures. The fishing is a nice mix of summer to fall species …

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It’s not about the fish, it’s about being out there

Posted

Summer left like she owed fall money for all that pumpkin spice. It is wonderful outside with crisp morning air and mild afternoon temperatures. The fishing is a nice mix of summer to fall species showing up. The crowds aren’t as bad, even on weekends. On the chillier days, we will have the beach nearly to ourselves to fish. That makes it perfect if we want to move to look for more catches or a variety. It is nice to have more options to fish. We hope to see these options until at least the end of October.

The summer tropical species are still around. Some manta rays put on a long show last weekend in front of Fenwick Island State Park beaches. They were jumping out of the water in unison and doing flips. There were albies (false albacore) mixed in with them as well — time to start throwing metals like Sting Silvers and Deadly Dicks. If you see fish blowing up the water like bluefish along the beach, but the fish are proposing — that is jumping along the waves like a dolphin would chasing bait — then those are albies. Everything is eating Atlantic silver sides or mullet right now. Match the bait or use them as bait.

Flounder are still being caught around the inland bays and that will dry up soon enough as the water gets colder. Water temperatures are holding nice but from the looks of things it is going to cool off a little faster this year. There’s still a nice variety of summer fish in the surf and surrounding bays.

Sand fleas are still easy to dig, but some areas is a little tougher than others. It’s better to look at low tides in the cuts. Fishbites sand flea formula is a good alternative.

We met Boy Scouts of America Troop 902 at Herring Point on Saturday and taught the kids how to surf fish. This is the second year doing this and it is fun. We had about 24 kids and many parents. There were spot, puppy drum, kingfish, dogfish, skate and some other varieties caught all morning. The kids, if they weren’t swimming, were fishing. It was a good time had by all, helping some of the kids fill their merit badges for fishing.

Short striped bass schooling action is picking up. Sand fleaing for them at the Indian River Inlet is fun. There have been some keepers in that mix. It is fall, so we all know it must be two-ounce white swim shad season. You can’t wear white after Labor Day but you sure can fish with it. That white flash mimics every bait fish out there this time of year.

The red drum run is on at Assateague and a little bit in Delaware. Night is the best time to fish for these beasts, but the daytime is fine, too. Spot, kingfish, blue crab, sand fleas or clam are the usual baits. The main thing is to fish. You are going to catch a lot of skates, sharks and the like to get a red drum. Dave Moore last week said, “I picked up six fish but it took around 28 hours.” This is what we call putting in the time.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, you have to put in some work to get the results you see on social media pages. It is on occasion someone sets up, throws and nails a fish. It happens but it is not constant unless you are in blitz conditions. Put in the time, and enjoy that time out there. It is an experience many never get to try and just read about.

For me, fishing was never about the fish. For most of us, it started out you wanted to be with dad and his friends, or your siblings and buddies. The fish was fun to catch, but the camaraderie is what really brought you to the water’s edge. Later, as you learned more, then it became about the catch. But in the long run, eventually you realize it was never about the catch or the fish. It was just about being out there.

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