Article by Larry Jock
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the swarm of slammer bluefish that showed up at the end of April has stuck around, providing area anglers with springtime action like they haven’t enjoyed for many years. Bank fishermen continued to hook numerous big blues way up the Broadkill River at Oyster Rocks, and also in the lower River, from Beach Plum Island. Lots were taken on cut bunker and mullet baits, but guys tossing artificials caught more. Twister tails on leadheads, Sassy Shads, bucktails and metal lures all produced. It seemed like the end of flood tide and first of ebb offered up the best bite, but blues were landed during any moving water.
Fish also came from Broadkill Beach, Roosevelt Inlet and Lewes Beach. The hottest action took place inside Cape Henlopen, between the Fishing Pier and the Point. Folks fishing from the sand near the Pier, that has been closed for repairs, got plenty of hookups. Wading anglers did well in the same area. Blues roamed the dropoff edge inside the Inner Wall Lighthouse, and the shallow flats close to shore. Often, boaters found blues in depths of less than 5 feet, very near the beach.
Kayakers had a blast with choppers in skinny water. Blues responded to a variety of offerings as they fed eagerly on bunker in the area. Bucktails tipped with twisters, Storm Shads, Rat-L-Traps and Gator Spoons were popular. The most exciting strikes came for casters working surface plugs, like Chug Bugs, Spooks and Creek Chub Poppers.
Fly rodders found blues more than willing to eat brightly colored streamers.
Some of the citations recorded during the week included Mason Newsham’s 15.8 pound alligator, and a 14.4 pounder Scott Jost scored inside the Cape aboard the “Lil’ Angler II”.
With tog season still open, many boaters chose to make a combo trip out of their day, catching their tautog in the morning, then battling big blues in the afternoon. Captain Carey’s Saturday crew on the “Grizzly” captured their limit of chunky tautog from the rockpiles, then moved a short distance to the Cape and added 13 slammer blues to the box, plus a 4 pound flounder that ate an AVA Jig as icing on the cake. Captain Brent did the same for his patrons aboard the “Katydid” on Thursday. They boxed a limit of blackfish then had a ball with blues, keeping nine big choppers for the table. Captain Pete’s Wednesday group took home their tog, and 14 slammer blues.
Togging in general was pretty good at the end of Spring season along the Walls and Ice Breakers, as well as on Bay Reefs. Although, strong currents made for tough conditions some days, the bite was limited to a short window around tide changes. Numerous nice sized tog were pulled from Delaware Bay structure. Tautog season reopens July 17th.
Black drum showed up. Their presence was first reported by commercial netters a couple weeks back, but now they’ve begun to bite hook and line. Beau and Emmy Fibelkorn anchored between Primehook and Fowler Beaches on Saturday afternoon and boated three boomers weighing up to 36.3 pounds in short order. Mike Zak and Cathy Cole beached three drum up to 34 pounds while fishing clams in the Broadkill surf at the top of flood tide on Friday. Drumfish action should continue to improve through May, peaking before the June 2nd full moon. Joe said the shop will stock surf clams, but suggests calling for bait reservations to ensure you’ll have them for your trip.
Striper catches have been spotty. Barry Price beached a 34-incher that ate a clam in the surf near Herring Point. Kerry Lodish landed a 26.2 pound linesider while tossing a Storm shad from the Indian River Jetty.
Upper Delaware Bay striper fishing was hot, and those fish should start moving down the Bay soon. Wayne DeMarco stopped by early in the week with a brace of bass weighing 21.8 and 19.4 pounds that he hooked by chunking bunker at 6L Buoy.
Flounder were more active in the Lewes Canal after the weather finally warmed up. Young Brayden Coverdale caught his first flounder while fishing the Canal on Tuesday. Brayden and his dad, Larry had three keepers weighing up to 2.9 pounds while drifting shiners on “Nick’s Killer Rigs”. A pink “Nick’s Rig” sweetened with shiners was responsible for the 5.3 pound flattie Howard Bowden boated in front of Lewes Harbour Marina.
Capt. Bert Adams at the Hook’em & Cook’em tackle shop in the Indian River Marina reported bluefish, bluefish and more bluefish in the Indian?River Inlet right now. Bert said that they aren’t seeing a lot of small blues, but fish up to 15 lbs. are hitting metal lures from anglers casting off the rocks. Big bluefish are so thick that they are even finding them in the bays and in the Broadkill River, giving anglers a chance to catch them from the shoreline.
The other big news out of the Indian River Marina was the 1st yellowfin tunas and mahi of the year showing up on Saturday. The first yellowfins were actually caught on Friday night during an overnight trip by anglers on the “Knock on Wood”. The guys ventured up to the Spencer Canyon and returned with 4 nice yellowfins and a football. The 4 larger yellowfins weighed between 35 and 40 lbs. and were caught on the cold side of a 65 to 72-degree temperature break on trolled ballyhoo.
On Saturday, Drew Holladay and Brad Cave caught a 7.5 lb. mahi and a 31 lb. yellowfin tuna while trolling in 65-degree water in the Wilmington Canyon.
Also on Saturday, John French landed a mahi, estimated to weigh around 20 lbs., during a trip to the Wilmington Canyon where they found 71-degree water. John was fishing on the “Even Keeliegh” with Mike Babcock, Dan Walls, Scott Stapelford and Albert Leitzell.
Flounder are still scarce in the Indian River Inlet with a few fish caught around Bubble Gum Beach and the VFW?Slough. Water temperatures are still in the upper 50’s.
Tautog are being caught on ocean structure but the dense, all-day fog last weekend kept many closer to shore.
Surfcasters from Fenwick Island to Indian River were kept busy with good catches of snapper bluefish a some striped bass. Fresh bunker is the bait of choice right now for those fishing in the suds.
Upcoming Tournament
The Lewes Canal Flounder Tournament takes place on Friday May 15th. You can sign up at Lewes Harbour Marina any time before the 7:00am start time that day.
Until next week, tight lines!
