Just put some bait on a hook and see what happens

The rain is a nice break. It’s state fair week and it isn’t a thousand degrees outside for once. I hear it has been nice at the fair with the milder weather in comparison to the excessive heat records set last week. I’m just glad to not cook on a beach while trying to fish.

The spot and kingfish bite has been heavy in the surf for many anglers. “I’ve never caught so many tacos in an hour,” said many anglers. Fishbites bloodworm formula and sand flea formula are doing well. Live sand fleas can be dug up in the surf. There are a lot of soft shell sand fleas around full moons. Those make amazing bait. They feel squishy when you dig one up.

The red drum bite has been good at Assateague, with some action at Fenwick Island and Ocean City beaches. Cut mullet is great red drum bait. So are kingfish, especially the heads. A friend of mine cleans his kingfish and uses the heads for red drum bait and lands some big bulls. Sand fleas work well, too, but they love those fish heads.

Slot striped bass fishing has been decent around the Delaware Bay and her tributaries. The croaker bite has been good on the bay beaches. It’s been a great summer for the usual small fish for making tacos. So many tacos. The upwelling along the coast has been helping keep the water cooled down and an ample supply of food along the coast for fish to forage. Keep the food close to shore, the fish stay around, too.

Sheepshead action around structure has been good. Triggers are around. There are lots of options to target. I just put some bait on a hook and wait to see what happens — saves time and the frustration of targeting fish.

It is time for fleaing for short striped bass at the inlet. That is a lot of fun at night. Get a five-gallon bucket of sand fleas. That takes a little amount of time but it’s fun, too. Then seed the water with a handful of sand fleas. Like birds, the fish will come out to eat the fleas. Then put a flea or two on a 4/0 or 6/0 circle hook and just cast it into the area you seeded with fleas. This is a lot of fun on light tackle. Hold on — the hit is a blast — then reel in your catch and release. This is best in the darker areas of the inlet. Get set up with lights and you gear ready to go, then turn off the lights and fish.

Pompano are south of us in Virginia Beach still, but you never know when they will show. The weakfish action has been picking up and some larger catches are making it to the table. I love eating weakfish. Yes, I am one of those that grew up back in the day with the big weakfish, except we ate all of the fish my grandfather brought home. I grew up eating a lot of weakfish and bluefish — two differently tasty fish.

Flounder fishing is typical for this time of year. That is one fish we never seem to see better action. In fact, it gets worse each year. There is too much pressure on flounder. Imagine dropping the creel from four fish to two fish coastwide for just one year. I’d bet we would start seeing more larger fish in no time. Mostly anglers are picking through a lot of throwbacks for the occasional keeper.

Offshore action is better than inshore inland bay action. Check out Fishbites Fight Club line for flounder. Many anglers are seeing great results in the northeast using this line.

It’s also hard to fish the inland bays on weekends for flounder with all the sand bars crowded with so many boats. You don’t see any bathrooms out there do you? It’s like the beaches, too crowded and too much activity scares off fish. It’s best to find places boats can’t reach and look for fish.

A nice weekend is ahead of us. Use the early into late morning incoming tides to fish the beaches and waterways.

Summer can slow down a bit. I’m enjoying the time, but it is flying by too fast.