Ocean Fishing:
And the Sea Shall Feed You

What is it about ocean fishing that draws us? Ever notice how aboriginal peoples and early civilizations that lived near the ocean produced the highest levels of art? The totem poles of the Pacific Northwest come to mind, and the monumental statuary of Easter Island, and the epic poems of Iceland, and the wood carvings of northern Europe.

There’s a reason why ocean-oriented people tend to be more artistic than others. Art takes leisure time. If you’re spending most of your life scrambling for a living, you don’t have time for frivolities.

Peoples living by the oceans, however, had that leisure time. They didn’t have to work as hard as inland dwellers, because the sea was a supermarket right at their door. If they reached out their hands, the sea would feed them.

Due to industrialization, development, and pollution, this is, unfortunately, less true today. But the fact is, despite those drawbacks, it remains generally credible: If you reach out your hand, the sea will feed you. The buildings and the toxins and the crowding merely limit where we can do the reaching.

Gathering these things can be fun, as well as providing good eats. Which is one reason so many outdoor enthusiasts spend their vacations at the shore ocean fishing. In addition to the sun, sand, and tourist attractions, you can spend some of those hours ocean fishing or gathering shellfish. Often enough, you don’t have to bring tackle, because it’s available to rent locally. Or you can buy inexpensive outfits on scene.

We did that on Maine’s mid-coast, one year. We were there just to tour. But after three days I couldn’t stand it anymore, and had to fish. So I bought a cheap rod & reel, and a handful of lures. Whole thing cost me less than a C note---not a whole lot as part of vacation expenses. Fished for just a couple of hours, one morning, and caught a mixed bag of blues and stripers. Which certainly took the edge off.

For sport fishermen, the sea provides unlimited opportunities. You can get your kicks ocean fishing in the high surf---one of the most exciting kinds of fishing found anywhere---or you can go off-shore ocean fishing for the really big ones; marlin, and sailfish, and giant tuna. Or anything in-between. Fish available in back-bays and river mouths aren’t always the same as those found off of oceanside piers. You can use small boats for in-shore ocean fishing, or larger boats to pursue the behemoths found in blue water. You can bottom fish off of reefs and wrecks, or fish the rip-rap of jetties and groins. And absolutely nothing compares to flats fishing, where the triple crown consisting of bonefish, tarpon, and permit are taken from calf-deep water on flyrods and light tackle.

Wherever you find them, ocean fish tend to be bigger and tougher than freshwater species. You think a musky is a tough fish? Tie him tail-to-tail with a bluefish of equal size, and the blue will tow that water wolf all over the place. If there’s anything that fights harder than a 20 or 30 pound dorado on light tackle, I don’t know what it is.

There are no seasonal limits on ocean fishing. Any month of the year, there’s something running, whether it’s Spanish mackerel in the spring, blues in the summer, puppy drum in the fall, or the incredible false albacore schools that migrate down the east coast in the winter. If you can face the elements, the sea and its fish is waiting for you.

Even gathering your own bait is more fun in the ocean. Digging worms is too much like work. But gathering a pail full of sand crabs usually results in more laughs than bait, while learning to use a cast net can become a hobby of its own. You won’t even see some of the bait rigs inland that you do off the salt-water piers. Such as the ribbon of small rings that you hang off a fishing rod, as if it were a lure. The rings act like a miniature gill net, trapping baitfish that try swimming through them.

Many salt-water baitfish are as big as gamefish in fresh water. I remember my introduction to blue runners, for instance, down in Florida. There we were, using lightweight spinning gear to catch two and three pound baitfish, so that we could then go ocean fishing.

Me, I was happy enough catching the bait.

I’ve said it before, and will, no doubt, say it again. The only outdoor experience Kentucky lacks is having an ocean. But then, again, that might not be all bad. If there was an ocean flanking the Bluegrass state there’d be no need to go to heaven; we’d already be there.

Besides which, it gives Friend Wife and me an excuse for a road trip to the sea several times a year.

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