Article by Skylar Snead and Chris Taylor
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of folks tell me they have never caught anything in the surf. My first question is always “How often do you go? And when? Because both of these things are more important than most people realize.
Our buddy Georgie is the perfect example. This spring, he broke his personal best black drum record, crushed his striped bass record three or four times, and even landed his first red drum - all from the surf. This was his first year giving it a solid go. What made the difference? Time and effort. He put in whole days and nights on the sand, fishing full tide cycles, moving around, trying new spots, and staying patient. He didn’t find the fish right away, but he stuck with it - and it paid off!
Sometimes the water is tough to read. Wind, high tides, or even dead calm days can hide the structure. But if you know your beach and have spent time scouting, you’ll have an edge. We often take our trucks out at low tide just to look for cuts in the sand bar, deep holes, and points, knowing that the next day, during high tide, those same structures will be hidden. That local knowledge is gold.
Some of the best surf fishermen we know only surf fish. They have beach rigs just for it, there are times they spend days and nights without a bite. When they finally land a fish, it’s not luck- it’s earned! They didn’t show up on a random day and hit the jackpot. They put in more hours not catching fish than most people spend on the beach the whole year.
Even top-tier anglers hit dry spells. We have friends who will fish 7-9 hours a day for 5-6 days in a row with no fish, while others pull up and land multiple in 15 minutes. That’s how it goes. Sometimes the bite only lasted 20 minutes, and if you’re not fishing in that window, you missed out completely. You can’t catch ‘em from the couch - a phrase we hear every season and one that rings true every time.
Timing matters too. Knowing the right winds and tides makes a huge difference. West winds usually aren’t great for Assateague. They blow in the flies and create a cold-water upwelling that pushes the fish out. After a few days of heavy west wind, fishing tends to slow down. We aren’t saying it’s impossible to catch, but the odds get a lot tougher. South, Southeast, and East winds usually help the bite, at least in our experience.
Understanding when certain species show up helps, too. Black drum start showing up around mid-March through May. Stripers show up in April into May, and big red drum usually arrive in May and stick around into July. Summer brings kingfish, flounder, stingrays, bluefish, and the toothy critters - usually staying through September, with sharks hanging around into November. Come fall, the big reds return around late September into October. Even November and December have produced puppy red drum in the surf.
Of course, the weather can throw off all that. Storms and high tides can shut the bite down completely. A couple years ago, our fall red drum run was practically a bust because of back-to-back storms. Once the beach reopened, only a handful of fish were caught.
Baits and rigs are a whole different topic, and we’ll get into that another time. But for now, the bottom line is simple: put in the time, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and pay attention to what’s worked in the past. Plenty of surf fishermen are happy to share info, as long as you’re not asking for GPS coordinates. We always ask what bait and tide guys are fishing, and we don’t mind sharing the same. Even learning what didn’t work helps to narrow things down.
Get out there. Try something new. Stay patient, stay humble, and stay hungry.
See you on the sand.
