If there is one thing that the Basswife likes better than bass fishing, it’s baking on a beach. Well… there are actually a bunch of things she likes better, but beaching is way up there.
So, when my friend Jeff and his wife Maria invited us to stay at their home in Ocean Pines for the weekend, we were there in a heartbeat. A lot of folks hit the beach at Ocean City – which is a great looking beach with plenty of action on the boardwalk, but they took us to Assateague Island – its a State and National Park just south of Ocean City. While it does not have a boardwalk, it does not have all the rules either – you can actually have fun here.
While our wives collapsed where X marks the spot on the map and dedicated themselves to baking in the sun, Jeff and I checked out the fishing opportunities. After all, where there is water, there has to be a fish. We wandered up the beach and soon encountered a couple of guys fishing… or… better put … they were sitting and drinking beer, watching the pretty girls walk by and just happened to have a few fishing poles stuck in the ground. Hmmmm… maybe I’ve been missing something here – I can fish, she can bake, I can drink beer, she can bake, I can watch girls go by, she can bake… I’ve got to talk Jeff into this again.
We did not fish this time out but did chat with a few of the guys who were watching their rods. According to them, this is a pretty simple operation. You throw the line out about 20 – 30 yards with some bait on it and then drink beer. If you are lucky, you’ll get a bluefin or kingfish. If you are unlucky, you’ll get a skate or something like that. In either case, you get to drink beer and watch the women. The bait they were using was squid and bloodworms with the fake plastic bloodworm being more productive.
You can’t fish at Ocean City after a certain hour – in fact, they make you go out there at the crack of dawn – this kind of defeats the purpose as I am not hard core enough to want to drink a beer at 6 AM. And… even worse… there are no women wandering around at that hour. So, I recommend you head down to the Island, pay the low entry fee, and have a great day.
Getting there: Navigate yourself to Ocean City. Get on 611 and head across the bridge. Skip the State Park and drive down to the Federal Park. You can pull in at the north or south beach and park. There are public restrooms if you are shy about using the Ocean.
This is what I am talking about. Nice break from trout hiking.
You will share the beach closer to the parking lot with a bunch of people – no big deal – just move down from them and throw your line in.
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore