Article by Larry Jock
Well, we are in the heart of the summer season and fishing is still going strong, both inshore and offshore. The water is definitely on the warm side, but there are still a lot of smiling fisherman around the docks in Delaware.
Flounder
Although flounder fishing in our bays is still very good, it’s the anglers heading to the inshore hot spots that are really lighting it up. The Old Grounds, between “DA” and “DB” Buoys continued to produce some excellent catches of flat fish, highlighted by Bob “Buckwheat” Bryant’s 31.5-incher that weighed 10 lbs. 15 oz. on the scale at Lewes Harbour Marina. Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em reported anglers returning with their limit of fish after jigging at Site 10. On Sunday, the “Capt. Bob” head boat out of the Indian River Marina caught their limit of flounder while drifting coral bottom. A few of the fish weighed in at over 5 lbs. The half-day head boat, “Judy V.” also saw good numbers of flounder during their trips last week.
Up in the Delaware Bay, Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that flounder fishing was good for anglers who learned how to effectively work the rubble of Reef Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8. Drift conditions were important, and savvy skippers occasionally used their engines against the current to maintain proper speed and position. It was all about presentation last week, according to Joe. Bucktails and short-leadered bottom rigs tipped with squid strips, smelt, shiners or cut bluefish were favored offerings. Live spot and Gulp! artificial baits also worked well. Joe said to be prepared to lose a lot of tackle because the fish are living in a snaggy neighborhood.
Even though water temperatures have gotten pretty warm, a few flounder continue to come from shallow areas near the Ferry Jetty, the Inner Wall and the Lewes Canal.
Paul at Rick’s Bait & Tackle mentioned that he saw several nice fish come in from anglers fishing in the Delaware Bay, Indian River Bay and the Rehoboth Bay. Paul and a buddy had 5 keepers in the Rehoboth Bay, with 2 topping 5 lbs. Mickey Payne continued bringing in big flounder, last week landing a 7.6 pounder in the Indian River Bay.
Striped Bass
Dedicated striper snipers fishing off the Indian River Jetty and in the Indian River Inlet are still picking at linesiders, but the numbers are small. Evening and early morning hours are giving anglers the best shot when tossing bucktails and fishing with live eels and spot.
In the Lewes Canal, fishermen also caught slot size stripers, according to Joe Morris. Those tossing Storm shads and Gulp! Swimming Mullets to the marsh bank between the drawbridge and train bridge also got into some fish.
Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s Bait & Tackle said that the Fenwick Ditch is producing some small rockfish, in the 15 to 20-inch range, that are a load of fun on light tackle.
Bluefish
Small bluefish continue to be caught during the incoming tide in the Indian River Inlet on cut bait and metal lures.
Sea Bass
Capt. Bert told me that there are plenty of sea bass to be caught around ocean structure and the throwback to keeper ratio just really depends on the area. Fish one spot and you have a lot of throwbacks. Fish another site and you have no throwbacks but fewer fish caught. Most anglers are finding success while using clams and squid for bait.
Tautog
With tautog season reopening on July 17th, anglers will be back to their familiar haunts using sand fleas and crabs for bait. Anglers are allowed to keep 5 tog that are 16-inches or longer per day until August 31st.
Cobia
After seeing Joe Costello’s 82 lb. cobia on the cover of last weeks Coastal Fisherman, many more anglers ventured out to their favorite cobia spots in search of the “man in the brown suit”. The only fish we heard about was a small 20 pounder caught by a fisherman who was bottom fishing at “B” Buoy.
We are also hoping to hear from the Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife about recognizing Joe’s catch as a new Delaware state record.
In the Surf
Both Capt. Bert and Capt. Bruce reported kingfish, bluefish, BIG?stingrays and large sharks being caught in the surf. Bruce also mentioned that he is seeing a lot of good size Norfolk spot being caught.
Dolphin
Although we continue to see dolphin being hooked in the canyons, the talk around the Delaware docks was about the small dolphin actually caught by an angler fishing in the Indian River Inlet. That’s right, the Indian River Inlet. Junior angler, Brian Hewitt from Charlotte, NC was flounder fishing last Wednesday and caught the mahi on a white jig head tipped with a white Gulp! Swimming Mullet. Amazing!
Offshore, we are definitely seeing an increase in the average size mahi being brought back to the dock. The fish are mainly coming in off the troll, but a few are being caught by those tossing chunks to tuna.
Tuna
Before we get to the offshore bite, Capt. Bert and Capt. Bruce both mentioned that yellowfin were actually caught by anglers fishing in 20 fathoms around the Delaware Lightship. Capt. Bruce also said that he heard an unconfirmed rumor that yellowfins were caught as close to shore as “B” Buoy last week.
The tuna bite was very good early in the week, tapered off in the middle-to-late part of the week, and lit up at the Hot Dog on Sunday. Anglers throwing chunks of butterfish and sardines got into great catches of yellowfins, some even into the double digits. Most of the fish were in the 40 lb. class. Those who ventured farther offshore, into the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons ended up getting into some larger yellowfins, in the 50 lb.+ range.
Although we still haven’t seen bigeye tuna hit the docks in Delaware, the Ocean City boats got into them again over the weekend in 200 fathoms in the Washington Canyon. The largest was landed by the “Absolute Pleasure” on Sunday during the Ocean City Tuna Tournament, coming in at a season high of 257 lbs.
Capt. Bruce also reported hearing about some bigeye tuna being caught very early last week by New Jersey anglers fishing in the Wilmington Canyon.
Until next week, tight lines!
