Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks. Croaker action in the back bays continues to heat up and, as we all know, that sure does provide for a boatload of fun. The size of most of the croakers remains on the small side but that should start to change. Bloodworms, FishBites bloodworm, squid, and Gulp! are all great baits to use when catching hardheads.
Flounder are still very active, although you will have to catch a bunch of shorties to get that keeper. Top flattie baits include squid and minnow smelt, spot, cut spot, cut mullet, shiners, or a bucktail tipped with a worm. The key is to use just enough weight to get to the bay floor but still bounce off the bottom easily. A moving bait will excite more fish.
Inshore fishing is slowly improving with catches of sea bass and flounder coming from “DB” Buoy. The Old Grounds and the wrecks are also starting to hold more hungry fish. Inshore catches have Lou Soutori fishing the ocean to score doormat flounder weighing in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 7 lbs. 2 oz.
Back bay catches have Jim Alexander scoring a 6.5 lb. flattie near Buoy #20 on cut spot. Deb and I had our son Clint and fiancée, Erin, along with great friends, Butch and Deb Stock, from Coopersburg, PA, to the #20 area for a great day of fun fishing. I think we could have sunk that old pontoon boat with croakers. The 2 Debs battled for high hook.
Offshore action is hit or miss when fishing for tuna. Lots of dolphin are being caught and there have been good numbers of white marlin released along with a few blue marlin as well.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road, Ron tells us that there are plenty of flounder in the Rehoboth and Indian River Bays. The tough part is getting a keeper.
Something new to try for flounder is a black worm fished on a white bucktail. Spot and croaker can be found near #21 and #22 buoy. FishBites bloodworm is working well. Stripers are falling for live spot near the Coast Guard Station and at the South Jetty in the Indian River Inlet.
From Bill’s Sport Shop on RT#1 in Lewes, we received the following catch reports:
Jim Jones fished at Massey’s Canyon and caught a 33 inch bluefin tuna along with an 18-pound gaffer dolphin and peanut dolphin. Al Boyd fished the Indian River Inlet and scored 2 keeper flounder while using squid and minnows. Bull minnows were the bait of choice for John Focht who managed 2 flounder to 21 inches while drifting his boat “Sea Legs” at Massey’s Ditch. Dave Major, Skip Moseij, Joe Botman, and. Capt. Kenny G. on the “Just Right 4” caught 6 dolphin tipping the scales at 12 to 17 pounds while trolling naked ballyhoo at the Elephant Trunk. Bob Adams of Bill’s Sport Shop and Jim Schafer on the “Abigale” caught dolphin, including a 19.8-pound citation, while trolling cedar plugs at the Tea Cup. Tom Moran fished on the “Reel Life” with Joe and trolled the Tea Cup with ballyhoo picking up a 29.5 pound dolphin and 2 smaller dolphin.
At Henlopen Bait & Tackle on Savannah Rd. in Lewes, Rick reports spot and croakers are being caught at the Henlopen Pier and kingfish are being landed in the surf on bloodworms, shrimp and squid.
Deanna at Hook’em & Cook’em Bait & Tackle reported flounder being caught in the Indian River Inlet and in the ocean around “DB” Buoy. Lance Marquess caught a 4.6 lb. flounder and Brian Sheets took a 5.9 lb. flounder. Small blues and a few stripers are also in the Inlet.
Offshore action centered mostly around dolphin and tuna, but a few wahoo are showing up at the scales. Megan Chambers caught a 79.9 pound bluefin at Massey’s Canyon and Mike Santoro, aboard the “Bill Collector,” boated a 44.7-pound wahoo.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said flounder action improved during the week. Strong running currents leading up to the full moon still made for tough drifting in the bay, but when conditions were right, fluke anglers did alright. Joe Walker and crew captured 10 keepers at Reef Site #5 in the Broadkill Slough on Wednesday. Brent and Bill Wiest worked the rubble of Site #6 at Brown Shoal on Saturday for 6 keepers, including Bill’s 7.45-pound citation flatfish. Mike Vespa caught a 5.21-pound flounder near the Cape Henlopen Pier on Saturday.
Reports of flatties also came from Reef #8, the Star Site. When the wind and current were pushing boats too fast for effective fluking, savvy anglers anchored on reef structure and cast bucktails tipped with strip baits and Gulp! artificial baits. Walking bottom rigs back in the current from a stationary boat also worked when the drift was too fast to allow vessels to remain on productive structure.
Ocean bottom fishermen didn’t have as much current to deal with, and some decent flounder catches came from the rough bottom along the edges of the shipping lane. Wes Olson checked in with his limit of quality fluke from the Old Grounds on Tuesday. The two heaviest weighed 6.4 and 5.37 pounds. Those flatties fell for a Gulp! and shiner combo. Captain Pete on the “Top Fin” drifted Reef Site #10 on Saturday for 5 nice keepers, including a fine 6.9 pounder for Dan Leitzel.
The croaker bite continued in the Bay. Hardheads were available on the Star Site Reef in recent days, but it seemed catching was better during afternoon tides. Anglers had to deal with numerous cownose rays, skates and oyster toads in the mornings. Fishermen also found kingfish, spot and blowfish mixed with croakers, and they responded to bloodworms, clams and Fishbites. Good numbers of panfish were located on Site #5 as well. Eating-size spot were plentiful in the Lewes Canal. Bits of bloodworm or Fishbites on small hooks or sabiki rigs resulted in good catches, especially during the last two hours of incoming tide.
Slot striped bass also came from the Canal. Boaters using clams on the bottom near the drawbridge told of success with stripers. Guys fishing from the town dock also hooked rockfish. The rockpiles at the mouth of the Bay held linesiders too, and those fish could be taken by casting Rat-L-Traps and Storm Shads during evening tides.
The Outer Wall and Ice Breakers also attracted tautog and triggerfish, although, it seemed the tog bite cooled off with persistent hot weather. Blackfish and triggers could be tempted with sand fleas, crab and shrimp.
Some big sheepshead were pulled from the Ice Breakers. Rockpile specialist Herbie Shorthose landed a whopping 12.9 pounder using box crabs at the Haystacks on Thursday.
The good tuna fishing enjoyed by offshore trollers between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons slowed in the past week. A few yellowfins still came from the 150-line area, but tuna were definitely not as thick as they previously had been. Vince Scheivert, on the “Black Bart”, boated a 70-pound class yellowfin there on Saturday, and told of pulling off two other big tuna. White marlin were mixed in.
Dolphin have gathered on lobster gear buoys and most other floating stuff in hot offshore water. Ed Sigda and the boys on the “Snow Goose” returned from the Baltimore with a nice catch of mahi on Thursday. Mahi-mahi have migrated inshore with high water temperatures. Bill Fintel boated a 21.1-pound bull while trolling a spoon behind a planer at the East Lump Thursday.
Until next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.