Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks!!!! Catch em’ up, toss em’ back! That seems to be the name of the game lately. Lots of flounder are being caught in the back bays and the ocean, but most are not of legal size. There are more and more legal size flounder being taken in the ocean, as that fishing is just now starting to get somewhere close to good. I guess this might just be the normal summertime timetable that we always have. When the water starts to cool back down, we should see an increase in the number of good size flounder go up in the back waters. At the same time, the ocean bottom fishing should really light up.
Croaker action continues to be quite good with a slight increase in the average size being taken. Just a small piece of bloodworm is the #1 bait for these feisty critters. Bluefish continue to make appearances in the Indian River Inlet. The incoming tide seems to be the best time to target these guys. The last two hours of the incoming tide appears to be the prime time to target stripers in the inlet if that is your species of choice. This has really been a great fishing season in the back bays, and hopefully it will continue well into the fall.
Some of this past week’s catches have included Bill Knisely taking a 4 lb. 7 oz. flounder. Michalla Redick of Bear, DE fished the ocean to boat a 25-½ inch, 5 lb. 4 oz. flattie using a live minnow. Dean Lokey of Millsboro, DE fished from the pier at Massey’s Ditch and put a 7 lb. 2 oz. flattie on the dock while using live spot for bait. Dean’s fish measured 25 ½-inches.
Offshore action continues to produce lots of mahi. They can be found by trolling anywhere from the “DA” Buoy on out. A number of wahoo are also being caught. While fishing with Capt. Cory Waddington on the “Another Bill”, Ron Campbell of Long Neck did battle with a 49 lb. wahoo to earn him a state citation. Ron caught his wahoo while trolling the 30 Line near the Tea Cup. Capt Ken Smith on the “JoKen” had Bill Hunsberger, Mike Haas and Bob Buckwalter to the Baltimore Canyon and the Tea Cup to score some white marlin, mahi and yellowfin tuna.
Ron at Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Rd. reported lots of throwback flounder being taken in the back bays. Ron said shiners and Gulp! are the key baits. In the Indian River Inlet, Ron says Buoy #20 is the place to find croakers. There are also plenty of blues, and the stripers are falling for live spot.
From Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes, we hear that Sue Killen (daughter of Capt. Bill and Kathy) aboard the "Slicker Too" took her brother, Kevin Baker, and nephews, Joey Neely and Brian Baker to the Indian River Inlet and had a great trip. The party caught and released 20 undersized stripers and a bunch of bluefish. Joey Neely was high hook, capturing a 20-inch flounder along with the largest striper and bluefish. All were caught on live spot. A customer reported catching keeper tog in the Indian River Inlet on crabs and sand fleas. Eddie called from the Indian River Inlet as well to say he limited out on bluefish up to 16-inches using Gotcha plugs and silver spoons. Tom Bailor and his nephew Doug went to Buoy #22 in Indian River and caught 40 croaker on Sabiki rigs with FishBites. Jeff Moyer of PA caught 10 snapper bluefish on a pink and white Gulp! and shiner combo at Site 6 aboard the "Martha Marie". Brian Keech of Long Neck, DE caught two flounder weighing in at 4.10 lbs. and 3.10 lbs. at Site 6 on a Gulp! and shiner combo aboard the "Martha Marie". Mike, Eric, Todd, Bill, Dan and Matt Langdon caught a bunch of bailer dolphin and went 3 for 3 on white marlin trolling ballyhoo in the Baltimore Canyon on the "Offishal". Ryan Smith and Jeff Thompson limited out on slot stripers measuring up to 25-inches and caught 2 dozen white perch in the Roosevelt Inlet and Lewes Canal on Rattletraps.
Capt. Kenny G. and crew Brian, Ambrose, Bob Geure, Bob Quin and Hugh Alexander caught 6 dolphin trolling ballyhoo outside the Tea Cup. Chris and Rick Rannali went out with Capt. Chuck Cook of "First Light Charters" to the Outer and Inner Walls. They caught and released one striper approx. 30 to 32-inches. Bob Adams and his son, Bob Jr. from Leesport, PA, fished the Old Grounds and boated 5 keeper flounder up to 25-inches on squid. They also caught a couple of nice sea bass. Frank Reed from Harbeson went to the Fingers and trolling with skirted ballyhoo and managed to boat 6 mahi. Bill Vernon Jr. fished with Capt. Steve on the "Four Play" out of Indian River. They went to the south of Poor Man’s Canyon and boated yellowfins up to 65 lbs. along with some dolphin. Capt Chris Thurmon of "Skipjack Charters" out of Lewes Harbor Marina reported a great canyon overnighter with 6 yellowfin, 9 dolphin and one wahoo. He also said that the bottom fishing is good, but that he is mostly running for tuna now. Capt. Steve Peterson of "Pandemonium Charters" had a great overnighter. The party ended up with 4 yellowfin, 1 white marlin, 4 gaffer dolphin, and went 2 for 3 on the big eyes with weights of 155 and 188 lbs. All were caught on the troll using spreader bars and ballyhoos. They lost the tail of one of the big eyes to a 500 lb. mako shark right at the boat. Capt. Carey Evans of "Grizzly Sportfishing" finally got some nice sized croakers in the bay. Flounder fishing remains strong and will remain an option through September. Some sea bass are starting to show up in the mix.
Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said flatfish continued to please anglers this past week. The best catches came from the structure of reef sites. Fluke congregated close to artificial reef rubble, and crews willing to work the junk and lose some rigs were rewarded with nice catches. In the Delaware Bay, sites 6 and 7 at the Brown Shoal were popular, along with reef 8, the Star Site. Hobby Isaacs, Dave Popovich and George Durant drifted the Brown Shoal sites on Thursday for 8 good keepers. Greg Pearson, Ted Garman, Todd Garman and John Leader put 8 flatties weighing up to 6.3 lbs. in the box while using squid and minnows at the Brown Shoal on Saturday. Captain Carey on the “Grizzly” hosted Joe Shaffer and his family for some great flounder action on Saturday. The group iced 18 keepers and released 52 other fluke. They also had triggerfish, blowfish and sea bass. Flatties also hung out around the rocks of the Outer Breakwater. Donnie Nauman got his limit while using strips of shark close to the Wall on Saturday. Artificial structure in the ocean attracted flounder as well. Captain Brent’s anglers aboard the “Katy Did” did a number on the fish at Site 10 on Thursday. They returned with 19 quality keeper fluke, including Billie Jo Hunter’s 6.97 lb. doormat and a 3.13 lb. sea bass. Joe Walker, Bobby Bryant, Tony Vansant and Joe Walker, Jr. combined for a limit of 16 fine flounder on Saturday at Site 10. Bobby was hot on big fish, icing flatties of 6 and 6.39 lbs.
Croakers have become scarce in recent days. It’s unlikely that they’ve made an early exit, but for some reason, they have not been cooperating. A few good-sized hardheads were caught around the inner breakwater on clams, bloodworms and FishBites. Spot are still being pulled from the Lewes Canal. Anglers on the Cape Henlopen Pier also had spot.
On the offshore scene, the white marlin bite has been big news. Billfish have been working bunches of bait, and experienced crews that find feeding whites have racked up some impressive numbers. Whites were reported in 50 to 60 fathoms inside of Poor Man’s, between the Rockpile and the 000’s. Vince Scheivert and the boys on the “Black Bart” recorded a white release for Tim Gola inshore of the Poor Man’s Canyon on Saturday. They also caught 5 small yellowfins. Charlie, Walt and the guys on the “Fish Whistle” released 5 whites and a sailfish inshore of the Poor Man’s on Saturday. There was a pretty good showing of wahoo on the twenty-fathom lumps. ‘Hoos were taken by trollers at the Hambone, Chicken Bone, Hot Dog and Sausages. Captains Brent Wiest and Dave Walker trolled the Hambone aboard the “Katy Did” on Saturday. They put a pair of yellowfins and 6 dolphin in the cooler. Among the mahi was a 23.6 lb. citation winner boated by Jose Guevara.
At Hook’em & Cook’em Bait and Tackle, Deanna tells us the flounder bite in the Indian River Inlet has slowed a bit, but a few nice flatties are being taken on live spot. Bluefish weighing up to 7 lbs. are making their presence known in the inlet. Inshore fishermen are scoring on triggerfish, blues, croaker, a few sea bass and a few flounder. Reef Site #11 has given up a few nice flounder.
Offshore action remains pretty much the same with a good white marlin bite. Dolphin and wahoo are showing in good numbers, but the tuna bite is scattered. John Klerlein of Milton brought a 38 lb. wahoo and a 28.5 lb. dolphin to the scales.
Until next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
