Race more. Pack surfing is a skill, but it's not one you can really learn by reading or getting advice from people. You just have to race. In a crit, there's basically always movement happening of some sort - sometimes it's lanes of riders on either side of the pack, sometimes it's more 'shuffling' as guys open and fill gaps. The more you race, the more you'll just instinctively know what wheel to get on and when to protect your position.
As a newbie cat 5, there's no guarantee starting at the front would have helped you anyway. When I started racing I continually found myself starting forwards and getting shuffled to the back immediately because I didn't know how to protect my position or identify opportunities to move up.