Article by Larry Jock
This is one of those weeks where I could write the fishing report on the back of a matchbook cover. It’s not that the fish aren’t here, it’s just that Mother Nature is being a real pain in the neck. The Delmarva coast continued to get hammered with rainy windy weather, but the good news is that we have a forecasted string of good weather right around the corner, so anglers will have a good chance to hit the bay, the inshore wrecks and offshore canyons for their favorite species.
Capt. Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em Tackle Shop at the Indian River Marina reported that the best bite he saw last week was in the Indian River Inlet on Saturday night into Sunday morning when they had a run of large bluefish in the 10 lb. range. Spotty runs of shad have entered the Inlet, so perhaps the choppers are in there feasting on those smaller fish.
Bert also said that some keeper striped bass were caught on Saturday morning by anglers fishing under the Indian River Bridge on the north side of the Inlet. Bucktails, Bomber lures and swim shads were the best producers.
There hasn’t been any reports of flounder being caught in the Indian River Inlet, but a few were caught in the back bay by the Red Roof House and in the VFW Slough. White Gulp! Swimming Mullet has been a productive artificial bait, especially when it is combined with a live minnow.
Capt. Christopher Adams on the headboat, “Judy V” ventured out in some snotty seas last week, making fishing difficult. On Friday he reported a lot of throwbacks. Anglers did pick-up a couple of flounder on Friday while fishing at the Old Grounds. These are the first we have heard about this spring being caught on ocean structure. Christopher said that water temperature is right around 57-58 degrees.
Further north at Lewes Harbour Marina, the Celebration of Life for Joe Morris was held on Sunday afternoon and the turnout was incredible. Joe was unfortunately taken from us way too soon, but it was very evident that he had an impact on many peoples lives. I know that Amanda Morris and the folks at Lewes Harbour Marina are working very hard to make Joe proud and carry on his legacy so make sure you stop in and see them.
Fishing out of Lewes, like everywhere else last week, was slow due to the weather but black drum continued to be caught at the Coral beds on surf clams. The bite wasn’t fantastic, more like feast or famine. One day it was tough and the next 5 or 6 were caught. On Sunday evening, Eric Long from Camden, DE caught a 78.8 pounder.
Not many boats headed outside the inlet in search of sea bass last week, but those that did typically found them on structure in 80 to 90-feet of water. Dropping squid or clams were the baits of choice but we also saw knotheads caught while jigging. Anglers on the charterboat, “Katydid” ventured out on Thursday and Saturday and returned with great catches of sea bass.
Striped bass were caught by anglers fishing with fresh bunker from the beach at Herring Point. Although I haven’t heard much about it from surf anglers in Delaware, I am definitely seeing more surfcasters discovering the positive results from soaking sand fleas in the suds. If you don’t dig them up yourself, you can certainly find them at several local tackle shops.
The flounder bite in the Lewes Canal wasn’t great last week. The Lewes Canal Flounder Tournament was held on Friday and Bill Swords, who handled the weigh-ins, said that between 7:00 and 9:00 he mainly saw smaller fish, in the 16 to 18-inch range. The larger fish were caught during the outgoing tide between 9:00 and noon. Robbie Baxley’s 6.7 pounder was caught early in the day and held on to win the tournament. Robbie had a close call when the line snapped as they were netting the fish but luckily the teaser hook got caught in the net and they were able to boat the winning fish. Patrick Summers took 2nd place with a 6.03 pounder and Tim West, Sr. rounded out the top three with a 4.9 pounder. Proceeds from the tournament were used to donate over $1,900 to the Youth Fishing Tournament.
Until next week, tight lines!
